Archive for February, 2007
Yahoo search visitors
To those of you arriving from Yahoo! searches on “Jesus body found”, I’d ask you to view the welcome page with guidelines for comments. And please note, if you are looking to purchase the body of Christ, eBay is the place for you to go, not here:
Click image to view.
Linkdump 02.27.07: Jesus Tomb Edition
If you want to find out what experts are saying about the Jesus tomb, the blogosphere is chock full of helpful posts. This is good, since the results of the find aren’t peer-reviewed, but simply being pushed in documentary form:
Start with Mark Goodacre’s blog and discussion, and continue on to James D. Tabor’s site, which is dedicated to his book (and arguments for the authenticity of Jesus’ tomb). Darrell Bock has weighed in as well, on the con side. You can find a good roundup of relevant posts as well here, on Codex.
If anything, the amount of critical discussion in the blogosphere demonstrates the need for peer-review of archaeological finds before releasing conclusions to a bewildered public. However, it looks like the process is spilling beyond journals.
Compelling evidence for Jesus’ tomb
No, I am not claiming that the latest film from James Cameron constitutes such evidence; rather, I am asking what such evidence might look like. There are a number of experts weighing into the documentary The Jesus Tomb, including Ben Witherington III, whose reply you can read here.
Witherington’s complaints about the find can be summarized in this way:
1. We don’t have a tomb whose geographical location is explainable in terms of existing ancient narratives.
2. Statistically, the names in the tomb are quite common; there is no way to guarantee the family in question is Jesus of Nazareth’s.
3. The fact that this Jesus has a son contradicts ancient narratives and diminishes the probability that it is the New Testament figure.
4. The name “Matthew” appears on an ossuary, and is not one of the brothers listed as belonging to the family of Jesus.
5. If the apostles who authored the New Testament (Peter, James and John are the earliest mentioned, according to Witherington) knew about this tomb, then we have to account for their founding a religion on deceitfulness.
6. The James ossuary was not found in the same cave, according to Witherington’s investigation, and it is unlikely that James would have been buried separately from Jesus and his family.
7. DNA evidence can link family members to one another, but we have no independent sample that would confirm their identities.
The problems are statistical (2, 3), textual (1, 3, 4) and historical (1, 5, 6). Number seven is a problem that we would have in any find of this sort, so I think it can be set aside for the moment. Read the rest of this entry »
First Triathlon
On the assumption that I’ll be in Chicago in the summer and fall, I’ve entered the Fleet Feet Sports Super Sprint which is a 375 meter swim, a 10 kilometer bike and a 2.5 kilometer run. The course is pretty easy, which is good since this is my first triathlon. Wish me luck training!
Jesus’ body found?
Like Thomas, until I’ve seen, I’m withholding judgment. However, there is a group of archaeologists claiming to have found Jesus’ body. I’ve been pretty convinced by Dominic Crossan’s argument that it was torn apart by dogs, so I doubt we’ll find evidence of his demise. Still, I’ll wait and see.
Update: those of you arriving by Yahoo! or Google, check out my commenting guidelines before posting, to avoid moderation. This isn’t a free-for-all post inviting wild conspiracy theories or tangential rants. However, if you want to stick around, browse the site and join in the conversation, welcome! A fuller post about the Jesus tomb is here.
Muslim adoption in India
In 1980, India passed a bill that allowed non-Hindus to adopt children (prior to that time, only Hindus could adopt). However, Muslims in that country believed that the Qur’an does not allow adoption. They tried to block the law. I’ve read about this recently in Martha Nussbaum’s Sex and Social Justice. She cites Tariq Mahmood, a professor at the University of Delhi, on this issue. I’ll let it stand without comment since you can probably guess at what major U.S. family-defining issue I think this may be relevant:
"Even if it is accepted that Islamic law prohibits adoption, how can the Muslims prevent enactment of a secular law of adoption which will be applicable only to those who wish to adopt a child? If Islamic law does not permit adoption, the Muslims need not make use of the Indian adoption law. That law will certainly not impose on any person a duty to adopt….If Islam does not recognize a social or economic concept, the state cannot compel every Muslim to keep away from it. If that were possible, our banking laws should not be available to any Muslim, since Islam does prohibit interest on money…"
Incidentally, I highly recommend this book. It’s a defense of classical liberalism, feminism and humanism, providing support for an understanding of humanity that allows for criticism of other cultures without Western condescension. Nussbaum tackles the relativism of postmodern feminism, and its inability to give women true freedom in countries were genital mutilation is practiced, women are kept from education, etc. I’m learning a lot.
MAAR!
No, I am not in pain. MAAR is the Midwest American Academy of Religion, and is having its regional meeting in Chicago from March 30-31. My readership is largely midwestern, so I ask: who will be there? I know one fellow who is presenting a paper, but I haven’t heard much else.
It’s a quick weekend, chock full of papers and, for me, checking out my possible future home. But if anyone is around and wants to meet up, leave a comment or email me. I’ll bump the post again in a few weeks.
Writing an Introduction to Religion syllabus
How can you possibly introduce a classroom of college freshmen to the world’s religions in a single semester? Right now I am building a syllabus for a condensed course, which meets for only a few months, once a week. I’m faced with questions of scope (what religions?), emphasis (history? ritual? beliefs? significant figures?) and material (what primary texts? videos? discussion groups? presentations?).
Any introductory course confronts these questions, which must be answered before the nitty-gritty syllabus building can even begin. Below are a few ideas I’m tossing around to equip my students. Read the rest of this entry »
PhdComics.com on the importance of teaching
I’d just like to remind you that nothing on this blog represents the opinions of any of my employers or universities.
Frame: an afterthought
Given Frame’s dichotomy between the Christian and the pagan (the former can “see” reasons that the pagan cannot, due to her unregenerate state), how does the analogy below work?
A color-blind man must press the red button in order to save a little girl’s life. There are two buttons, one blue and one red, but both are indistinguishable to the man. If he presses the red button, the girl will live; if the blue one, she will die. Can we blame him if he presses the blue button instead?
Suppose the man is told, “You are color-blind. You won’t be able to save this girl unless you go get some special glasses. They’re in the red door, over there. Go on, grab a pair.” The man is confronted with, again, indistinguishable red and blue boxes. In one box is a pair of glasses that corrects his vision. In the other box is a pair of glasses that corrects, then inverts his vision (suppose red becomes blue, in this scenario). Can we blame him if he chooses the blue box?
Assuming that there is an ethical reality that pagans are functionally blind to, how can they be blamed for not living in accordance with it? And, assuming that the solution to this blindness requires that they not be blind in the first place, how can they take up that solution?
(And no, god’s revelation does not get to be the label on the boxes that saves the color-blind man…)