Hovercraft Jesus and the problem of love
There are rules here at psnt.net. One of them is: There shall be no posts even remotely related to Justin Bieber or his mom. Another one is: Never post images that flash, make noise, or move. But when we saw this sweet animated gif, our resistance proved futile. Image source: lol god As many of [...]
More on atheism and negative theology
Eric of Taizé, Transfiguration, stained glass. Image source: the Taizé Community. The Transfiguration is a biblical story that connects strongly with negative theology and the contemplative way I’ve an article that appeared at Religion Dispatches a couple of days ago. It’s about atheism and negative theology. I’ve heard from a lot of folks about it. [...]
On Hanukkah and the miraculous
Anonymous, Hanukkah, 18th century. Source: Wikimedia Commons Sometimes I wish all the miracles in the Bible would just go away. Except maybe the Incarnation and Resurrection. The bigger and flashier the miracle the more I wish it would disappear. But there they all are, from Noah to Daniel to the loaves and fishes. So I [...]
Peace, with teeth
John and Yoko de-fanging peace. Amsterdam, March 1969. What a joke. I love Lennon’s music, but this “bed-in” was just a goofy publicity stunt, and it probably did as much as any other event to make peace the vapid and empty word it is today. Image source: time.com We say we want peace, but in [...]
Imagine there’s no heaven
Gustave Doré, Rosa Celeste: Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the Empyrean, 1892. The big red X is of 21st century provenance. Source: Wikimedia Commons What makes a Christian, a Christian? More precisely: Must one believe in heaven to be a Christian? A few days ago, I wrote an opinion piece for Religion Dispatches. In this [...]
La Pietà and the cosmos
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, La Pietà (detail), 1499 I have just come out of what was perhaps the most inspiring lecture I have ever attended. You have no idea how amazing it was. Believe it or not, it was about Michelangelo‘s La Pietà and the cosmos. It was also about John Calvin. It was [...]
Two apologies for apologetic
Raphael Sanzio da Urbino, Study for St. Paul Preaching in Athens, 1515. Source: raphaelsanzio.org. This work shows St. Paul atop the Aeropagus in Athens, defending Christianity to a bunch of cranky philosophers I must apologize. Twice. Just last week I began my third and final year of seminary. Which means I’ve been reading all kinds [...]
Let’s give it up for The Wheeled One and his amazing disappearing God
Professor Stephen Hawking derives a partition function at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario on 6 July 2010. Photo by Jason Ransom To have occupied the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge University is a really big deal. No doubt about that. Its current occupant, Michael B. Green, is a major-league string [...]
Some Baptists just can’t keep their heads
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Salome with the Head of the Baptist c. 1609. Source: caravaggio-foundation.org In the last month a friend of mine at church has sent me some interesting stories provided by the Associated Baptist Press. Both have to do with statements made by faculty and administration of the once-great Southern Baptist Theological Seminary [...]
Nonsense for the rest of us
Benozzo Gozzoli, The Glory of Saint Thomas Aquinas. 1468-1484. Source: Wikimedia Commons. The speech bubble is of 21st-century provenance One of the pillars of the “New Atheism” (there’s nothing new about it) is that theology is a naked emperor. That is, theology is nonsense, through and through. And theologians, even really smart ones, are fundamentally [...]
