Reformation Fever

I’m still really busy at the moment unfortunately, and expect to be right up until the end of December – so it seems I’m neglecting the blog at the moment – it’s 1:30am bedtimes every night, and early mornings every morning just for the present couple of months.

I have noticed a couple of interesting church history items though, especially for those in the UK:

1) Diarmaid MacCulloch is presenting a series on the history of Christianity on the BBC at the moment.  It moves relatively swiftly, and is pretty introductory, but it’s interesting and enjoyable viewing (while working of course!)

2) Eamon Duffy will be presenting the Firth lectures at the University of Nottingham this year – on Reformation, Counter-reformation, and the English nation.  Should be interesting!

Ephesians

Here’s the latest Bibledex video (on Ephesians), complete with footage of Thiselton’s dog!

And for those who aren’t familiar with the theology department at Nottingham, here’s an intro to the main people

 

1 Thessalonians and the Raptor

The English word “rapture” comes from the latin “raptor”, meaning “most excellent of the dinosaurs”.  The point is that… ummm… well anyway, here’s the Bibledex video to explain further…

If God is all-loving and all-powerful, why are there dentists in the world?

I try to comfort myself by thinking about it in this way:

1. God did not create darkness; he created light – and darkness is simply the absence of light
2. God did not create evil; he created good – and evil is simply a corruption of good
3. God did not create dentists; he created doctors – and a third of them became corrupted, or “dented”… from which we get the term “dentists”

(I got a filling today)

God on Demand

I’ve seen a bit of the “God TV” channel lately, and I’m amazed that this rubbish is allowed on television – every time I’ve turned it on, there has been another charlatan demanding money in return for God’s blessings.  Just now, the guy even told pensioners that they should send in their retirement funds, to “sow a seed” and await God’s blessing.  I’m really tempted to contact Virgin TV and complain that they allow this blasphemy on the airwaves. 

How fitting that on their website – www.god.tv – they boast “God on demand”… just the way the consumers like it…

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the New Atheists

I haven’t paid attention to the blogging world for the past week unfortunately, as I’ve just been really busy with other things – but the other night I watched the movie Religulous, which features American political humourist Bill Maher – and it has inspired me to get back into things!

What struck me as I watched was that the “New Atheists” are somewhat like the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”: The pre-Raphaelites, as I recall, were a group of painters who were not actually prior to Raphael – they were long after Raphael, but they wanted to push a return in style to the time before Raphael, and that’s how they got their name.  Similarly, I think, the resurgence in a particular form of atheism in our own time smacks of a previous era – a time of black and white “rationalism”.

In the movie, there were recurring phrases like “the progress of humankind”, “rational people can’t believe…”, “science has proved…” etc etc etc… and the whole thing felt like stepping back in time to a quaint bygone Cartesian era.  Maher gushes:

• “faith means making a virtue out of not thinking”
• “Rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves”
• “The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge having in key decisions made by religious people - by irrationalists…”

Anyway, if you’re interested in a movie that critically but light-heartedly explores Christianity from the perspective of an atheist, I recommend Andrew Denton’s God on my Side – it’s far more insightful and poignant than Religulous.

Department of Theology Drama Production

Here is the footage from April’s Department of Theology Drama Production… who ever thought John Millbank would come across this well in a donkey suit?

forgive me

Items in the Nottingham Theology Department Kitchen

Items and their labels…

The healing-balm-provider (Jeremiah 8:22):

The bearer of milk and sweet things (Leviticus 20:24):

The keeper of the communal goods (Acts 2:44):

Yale on 1 Corinthians

Yale Divinity School Dean Harold W. Attridge and Professor Emeritus David L. Bartlett discuss The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, Ch. 15. This is session 8 of 8 videos for the First Letter…

I’m not convinced by all that they say – but I found it an enjoyable watch – perhaps the series would be an interesting set of discussion starters for a Bible study group…

Varsy Arsy???

Amazon recommended me a commentary on 2 Corinthians entitled “Varsy Arsy”!!  I suppose it comes from the US, where that title wouldn’t sound so rude – but what on earth is it supposed to mean??