the Copyists of the Early Christian Writings In this chapter, Ehrman discusses the problems inherent in the system of copying sacred texts by hand and explores some of the reasons behind changes we know or guess exist (with examples & humor). Spoilers follow

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Oprah Magazine has an article on the disturbing phenomenon of purity balls (yes, I read O.). These are formal events where girls (apparently as young as nine) exchange rings with their fathers, with the girls promising to remain virgins until marriage and the fathers pledging to protect their virginity. Quotes from the article: the girl [...]

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It’s not just any Wednesday today–it’s Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent (but not the beginning of the Great Lent of the Eastern Orthodox). This Ash Wednesday Challenge will piggyback on a spiritual practice that hundreds of millions around the world are participating in today.

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Johnny wrote this beautiful post on Why Philosophical Thinking Matters.¬† If you enjoy the conversations we have here–even if you hate philosophy–I encourage you all to read and comment on it.¬† As we say in the Quaker tradition: “This friend speaks my mind.”

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In the comments to my previous post, there was some unrest at the portrayal of faith as unquestioning.¬† I read the diagram as a caricature, and I don’t think it was intended to be a balanced portrayal of science and faith (any more than¬† editorial cartoons are equitable).¬† I want to make it clear that [...]

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Click on the link about to see the full diagram comparing scientific and faith-based approaches to knowledge. It’s a bit simplistic, but I’m curious how you all respond to it. [Update: 2007.02.20 09:50 AM] I was careless in my linkage: the image now links to its proper html context, per artist Wellington Grey‘s request.¬† He [...]

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This survey (pdf link) from the Pew Internet and American Life Project sheds some light on and complicates the stereotype of that strange creature, the American Blogger (and a bit on the related American Blog Reader). The data was collected between 2005 and 2006, which, in Internet terms, is kind of like asking Gutenberg about [...]

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I think it takes a rare combination of religion and technology geekage to fully appreciate the following: Click on the image to see the full comic. They mention LISP, which is not a speech impediment. I can’t see how the original creators of the programming language would’ve been clueless of the name’s irony. On second [...]

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You do not talk about Pillow Fight Club. You just look at the pretty pictures.

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Elise has posted her pithy summary of Chapter Five of Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus. She then posts a personal response on modeling Christ’s character that is definitely worth reading. It’s an excellent example of faith negotiating modern secular scholarship. Once again, you needn’t have read the chapter (or the book, for that matter) to contribute [...]

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