Ruminations on biblical studies, technology, economics, and sports from Jason A. Staples
Christianity Today has posted a new article, Survey: Frequent Bible Reading Can Turn You Liberal,which details the surprising survey results pertaining to attitudes about consumption, social justice, terrorism, etc. The article suggests that consistent Bible reading pushes people leftward on some issues. For example: Some of the most interesting findings relate to moral attitudes. How [...] Read more »
I stumbled across a post on TheGospelCoalition site the other day that left me shaking my head at how modern theological perspectives are capable of completely inverting the New Testament message they’re ostensibly based upon. The post is “The Pitfall of Perfectionism,” by Tullan Tchividjian, in which he begins with several poignant anecdotes borrowed from [...] Read more »
It’ll be very interesting to see what happens to Harold Camping‘s followers in the aftermath of his failed attempt to predict the “Rapture” (and subsequent end of the world). These people have embraced Camping’s prediction to the point of personally bankrupting themselves (like this 60-year-old retiree who spent his $140,000 life savings to buy billboards [...] Read more »
I suppose it’s about as good a time as any to deal with this popular misinterpretation, given Harold Camping‘s ridiculous prediction that the church will be raptured at 6PM on May 21 (time zone by time zone, no less!). Yet again, the passage in question deals with eschatology (the end times), a subject that has [...] Read more »
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has charted the income data of various religions in the USA, showing which religious traditions tend to be more affluent and which tend to be poorer (see the writeup in the NYT here). As you can see from the chart, Reform Jews come out on top, closely [...] Read more »
