Blogs
Thoughts on Change
Posted on April 24, 2022
Due to an overwhelming week, I have not had time to write a blog as I normally would for the Quest News. I thought in place I would offer a few notes on current events in my life and what I am thinkin...Read More
The Serious Comedy of Palm Sunday
Posted on April 17, 2022
I have always been skeptical about whether what we call “Palm Sunday” (the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey) was a historical event. The problem is that the story is recorded in t...Read More
In Defense of Being Awake
Posted on April 10, 2022
According to Religion News Service (religionnews.com), since 2006 the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has lost over two million followers. And the trend continues downward. There are many sociologi...Read More
Embracing the Mythic
Posted on March 13, 2022
Before I developed friendships with Westar classical and biblical scholars, I was mostly a philosopher interested in the problem of history. As a philosopher, I learned about a distinction between res...Read More
Russia, Ukraine and Us
Posted on February 27, 2022
On Monday of this past week the Kenyan Ambassador to the United Nations, Martin Kimani, reminded the Security Council of his country's history with empire. The borders of his country, like the borders...Read More
Is Jesus Becoming Post-Imperial?
Posted on February 13, 2022
Many things happened to the historical Jesus between the time of his life around 30 CE and the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. These “things” were both philosophical and political in nature. ...Read More
Convoys and Constitutions
Posted on January 30, 2022
A truck convoy, self-titled the freedom convoy, rolled across Canada and into Ottawa this weekend. It is hard to tell who the principal organizer of this event is. I have seen various representatives ...Read More
Religion and the Fourth Consciousness
Posted on January 16, 2022
I do not usually write about things related to or close to mysticism, and this writing is not directly about that subject. The comments to follow, however, are unusual for me. I will be general, but I...Read More
When Fiction Speaks Truth
Posted on December 05, 2021
A fiction is a made-up story, and truth is something that really happens. That’s the way we normally think. No one who testifies in a court of law agrees to tell the fiction, the whole fiction, ...Read More
Learning from the Middle Ages
Posted on November 28, 2021
One of my friends on Facebook posted a fake book meme directed at anti-vaxxers. The book is entitled, “Freedom: How You Can Reject Modern Medicine and Die Like a Medieval Peasant.” I stres...Read More
Science, Religion and Denial
Posted on November 14, 2021
Often when I do public talks, a question will start with someone saying, “I am not a scholar, but….” I think it is important to say that it is okay not to be a scholar. And, equally...Read More
Religion: Ideology and Utopia
Posted on October 24, 2021
In the 1970s, sociologists distinguished between ideological and utopian forms of religion. The distinction was based on two German words used for social analysis in the late nineteenth century, Gemei...Read More
Nietzsche- The Good and the Bad
Posted on October 10, 2021
Our postmodern era very much rests on the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Many have repeated, and many have been right, that Nietzsche is the event that turned modernity into postmodernity. Nietzsc...Read More
Nietzsche and the Historical Jesus
Posted on September 26, 2021
Friedrich Nietzsche lived from 1844 to 1900, and the historical Jesus lived in the early first century. They probably did not have a lot in common. As most critically minded people know, determining w...Read More
Friedrich Nietzsche and John Shelby Spong
Posted on September 19, 2021
John Shelby Spong died on Sunday, September 12, at home with his family. Spong was one of those people who had a great influence far and wide. He was an appealing, even remarkable, public speaker. He...Read More
This is Our House!
