Here is a conversation between Nick Spencer and Philip Ball on science and religion. Their discussion touches on a variety of topics: artificial intelligence, aliens, meaning, other minds, and even those aliens closer to home — namely, octopuses. Here’s the description, followed by the video: It’s a widely held view that science and religion are…
I’m excited to announce that my book, Paul and the Meaning of Scripture, has just been released. Here’s the link to the Amazon page. This has been a labor of love, and I’m happy to see it published. It’s a project that, in many ways, began over ten years ago during my my master’s research.…
Here’s what you don’t say when counseling someone who’s come face to face with evil and trauma: “God is in control” or “This was God’s will” or “God did this so you will learn something” or “We shouldn’t ask why ‘bad things happen to good people’ because there are no ‘good people’; we are all sinful,…
The story of Job is an intriguing one. It’s a story about a godly, kind man who encounters an immense amount of suffering. The evil inflicted upon Job takes him by surprise–a multi-layered blow to his soul. The pain that he experienced was, at the same time, physical, emotional, and spiritual. In this vein, Job’s…
If you need a good book to read (not least in light of our curious times), I recommend C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. It’s a risky little book on many fronts. Lewis offers a multi-layered invitation that, among other things, bids us to see the unseen, to embrace true love, and…
The Bible is a fascinating book. Passed down through the ages, it remains a reliable guide for the church’s faith and practice. The Bible, though, is more than a guide. It is holy Scripture—that font of truth and wellspring of life, a source of nourishment for all. If the Bible is “holy Scripture,” and if…
For all you philosophical-theological-Greek nerds out there, here’s something fun. As some have observed, Gregory of Nyssa’s On the Soul and the Resurrection is written in a way that mirrors Plato’s Phaedo.[1] A close reading of both show that this is correct. For example, Gregory utilizes the format so familiar to readers of Plato, namely, the dialogue. Gregory…
Some fifteen-ish years ago, I found myself racking my brain about what degree major to declare. It was a bit of a struggle. Sitting in my academic advisor’s office, I told him I wanted to “go into a ministry of some sort.” His immediate response was that I should go into marketing. After all, he…
This video is part of a larger project that my colleague, Dr. Alan Bandy, and I are working on. The aim behind these interviews is to compile research on various sub-topics that relate to the paranormal genre and supernatural experiences that people claim to have had. Our goal is to help folks understand these things…
The video below is part of a larger project that my colleague, Dr. Alan Bandy, and I are working on. The aim behind these interviews is to compile research on various sub-topics that relate to the paranormal genre and supernatural experiences that people claim to have had. Our goal is to help folks understand and…