If you regard canon as a magical category that imparts to a text some greater import than the actual words of that text, then I'm afraid that neither the poem nor the Gospel story will be quite as satisfying to you as they might be if their canonicity were confirmable with greater certainty. In that case, I suppose, it won't matter that both the poem and the Gospel story are good, beautiful and true. Read more
On Monday, Frank Robinson visited the Orioles spring training camp in Florida. That’s a big deal. Frank Robinson is the kind of hall-of-famer that other hall-of-famers regard with awe. He was Rookie of the Year in 1956, NL MVP in 1961, and AL MVP in 1966, when he won the triple crown. He hit 586 home runs — still enough to rank him No. 9 on the all-time list. And in 1975 he became the first black manager in the... Read more
No. Read more
The bigger problem here is Michael's contention that "the witnesses predicted in the Scriptures" will be martyred by Israel, "where the real Messiah is hated." That's a big change from what the book of Revelation actually says, which is that these witnesses are themselves Israelites who will be martyred by the Beast/Babylon/empire. Read more
Notre Dame's argument gets big laughs in court. What's the simplest explanation for why Ted Nugent keeps saying really, really racist things? A pastor's open letter to the white Christians of Florida. And a local traffic reporter has had enough of being Frozen. Read more
I wish that Hal Lindsey hadn't convinced tens of millions of Christians that their faith was an otherworldly business that consisted of little more than sitting around waiting for the Rapture. I wish that Francis Schaeffer hadn't transformed American evangelicalism into a movement that identifies itself as an anti-abortion Van Helsing chasing after Satanic baby-killers. But it would be dishonest to pretend, as D.G. Hart does, that their lamentably massive influence was of no real consequence. Read more
Jenn at Words From Poor Folks says poverty "is like being punched in the face over and over and over on a daily basis." Peter Enns responds to an Evangelical Theological Seminary flyer that looks like someone like me made it as a parody of anti-reality tribalism. Brian McLaren says there's "a long list of things that older white evangelicals need to rethink." And Rachel Tabachnik digs up some John Birch Society paranoia about the Civil Rights Movement that reads like a tea party blog from 2014. Read more
But the really confusing and upsetting part isn't the stuff they find in there that ain't there, it's the stuff that is in there that they somehow never see. "Loose the bonds of injustice ... share your bread with the hungry." "Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly." Those are messages from God, spelled out right there on the page. Read more
A five-day work week? That's a union thing -- and unions are evil doncha know. "Jesus wants you heavily armed." Houston church desperately fighting to get on the wrong side of the gospel. (You thought I was gonna say "wrong side of history"? That too.) After they finished writing the Constitution, the Founding Fathers had a drink or two. "This is a problem." Read more
I read some Linelander nonsense from a theologian flattening out eternity into a static, fatalistic crushed beer can. I let that go, though, because I'm not a physicist, and because I'm a temporal being whose every thought is shaped by my temporal reality, and this stuff exceeds my grasp. But then I heard the exact same Linelander nonsense coming from a fictional detective on TV, so now I want to respond. Read more
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