Squarely at the intersection of religion and science fiction is this cartoon (from Hijinks Ensue via io9) depicting the Battlestar Galactica Bible – i.e. the guidelines producer Ron Moore gave to the writers – here being preached upon by Moore himself. Read more

It has been some time since my thoughts turned to LOST, but last night I found myself noticing a parallel between Jacob (and perhaps also his adoptive mother) and Desmond. Desmond came to the island by accident, and was given the task of pushing a button in order to protect and save the world. Jacob was raised by a woman who said she came to the island by accident and had been given the task of protecting the light and thus saving... Read more

Commenter Brian said something that I thought deserved to be repeated. The original quote can be found in a comment here, but I’ll paraphrase slightly so that it makes better sense on its own: “This is why I dislike fundamentalism so much: it ruins the person both while they profess fundamentalist ideology and when they leave it.” Read more

Diglotting discusses the “Tweet Your Creed Meme” and proposes the Golden Rule. Daniel Manastireanu has a sermon that does something similar, asking what single verse encapsulates his life philosophy, and proposes Micah 6:8: “Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.” Like A Child asks for testimonies about how people who embrace evolution and reject Biblical inerrancy have managed to preserve Christian faith. Hemant Mehta shares a statistic that 13% of American school teachers of science advocate creationism. Jerry Coyne... Read more

Like a Child finishes reviewing, and reflects on, a book entitled Can We Trust the Gospels?A repost from Michael Spencer asks whether the Bible is where discussion should end for Christians, or where it should begin. Diglotting begins reviewing Maurice Casey’s latest book, Jesus of Nazareth. Remnants of Giants asks whether the Noah’s Ark theme park will include giants. Sharp Iron asks how to define what a “Christian” is. NakedPastor shared the cartoon on the right. Read more

I am trying this semester to set Fridays aside to focus primarily on working on the Mandaean Book of John, and hope to blog more frequently on this topic in the weeks to come than I have managed to recently. As I work on translating chapter 18, which tells a story about portents preceding the birth of John the Baptist and the reaction of Zechariah, I am struck that there does not seem to be any comparable ancient retelling of... Read more

I received notice today about this event in the vicinity of Indianapolis: INTERNATIONAL BIBLICAL SCHOLAR TO SPEAK AT FRANKLIN COLLEGE 2010-11 FAITH-BASED LECTURE SERIES FRANKLIN, Ind. – Dr. Marcus Borg will present “Telling the Story of Jesus Today,” Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Branigin Room of the Napolitan Student Center as part of the college’s 2010-11 faith-based Convocation Lecture Series. Borg is the Canon Theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. He is internationally known in... Read more

On the Internet Archive today I happened to discover that another book related to the study of the Mandaeans has been added: Theodor Nöldeke, Über die Mundart der Mandäer. It is also on Google Books: Read more

Mark Goodacre shared the following two videos which look at Jesus’ context (or matrix). Mark also asks whether it is still the case that anyone who hears “matrix” thinks only of The Matrix. In naming my blog “Exploring Our Matrix” it was my hope both that people would think of the Matrix, but also understand that it is a double entendre, and refers to exploring our own setting and reflecting on it, without assuming that it is an illusary simulation... Read more

Was Jesus buried, and if so, was it in a tomb, a trench grave, or in some other way? This is the question (or set of related questions) that Answers in Genesis BUSTED! is pondering at present. The burial of Jesus is a topic that I have long found fascinating. When the relevant volume of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception comes out later this year, there will be a multi-author article on the reception history of those stories,... Read more