Daily Archives: 18/10/2010

No, the Vatican didn’t announce that Homer and Bart Simpson are Catholics

Posted on 18/10/2010 by

That’s right, the Vatican didn’t announce that Homer and Bart Simpson are Catholics.  The newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, which stands at arm’s length from the Holy See, had a light-hearted opinion piece on the subject, in an attempt to engage with contemporary … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Churches, Popular Culture, Society

Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral megachurch files for bankruptcy

Posted on 18/10/2010 by

Crystal Cathedral megachurch files for bankruptcy This is good news.  If other American megachurches follow suit, such as Joel Osteen’s Lakewood, it will be no loss.  Few of them have much to do with orthodox Christianity anyway.

Posted in Fundamentalism

The New Atheism is the new fundamentalism

Posted on 18/10/2010 by

Reza Aslan lays out the striking parallels: There is, as has often been noted, something peculiarly evangelistic about what has been termed the new atheist movement . . . It is no exaggeration to describe the movement popularized by the likes … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Fundamentalism | Tagged , , , ,

Good advice on writing from Alexander McCall Smith: don’t overwrite, block that adjective!

Posted on 18/10/2010 by

Block That Adjective! My bête noire — and there is nothing wrong with using the occasional French expression, although one does not want to sound too much like a menu — is overwriting.  Something is overwritten when there is just … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Writing

“Revelation must be historically conditioned” — Larry Hurtado on the Bible as sacred scripture

Posted on 18/10/2010 by

Imagine a line representing the continuum of opinion on the question of whether the biblical writings can be considered and can function in some real way as “Scriptures” (i.e., as conveying or uniquely witnessing to divine revelation).  At one end of … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies