C. S. Lewis’s puerile theology

As I noted last night, I’m reading C. S. Lewis’s  Mere Christianity, which, I hope, will be the last theology book I ever read. And I’m doing it not because it has knockdown arguments for God—those don’t exist—but because it’s surely the most popular and influential work of Christian apologetics in the 20th century. I’m 40 pages in, […]

Ceiling Cat help me: I’m reading more theology

Under duress, since Grania told me that this was one of the most influential works of Christian apologetics of our time, I am reading C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. One of the reasons for its popularity, of course, was that Lewis wrote in a simple and straightforward fashion, addressing his arguments to the public rather […]

Theology schools are dying

It’s long been my opinion, as was that of Thomas Jefferson, that theology schools are useless parts of universities. Jefferson refused to have a school of theology at the University of Virginia, which he founded, for he was at best a deist who disliked organized religion. Theology schools are the wisdom teeth of academia: useless and sometimes injurious remnants of earlier […]

Marco Rubio does theodicy

I used to think that, among all the Republican candidates for President, Marco Rubio—the Conservative Kennedy—would ultimately get the nod (Trump is still leading the pack). I don’t like his views, but he doesn’t seem as much of a nutcase as Carson or Trump, and I wouldn’t have to scourge myself with whips if he was […]

Osculating Hank’s rump: an allegory

This short comedic sketch, “Kissing Hank’s Ass,” parodies a famous theological argument. Surely you can guess which one! But maybe it’s not a parody but an allegory, for, after all, theology is often indistinguishable from comedy. The YouTube notes say that this was “originally written by Reverend James Huber,” though I don’t know who he is. […]

The Atlantic ponders a weighty question: Did early hominins have souls?

Among the category of Articles That Should Not Have Been Written, this one is prominent. It’s “Did Neanderthals have souls?” by freelance writer Ruth Graham, and her piece is in The Atlantic. The question of when, and in which species, hominins were “ensouled” is of interest mainly because it’s so dumb, showing not only the conflict […]

Ben Goren: is there free will in Heaven?

The last time Ben Goren wrote a post on this site, it really twisted the knickers of the ID-ers (particularly Vincent Torley) who frequent the creationist Uncommon Descent site. I thought it was time to twist them a little more, so we’re following up “Why doesn’t Jesus call 9-1-1?” with a new post on the topic, […]

Sola fide made easy

by Grania Here’s a little bit of illustrated theology to round out the day, the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, not deeds. You can read more about sole fide here (but alas there aren’t many funny pictures on the page).   Click on the blue button to play the animation.   Jerry also wrote […]

Sola fide: Does Christianity always promote morality?

When I was chatting with Linda Calhoun at the goat dairy, she brought up the “justification by faith, not works” issue as an argument against religion. What kind of God, she argued, would forgive someone who lived a life that harmed others (Hitler is the classic example), if that person simply confessed on his deathbed that he […]

Are any criticisms of theism kosher? (Open Thread)

by Grania Spingies In the wake of complaints such as this one and angry reviews of Jerry’s new book Faith vs. Fact, one has to wonder whether any criticism of theism is acceptable or valid to a believer. One of the complaints that irks Jerry the most is the charge that he – or indeed we […]