Posted on January 10, 2021
"This is Our House"One individual inside the United States Capitol Building on Wednesday screamed in anger at ITV reporter Robert Moore, “This is our house!” I think “our house&rdquo...Read More
Christmas According to John
Posted on December 20, 2020
Christmas According to JohnWhen it comes to Christmas and the birth of Jesus, my favourite gospel is Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew has four interesting women in the genealogy of Jesus, and Matthew kn...Read More
Authentic and Conspiracy Theories
Posted on December 06, 2020
Authentic and Conspiracy Theories I don’t know very much about pseudo-science, which is the basis of conspiracy theories, but I do know how to define these words. Pseudo (pseudein) is a Greek wo...Read More
Humanism, Posthumanism, and Transhumanism: Issues for the Human Future
Posted on November 22, 2020
Some rising questions in theology involve humanism, posthumanism, and transhumanism. I will try to define each of these words and highlight how theology may think about issues of the human future. Hu...Read More
The Political Jesus
Posted on October 25, 2020
The Political JesusI confess I am reluctant to mix politics with religion because the result can be divisive. Nevertheless, I promised thoughts on the topic of the political Jesus. It is important fi...Read More
Church History and False Dilemmas
Posted on October 18, 2020
Church History and False DilemmasAs the United States' election draws near, it is hard not to speak about politics. I will refrain from doing so, at least directly, but perhaps next week I will ventur...Read More
Ancient Thinking Compared to Modern
Posted on September 27, 2020
Ancient Thinking Compared to Modern One of the key insights of modern history, from about the eighteenth century onward, is that ancient people had a different worldview compared to the modern worldvi...Read More
Saving Araius-A heretic for our Times
Posted on September 13, 2020
Saving Arius: A Heretic for Our TimesArius was a presbyter, a leader of a church, somewhere in Libya. He was born sometime before the year 280 and died sometime after the year 333. Not much is known a...Read More
Learnings of a White Theologian from Black Theology
Posted on June 21, 2020
The seminal book that introduced black theology to me was James H. Cone’s A Black Theology of Liberation (New York: Orbis Books, 1986). When I first learned of Cone (1938–2018), I was eith...Read More
Theology and Fascism
Posted on June 07, 2020
Theology and Fascism In a recent blog I wrote for Westar, I referred to White nationalism as a form of theological fascism. I find it hard to use the word “fascism” because it invokes Naz...Read More
Tradition: Our Whence or Our Whither
Posted on May 24, 2020
On Tradition: Our Whence and Our WhitherWhen studying questions in history and philosophy, tradition is a term that often comes into play. The very word “tradition” carries a certain weigh...Read More
Five Top Things Early Christians Teach Us
Posted on April 12, 2020
Quest Thoughts: Top Five Things Early Christians Teach UsThere are two caveats to acknowledge before listing the top five things early Christians teach us. The first is that early Christians did not ...Read More
Christian Fundamentalism: Trouble with the Bible and Beyond
Posted on March 22, 2020
Christian Fundamentalism: Trouble with the Bible and Beyond The political and social trend in North America over the last decade or more has been toward libertarianism. I’m sure that’s no...Read More
Christian Fundamentalism: Trouble with the Bible and Beyond
Posted on March 08, 2020
I’m sure that anyone who has been in or around Christian fundamentalism knows the question very well. “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal saviour?” Once I was a...Read More
Christian Fundamentalism: Dependence on Rationality o
Posted on February 23, 2020
Christian Fundamentalism: Dependance on RationalityWhen I indicated, in the last e-News, that I would issue a series of three blogs on Christian fundamentalism, there was wide interest. When I stated ...Read More
Christian Fundamentalism: Trust and Fear
Posted on February 09, 2020
Christian Fundamentalism: Trust and FearOver the next three issues of the Quest E-News, my aim is to share my impressions and worries about fundamentalism. I will address the questions of 1) trust and...Read More
After the Jargon
Posted on January 26, 2020
After the JargonWhen I started graduate studies at McGill University years ago, I recall how much academic jargon my peers and professors commonly used. I knew pretty quickly that if I did not pick up...Read More
Cult as Community or Isolation
Posted on January 12, 2020
Cult as Community or IsolationWhen I was a chaplain at McGill University, over two decades ago, I had an encounter with a cult. Several students had gotten involved in this religious group that claime...Read More
Cult as Community or Isolation
Posted on January 12, 2020
Cult as Community or IsolationWhen I was a chaplain at McGill University, over two decades ago, I had an encounter with a cult. Several students had gotten involved in this religious group that claime...Read More
Redeeming Paganism in Christianity
Posted on December 22, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Redeeming Paganism in ChristianityWhen Christianity rose as a Roman imperial religion, pagan began to take on the derogatory meaning of individuals who were backward, ignorant, and imm...Read More
Church and Gospel Christmas
Posted on December 15, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Church and Gospel Christmas In the Christian tradition, this time of year is Advent. Blue and purple are colours often associated with Advent, with blue becoming more popular today. Bl...Read More
Which God Do I Hear?
