Blogs
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
