There was considerable excitement in the Christian theological world when a Harvard scholar announced the discovery of a papyrus fragment that seemed to imply the possibility that Jesus had a wife because it ended with the phrase “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife . . .’ “. [Read more…]
The prime minister of Israel has come in for considerable ribbing for trying to make the point about drawing a ‘red line’ that Iran should not cross, using a cartoon sketch of a bomb as a prop during his speech at the United Nations last week. [Read more…]
Via Jerry Coyne, I learned about this interesting radio discussion with three philosophers on BBC4, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, on the Ontological Argument. [Read more…]
We are at that stage in the election campaign where nerves are getting frayed, people are getting testy, and sharp lines are being drawn. The question “Which side are you on?” in the form of “Who are you going to vote for?” is being posed with greater frequency and sharpness, and whips are being cracked to bring people into line. One of the things that puzzles me is the way partisans of one major party or the other react when other people say they will not vote for their preferred candidate. The most venom is directed against those who people think should vote with them but say they are going to vote for someone else. [Read more…]