Posted on November 17, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Which God Do I Hear? Certain passages in the Bible can make us shake our heads asking, “What kind of God would….” Second Kings 2:23–24 is one such passage. Her...Read More
What's Old is New Again
Posted on November 10, 2019
Quest Thoughts: What is Old is New Again Certain issues, questions, and concerns never go away; they may change their form or context, but they seem to hang around forever. One such issue is the relat...Read More
Render Unto Caesar
Posted on October 13, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Render Unto Caesar The headline on the Twitter feed read, “'Prominent Christian activist' says that Evangelicals have a 'moral obligation' to vote for Trump." Christian activists...Read More
Why the Historical Jesus Question Matters
Posted on September 22, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Why the Historical Jesus Question Matters I have a friend in the United States who says he is an atheist and has been for years. Nevertheless, he loves the historical Jesus question an...Read More
The Bias Criticism
Posted on September 15, 2019
Quest Thoughts: The Bias Criticism I have been writing Quest Learning Centre blogs in this newsletter format for about five years. It is probably not a surprise to know that readers criticize Quest bl...Read More
The Deaths of God
Posted on June 30, 2019
Quest Thoughts: The Deaths of God Last year at Brock University, my students and I hosted a bi-monthly discussion club on various topics in religion. Topics included women in religion, climate change,...Read More
Another Look at Heresy
Posted on June 09, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Another Look at Heresy If there was a standard list of ancient Christian heresies, it would probably boil down to a top three: Adoptionism, Gnosticism, and Modalism. These three are no...Read More
Intersexed Jesus
Posted on May 26, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Intersexed Jesus When we think of a typical image of Jesus, likely most of us, most of the time, think of a male, somewhat muscular, probably suffering on a cross, with a beard. It is ...Read More
What Makes a Theologian
Posted on May 12, 2019
Quest Thoughts: What Makes a Theologian? As a student, I followed theology very closely. Like in sports, I had my idols, and I would measure new theologians and their ideas against my tried and true i...Read More
Is Religion the Problem
Posted on April 28, 2019
The Revised Common Lectionary reading for the second Sunday of Easter (Year C) includes a reading from Acts with the line, "We must obey God rather than any human being" (Acts 5:29). The book of Acts...Read More
The Parable and Me
Posted on April 14, 2019
Quest Thoughts: The Parable and Me I am reading Bob Funk on parables, and one of the good comments he relays is that we do not interpret parables. Parables interpret us. Funk takes this comment from w...Read More
Decoloniality
Posted on March 31, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Decoloniality Comments on theology and philosophy often involve strange, creative words that are not immediately known. Sometimes the word seems familiar but is used in a unique way. T...Read More
The Nature of Religion
Posted on March 10, 2019
Quest Thoughts: The Nature of Religion Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) is often considered the modern founder of sociology because of his contributions to the analysis of society and the evolution of socia...Read More
A Original Creed
Posted on February 24, 2019
Quest Thoughts: An Original Creed? In Protestant Christianity, since the time of the Reformation, a dominant idea has been that getting back to the Bible and to original Christianity is the proper act...Read More
Falsifiability and Religion
Posted on February 17, 2019
Quest Thoughts: Falsifiability and ReligionThe definition of falsifiability is the capacity of a proposition, statement, or theory to be proven wrong. Falsifiability is an extremely important but very...Read More
Hegel and Fascism
Posted on January 27, 2019
Hegel and Fascism I have a great love for nineteenth-century thinkers. Schleiermacher, Feuerbach, Strauss, Nietzsche, and Marx are among my favourites. I used to love Kierkegaard when I was younger, b...Read More
McJesus
Posted on January 20, 2019
McJesus A provocative work of art inspires thoughts on Jesus' death A piece of art in Israel has sparked outrage among the Israeli Arab Christian minority. The art work in question is entitled &ldqu...Read More
Yellow Vests and Maximum Wage
