Reading Time: < 1 minute “Philosophy is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat. Metaphysics is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat that isn’t there. Theology is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat that isn’t there, and shouting “I found it!” Science is […]
theology
Posted inUncategorized
A Reminder: The Pharaoh and Hardening of Hearts
Reading Time: 11 minutes This came up in conversation the other day, so let me just remind you of the terminal problems for the Exodus story faced by those who defend the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart… I know I only ran this recently, but some Christians have short memories. The Exodus is a story that is hugely important to […]
Posted inPhilosophy, Religion
Theology and Black Cats
Reading Time: < 1 minute This is a classic: “Philosophy is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat. Metaphysics is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat that isn’t there. Theology is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat that isn’t there, and shouting “I […]
Posted inReligion
Genesis and the Garden of Eden: It’s Just a Just So Story
Reading Time: 2 minutes This quote, from Kevin K, was pretty much spot on in its thrust: I honestly think people try to read too much into the tale. It’s a “Just So” myth, that explains many, many things about the human condition, most-specifically why we are separate and apart from other animals in many ways. Trying to read […]
Posted inThe Secular
If the Discovery of Alien Life Is Close, How Might This Affect Religion?
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Guardian recently ran an article that provokes some interesting thought and discussion. If we are close to finding alien life (for the sake of argument, though the number of exoplanets discovered is constantly rising), how would this affect the major religions of the world? Santhosh Mathew writes: The interaction with alien life is not just being […]
Posted inReligion
Stages of grief at the end of apologetics
Reading Time: 14 minutes I’ve been coming into contact with a lot of different ideas about apologetics itself as a field. One of the more intriguing of those ideas comes from Myron Penner, a Christian who wrote a book called The End of Apologetics. He did an interview with a blogger when the book came out, and the reactions to that interview were so fascinating that I wanted to show them to you.
Posted inReligion
Recasting the Movie: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Edition.
Reading Time: 9 minutes Today, we’ll look at how a dead German philosopher came into a resurgence of popularity–only to play an unexpected role in the Christian Right’s ongoing love affair with its own ego.
Posted inReligion
The Holy Trinity Is Incoherent #1
Reading Time: 6 minutes The Holy Trinity has had a problematic history, partly evidenced by point of fact that theologians still don’t agree on how it works, and partly seen from its ex post facto evolution, shoehorned into the scant evidence of the biblical texts. From Ignatius of Antioch onwards we see development of the idea in early church […]
Posted inGeneral, Religion, The Secular
A Godless Walk Through the Bible
Reading Time: 3 minutes What’s a guy to do if he has a graduate degree in biblical studies but no longer believes the religion(s) it espouses? He starts a Bible study for atheists, that’s what he does. And why the hell would atheists want to read or study the Bible? Gosh, I can think of a number of reasons. You interact with […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Star of Bethlehem in Alternative “Scholarship”
Reading Time: 9 minutes In my work in looking into the various theories about the Star of Bethlehem, I have primarily focused on efforts to explain the Star that are in the scientific or biblical studies literature. That will provide something of an orthodoxy, either with scientific ideas that have to be less than outlandish or with religious notions that do not drift far from conservative or evangelical thinking.