c/o Greece

We now know that an independent Quebec really was and is impossible.

Stay in school (university)

Says a study of the 'great recession' in the U.S. Similarities for Canada no doubt hold to a large degree (ahem, degree).

C.K. Barrett, 1917-2011

the Telegraph's obit

Mary Beard is so thoughtful

And on a subject fraught with trouble.

Monbiot on Academic Publishing

Very Interesting!

Secular Gnosticism and the NY Times

Nice piece by Francis Beckwith here.

right on da money Part II

Don't turn the universities into job training units. say it loud, say it clear.....

right on da money

Ray Pennings: on faith and the (sports) media, here.

Re-moralising the university

Good article on corrupted science, here.

Doubting Thomases

Doubt and faith are often found together, and rightly so. Arguably, you can't have faith (as opposed to certainty) without the acknowledgement of doubt on similar issues on which you have faith. But when doubt takes over, one has to wonder what is going on. Into this very situation comes a movement known as analytic theology.

Here is a paper on the whole phenomenon of analtyic theology by William Abraham, from which comes this insightful quote from Van Harvey, circa 1971:

One of the most striking characteristics of Protestant theology in the last two centuries has been the emergence of what I shall call the alienated theologian, the professional who is concerned with the articulation of the faith of the Christian community but who is himself as much a doubter as a believer.

Van A. Harvey, “The Alienated Theologian,” in Robert A. Evans, ed., The Future of Philosophical Theology (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971),113.

I would make two changes to this text which Harvey penned 40 years ago: 1) add "Catholic" to the word "protestant" and 2) I'm not sure that there is even a mjaority of theologians who are genuinely concerned with the "articulation of the faith of the Christian church." At least in academic theological settings...

'I will not kowtow'

Here's the kind of backbencher we need in Canada!

The Corporatization of the University

In a highly relevant NYT column, Stanley Fish lays out the problems with contemporary university governance, including the effects of turning the university into a branch plant of the corporation. In a reference to another essay on said topic (in the context of a serious dispute over the state of affairs at a university in Idaho, he  cites the following:

In an essay entitled “Inextricably Linked: Shared Governance and Academic Freedom,” Larry Gerber, chair of the committee that issued the Idaho State report, ties the very survival of higher education as we know it to shared governance: “It is no coincidence that many who seek to reduce higher education to a form of narrowly conceived job training are also in the forefront of efforts to replace shared governance with a corporate style of management.”

Nothing new, but very revealing all the same...

And the Michael Ramsey Prize goes to...

David B. Hart. For his book Atheist Delusions.... Fantastic.

Children of Immigrants fear displaying religion

Peter Beyer's Latest Study.
Reported today in the NP

Dan Brown-esque un- theology

I sometimes get asked what I thought of Dan Brown's books. I typically feel a mixture of remorse (for ignoring the entire corpus of Dan Brown) and relief (...for ignoring said corpus of pulp fiction!) as well. My wife read The Da Vinci Code, and promptly let me know that the writing was so bad, I shouldn't bother to read it.

 On the other hand, there are those who take advantage of the large audiences for the kind of thing that Dan Brown has to offer and who market themselves as... for example, documentary filmakers. I sense that we should pay better attention than we do to this media genre. (The "we" here - being professional scholars, including theologians.)

Simcha Jacobovici is exhibit 'A' in this category of Dan Brown-esque creative persons. He's the one responsible for that howler of a documentary back in 2007 which tried to claim that the Lost Tomb of Jesus had been 'discovered'. The wikipedia article does a good job of exposing that poor piece of work here... at least for now. That article may be changed, wikipedia being what it is.

The latest scandal involving Jacobovici is a "documentary" that aired during Holy Week apparently - on the lost nails of Jesus' crucifixion. This is exposed here. Take a deep breath, and here's the summation of the latest "documentary"...

Simcha Jacobovici’s claim of the discovery of the “Lost Nails of the Crucifixion” is speculation wrapped in hearsay couched in conspiracy masquerading as science ensconced in sensationalism slathered with misinformation and topped with a colorful hat.

It just keeps coming, this Dan Brown-esque un-theology. What is the proper response?