Posted on December 09, 2018
Quest Thoughts: Yellow Vests and Maximum Wage The "yellow vest" protest in France has attracted a lot of attention. To my understanding, since 2008 it has been mandatory in France to have a yellow ves...Read More
Jesus as Comedian
Posted on November 25, 2018
Quest Thoughts: Jesus as Comedian When I attended the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature a week ago, I heard an excellent lecture on the historical Jesus. It was a lecture about how ...Read More
Christianity and War
Posted on November 11, 2018
Quest Thoughts: Christianity and War If Christianity were truly based on the teaching of Jesus, it would be a religion of non-violence. Love your enemies, turn the other cheek, and walk a second mile ...Read More
Jesus Did Not Die for Our Sins
Posted on October 07, 2018
Quest Thoughts: There was much buzz this week at the Westar Institute when it was learned that Greg Gutfeld compared the Brett Kavanaugh hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee to the crucifix...Read More
Computers and Theology
Posted on September 09, 2018
Quest Thoughts: Computers and Theology I am no expert when it comes to computers. I wish I knew a lot more about programming than I do. I can build a computer, and I have built several computers mysel...Read More
Symbol-Making and Deception
Posted on June 03, 2018
Human beings are symbol makers, and as we grow up the first challenge in life is to learn how to use our most basic symbol system, which is language. Other animals and even plants use symbols in certa...Read More
The Turn from Neo-Orthodoxy Theology
Posted on May 13, 2018
Neo-orthodox theology is a fancy term for traditionalism. It identifies a theology that begins with the absolute sovereignty of God and, from there, moves to the apologetic defense of traditional Chr...Read More
An Avoided Challenge from the 19th Century
Posted on May 06, 2018
Quest Thoughts: An Avoided Challenge from the 19th Century I attended a seminary for a mainline Protestant denomination. Though I have since matured in thought, the thing I remember most was having fi...Read More
Theology and History on Easter
Posted on April 01, 2018
Easter announces that Jesus has risen from the dead. It also announces chocolate, bunnies, and a statutory holiday. In many cases, the latter elements exceed the former in importance. That's understan...Read More
Rome, America and Honesty
Posted on March 18, 2018
The parallels between modern America and ancient Rome are curious and sometimes even astounding. There is the Republican definition of government in both ancient Rome and modern America. There are th...Read More
Interpretation and Experience
Posted on March 04, 2018
Interpretation and Experience Biblical scholars make a distinction between scriptural influences and personal influences when examining the resurrection stories about Jesus. This distinction can be de...Read More
Who was Jesus
Posted on February 18, 2018
Quest Thoughts: Jesus as a Post-Durkheimian Figure. In the past, I have tried different ways to approach Jesus as a unique historical figure by talking about a "secular" Jesus, a non-apocalyptic Jes...Read More
Things are not as they seem.
Posted on January 28, 2018
Quest Thoughts: Things are Not as They SeemBy David Galston"How does Jesus compare to other wisdom teachers?" is a question I am frequently asked. I am always hesitant to answer because all ancient te...Read More
Christmas and Religious Change
Posted on December 17, 2017
Christmas and Religious ChangeBy David Galston When we change our diets, two things often happen. One is that our bodies take some time to adjust. When new foods become staples and old foods are no lo...Read More
The Inside Joke
Posted on December 10, 2017
Quest Thoughts: The Inside Joke I did not get the joke. Musicians laughed at a cartoon about how composers modulate, change from an old to a new key. The joke involved Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopi...Read More
Good Remembering
Posted on November 11, 2017
Good Remembering One of the major insights arising from early 20th-century biblical scholarship was form criticism. Forms critics noted literary constructs that survived in oral tradition and came to...Read More
God is Dead
Posted on November 05, 2017
God is DeadThe short, famous, phrase of Friedrich Nietzsche, God is dead, is an aphorism and not a statement of belief. Nietzsche did not originate the phrase, but he used it most notably in a parable...Read More
A Secular Jesus
Posted on October 29, 2017
