"When a person makes an explicit vow to the Lord concerning the equivalent for a human being, the equivalent for a male shall be: from twenty to sixty years of age the equivalent shall be fifty shekels of silver by the sanctuary shekel. If the person is a female, the equivalent is thirty shekels." Read more
"Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister." Read more
John Calvin also found this Just So story of Joseph and Pharaoh difficult and distressing. Calvin thought this story was something to be contended with. His commentary on Genesis 47 flails about when it gets to this story, trying on various arguments to “defend Joseph” from what appears to be “the height of cruel and inexplicable avarice” and a “miserable spectacle” in which Joseph “abused their penury.” Read more
This rejection of tradition makes possible idiosyncratic new interpretive frameworks, such as the prophecy schemes of premillennial dispensationalism. But these innovative, heterodox frameworks in turn impose their own, new "traditions" that shape the meaning of the text for their adherents. Read more
The Pew Research Center says a new survey shows "Highly religious Americans are less likely than others to see conflict between faith and science." But the survey doesn't show that at all. What it shows, rather, is that Real, True Christians also imagine they alone possess the Real, True Science. Read more
Great Scott! It's Back to the Future Day. Some random Wednesday notes, including: The unbelievable resumes of itinerant preachers; the Benedict option for racists; farewell to Mythbusters; and why the original idea of Sunday school was better for churches and for everyone else. Read more
The world is supposed to be just like it was before -- back when we were kids. That means bedtime stories, playing in the back yard, prayer in schools, leaded gasoline and lousy lightbulbs, women and minorities who knew their place, gays in the closet, white men in the White House, and centerfolds in Playboy. Read more
In theater, you never use a prop gun that's capable of shooting live ammo, you never allow live ammo anywhere near your prop gun, and you never stage a scene so that even a prop gun loaded with blanks is pointing directly at any actor or audience member. An Arizona troupe just got all three of those things wrong. Plus: Reading the Bible as it is; young-Earth creationism and pool filters; and my state's awkward practice of electing its Supreme Court justices. Read more
I've heard and seen this claim endlessly repeated by apparently well-meaning white evangelicals for decades. In their circles, this is something that Everyone Knows to be true -- even though it's completely false. And even though it's transparently false -- a bogus claim that can't withstand even a momentary bit of scrutiny. Read more
"When you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you shall bring it back. When you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden and you would hold back from setting it free, you must help to set it free." Read more
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