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Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category

#43 Countdown to exams, gotta go go go

Posted in God, Prayer, Religion, Theology, tagged on December 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »

It hardly seems possible, but a full year has passed since my first post!  Forty-two posts later, the time has come for me to set blogging aside.  With Ph.D. exams scheduled for February, 2010, I must focus on my studies and nothing but my studies. When I launched this blog, little did I expect the [...]

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#42 Inviting Jesus to his Birthday bash

Posted in Religion, Spiritual Exercises, Spirituality, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Are you satisfied with a purely secular approach to the Christmas season?  If not, you might consider spending some time reading the New Testament gospels and reflecting on the life and teachings of Jesus that they depict. Skeptics will resist this suggestion but could soften their stance when they learn that respected thinkers like Thomas [...]

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#41 Christmas doubts–did Jesus exist?

Posted in Religion, tagged , , on December 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Some claim that Jesus—whose birthday Christians and plenty of non-Christians are preparing to celebrate—never existed. The people of Jesus’ time displayed no such skepticism, but for those of us who demand empirical evidence, Jesus is mentioned in several important sources (other than the New Testament).  According to the New Testament scholars Dennis Duling and Norman [...]

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#40 What do Jesus and Reagan have in common?

Posted in God, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Religious Philosophy, tagged , , , , , , on November 22, 2009 | 3 Comments »

According to Jonathan Chait, the author of The Big Con:  Crackpot Economics and the Fleecing of America, “In the conservative mind, the Ronald Reagan presidency lives on in the golden shimmering past, an ideal that Reagan’s successors must strive to approach but can never fully live up to, like the teachings of Christ.” Although Reagan [...]

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#39 Getting religious texts to fess up

Posted in Religion, tagged , on November 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Because they’re driven to find a few good answers, enquiring readers engage texts actively, whether that text is religious or otherwise.  Pencil in hand, they ask tough questions, follow arguments closely (looking for gaps), and watch for hidden claims and assumptions.  They interrogate texts much like a police officer interrogates a witness. And in fact, [...]

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#38 Multifaith squabble–over love!

Posted in God, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Religions, Religion, Theological Ethics, Theology, tagged , , , , on October 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

If you imagine that multifaith dialogue is easy, this post will change your mind. Continue reading but be warned that you’ll be asked to tease out the intricacies of an argument between the University of Chicago historian, David Nirenberg, a champion of secularism, and His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, the champion par excellence of Roman [...]

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#37 This little light of mine

Posted in Religion, Spirituality, tagged , , , , on October 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Did some African American slaves prefer suicide, even if they were afraid of dying?  How many chose to end their lives?  How many regretted not having the means to do so? Suicide requires courage, but requires less courage than submitting to torture. Death is not always the worst outcome, what’s worst is suffering that goes [...]

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#36 The luminous gospel of transcendental universalism

Posted in God, Religion, Religious Philosophy, Theology, tagged , , on October 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »

The Reverend Forrest Church died of esophageal cancer last week at the much-too-young age of 61. His life story continues to speak to us. Church began his ministerial career preaching the gospel of rational belief—the kind of gospel that limits itself to teachings the human mind can comprehend and experience can confirm.  He surveyed the [...]

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#29 Wisdom, Prophecy and God

Posted in God, Prayer, Religion, Theology, tagged , , on July 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

A Situation: The man gazed guiltily at his old friend across his congealing plate of huevos rancheros.  He’d flown into Albuquerque the day before, two months after he’d watched his wife lose her battle with breast cancer.  Now, as he ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant, he agonized over the affair he’d had during his [...]

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#28 And the newest convert from atheism is…

Posted in Philosophy of Religion, Religion, tagged , , , on July 8, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Atheists, you’re about to get a lot more attention.  In Turkey, a new game-show will soon pit clergy from various faith traditions against each other by letting them have a go at trying to coax “sworn” atheists into their respective folds.  The show, called “Penitents Compete,” will give an imam, a Buddhist monk, a rabbi, [...]

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