What it’s About In Without Buddha I Could Not be a Christian, theologian Paul Knitter explores numerous intersections of Christianity and Buddhism and the ways in which they both give shape to his own religious/spiritual life, beliefs, values, and ethics.1Paul F. Knitter, Without Buddha I Could not be a Christian (London: Oneworld Publications, 2013). Writing Read More…
Author: Joel
I study religion and philosophy, and I author this blog.
Review: The End of Education by Neil Postman
What It’s About At last we’ve come to the end . . . the end of this blog series, of Neil Postman’s major works on education, and, perhaps, as the foreboding title of the present work suggests, of education itself, or at least one form of it. In The End of Education Postman makes the Read More…
The World is Doomed
The world is doomed, he says to me, head in his hands, eyes filled with tears. I used to think that people cared about each other and themselves, but I was wrong; there is no hope. The world has gone to hell. Poverty and homelessness, starvation, crime, widespread disease. Our deserts grow; our forests shrink. Read More…
Review: The Mirror or the Mask by Lydia McGrew
What It’s About In a previous post I reviewed New Testament scholar Michael R. Licona’s book, Why Are There Differences in the Gospels?, in which he makes the case that many differences between the four Christian Gospels can be accounted for by their authors’ use of certain compositional conventions, or devices, common to the genre Read More…
Review: Teaching as a Conserving Activity by Neil Postman
What It’s About In part 1 of this series, we looked at Teaching as a Subversive Activity, in which Neil Postman and co-author Charles Weingartner make the case that the American public education system is in need of major reforms if it is to be effective in preparing students for the challenges of the ever-changing Read More…
On Trust
Societies at base are built on trust . . . not on laws, policies, procedures, systems, constitutions, or even philosophies. These are all helpful things to be sure, but what must underlie them all – what underpins them and upholds them, gives them life and stability – is trust, trust between governors and governed and Read More…
Review: Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? by Michael R. Licona
What It’s About The title says it all. In Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? New Testament scholar Michael R. Licona addresses the longstanding issue of the numerous differences between the four Gospels of the Christian Biblical canon: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.1Licona, Michael R., Why Are There Differences in the Gospels?: What We Read More…
Where I’m Coming From
In the last post, I attempted to provide something of a defense of both agnosticism and skepticism (as I understand those terms). My goal in this post will be to respond to your last rebuttal, and at the same time provide a more positive case for why I think agnosticism and skepticism are good approaches Read More…
In Defense of Skepticism
Taking Stock Over the last few posts, I feel there are a few different avenues we’ve opened up worth continuing to explore. There’s the issue of Marxist historical theory and methodology, the merits or downfalls of such a theory, and possible further clarifications on it. Then, there’s the broader question of epistemology – agnosticism, skepticism, Read More…
On Marxism
Hello again, and thanks for your most recent post. I’m sure I’ll try and formulate a more direct response to it, but I wanted to get this stuff on Marxist historical theory out there first:1Disclaimer: I do not in any way fancy myself an expert on the views of Karl Marx, Marxism, or Marxist historical theory Read More…