A Secular JesusMy first experiment with the historical Jesus in church occurred in Hamilton, Ontario. I was appointed to lead a community set up to explore new forms of Christianity. I wanted to see i...Read More
Of Time and Dates
Posted on October 15, 2017
When Charles Darwin's theory of evolution first gained popularity, one criticism was that the natural process he described took time, lots of time. In the 1700's Georges-Louis Leclerc estimated the ea...Read More
Biblical Criticism
Posted on September 24, 2017
In Biblical Studies, there are two basic movements of criticism. The backward movement is the study of early units of developing tradition, and the forward movement is the study of later combinat...Read More
Religion Change Deniers
Posted on September 10, 2017
There are climate change deniers. Though I do not know, likely most readers of the Quest E-News will say, "Tell me something I don't know." What about religion change deniers? Is there such a thing as...Read More
Father's Day Thoughts on Paul
Posted on June 18, 2017
On Father's Day, it is hard to find positive images of fathers, whether of God or human fathers, in the Bible. The world of the Bible was one in which the typical arrangement was women inside the dome...Read More
The Pearl of Great Price
Posted on June 11, 2017
The parable is a simple one, yet so very deceiving. It goes like this. "There was a merchant in search of fine pearls. Upon finding one pearl of great value, he sold all that he had and bought that pe...Read More
Fake News and Standards of Knowledge
Posted on June 04, 2017
The Quest E-news has a wide distribution. Often, readers send questions and comments to the Quest Centre. From an American reader, the following question was asked, to which I'd like to make a respons...Read More
The Philosophy of Religion
Posted on May 14, 2017
In the Philosophy of Religion, the definition of religion is "a system of rituals and beliefs that make a claim about reality." For example, a Christian might claim that reality is the creation of God...Read More
Defending Science
Posted on May 08, 2017
According to David Friedrich Strauss (1835-1872), angels are mythical beings who serve two purposes. One is to reflect our hope that there is intelligence beyond the human experience, and the other is...Read More
Spirit, Soul and Mind
Posted on April 16, 2017
The ancient Greeks had three words to describe human psychology: the spirit, the soul, and the mind. When I first engaged in the academic study of philosophy, I could never tell the difference between...Read More
Reconsidering Reinhold Niebuhr
Posted on April 02, 2017
It is hard to avoid thinking about political issues these days. And politics as it is, it is also hard to avoid thinking about truth and falsity. When a political regime as powerful as the United Stat...Read More
What is a Tyrant?
Posted on March 12, 2017
The philosopher Aristotle wrote in Book V of his Politics, "People are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious." Aristotle agreed with Plato, his t...Read More
Cain and Abel
Posted on March 05, 2017
When someone first learns to study the Bible critically, the moment is often described as a great awakening that begins with a shock. I still remember the first time my childhood belief in the creatio...Read More
Heroism
Posted on February 12, 2017
There have been many descriptions of the U.S. government's attempt to block travel to and from seven mostly Muslim countries. Presently, the Executive Order is judged unconstitutional and blocked in t...Read More
Facts, Theorems and Theories
Posted on February 05, 2017
"Facts alone are what is wanted in life" is one of the opening sentences of Charles Dickens' Hard Times. Thomas Gradgind is the first character we know in that novel who is the teacher who wants the f...Read More
What is Greatness?
Posted on January 22, 2017
What is greatness? The writers of the Bible, just like us, struggled to determine the greatness of human beings and nations. Sometimes the images and metaphors used were inspiring, and sometimes they...Read More
Learning from Karl Marx
Posted on January 08, 2017
Academic friends of mine have often said that the problem with Karl Marx's economic theories is that they require an education to understand. This isn't a put-down of anyone (me in particular). It's a...Read More
Radical Aspects of the Christmas Story in the Gospel of Luke
Posted on December 18, 2016
In the past several months I have participated in "Jesus Seminar on the Road" events (JSORs). At these events, the effort is to share the results of the academic study of religion with the general pub...Read More
What Went Wrong?
Posted on December 11, 2016
A significant 20th Century subject in Philosophy is called "phenomenology." Both the word and the subject are hard to define, but fortunately examples are easy. When we get used to seeing something ev...Read More
Humanism and Science
Posted on December 04, 2016
Religion is full of things that never happened. Let me make a short list. The exodus of hundreds of thousands from Egypt in approximately 1250 B.C.E. never happened. The physical resurrection of Jesus...Read More
Post-Modern Theology
Posted on November 27, 2016
This past week I was privileged to attend the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Approximately 10,000 scholars from mostly North America and Europe meet each year in the context...Read More
Theology and Poetry
Posted on November 13, 2016
This past Monday at the age of 82, Leonard Cohen, an iconic Canadian singer, songwriter, and poet, and a member of the Order of Canada, peacefully died at his home in Los Angeles. The Magazine Rolling...Read More
Halloween
Posted on October 30, 2016
Halloween is one of those festivals that divides historians. On the one side, Halloween is seen as a Christianization of a Pagan harvest festival that marked the end of Autumn and the beginning of Win...Read More
The Value of Theology
Posted on October 16, 2016
Theology is an academic subject that includes history and philosophy. Unlike history and philosophy, however, theology must address contemporary issues and understand why human beings think the way th...Read More
Thanksgiving Origins
Posted on October 09, 2016
Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada occurs at different times. It's the fourth Thursday of November in the U.S. and the second Monday of October in Canada. When I was a boy I was always told ...Read More
Christian Atheism
Posted on October 02, 2016
Archbishop Desmond Tutu once stated that if the White South Africans wanted to keep the Black South Africans down, "they never should have given us the Bible." Though the situation is neither the same...Read More
Helping Jesus Fulfill Prophecy
Posted on September 25, 2016
Helping Jesus Fulfill Prophecy is the title of a book by my friend, Robert Miller. It's a great book that I am pleased to recommend. It makes a very important point that affects not only the study of ...Read More
The Protestant Principle
Posted on September 11, 2016
This Sunday is the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001. I recall wrestling, on the Sunday following that event, with the question of religion and violence and with the historical Je...Read More
Q and the Historical Jesus
Posted on February 28, 2015
The quest for the historical Jesus begins with accepting this basic directive of Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768), “We are justified in drawing an absolute distinction between the teaching of...Read More
The Theology of Mark
Posted on February 21, 2015
The whole theology of the Gospel of Mark is evident in the outline of the Gospel. Introduction: Words and Deeds (1:1-8:21)Central Section: Identity of Jesus (8:22-10:52)Jesus and Authorities: Controv...Read More
Jesus, History, Church: Some Thoughts
Posted on December 20, 2014
The assumptions of a person who approaches the Bible historically and with best contemporary knowledge available are threefold: 1) the ancient world and the modern world are different places with diff...Read More
Christ Myth and the Voice of Jesus
Posted on December 07, 2014
The “Christ myth” is the proposition that Jesus of Nazareth, as a historical figure from the first century, never existed. However, the proposition that Jesus never existed is really a min...Read More
Why Care About the Historical Jesus
Posted on March 29, 2014
The Historical Jesus question seems like a very academic one unrelated to practical life. But this can be a mistaken perception. The Historical Jesus question does encourage us to understand myth, que...Read More
Jesus the Poet: Politics and Poetic Imagination
Posted on February 22, 2014
It is not easy to talk about the historical Jesus and politics because it is really not clear what sort of political ideology Jesus may or may not have held. What happens is that scholars need first t...Read More
Jesus the Poet: What Did he Mean
Posted on February 01, 2014
Factual knowledge and poetic knowledge are two distinct ways human beings have to relate to the world. Another word for factual knowledge is technical knowledge, and it is the best way we have to unde...Read More
Jesus the Poet: What did he Really Say?
Posted on January 25, 2014
The descriptions of Jesus in the Christian gospels are not biographies but theologies: not facts about Jesus but what the writers believed about Jesus. To reach the historical Jesus one has to get beh...Read More
Troubling Quests
Posted on August 31, 2013
The quest for the historical Jesus is a historic moment in religion and causes the emerges of several new questions....Read More
The Prodigal Son
Posted on March 31, 2013
Why did Jesus speak in parables? Let's look at the Prodigal Son....Read More
Mytheme and Parable
Posted on January 27, 2013
Some parables of Jesus are anti-religion and make us face reality....Read More
Matthew's Birth of Jesus
Posted on December 17, 2011
Not a virgin birth story in Matthew. Something else is going on....Read More
