Extracurricular Activities — March 28, 2014

Michael Bird Discusses Bart Ehrman’s New Book in BibleGateway Interview

One of the contributers to How God Became Jesus is theology professor Michael Bird (who you may recognize from our blog roundtable last year about the doctrine of biblical inerrancy). When Bird read the manuscript of Ehrman’s book, he was inspired to write a rebuttal of what he considered Ehrman’s unconvincing argument...

Larry Hurtado on "Israel" and The People of God

In this posting I query another of Tom Wright’s major emphases in his mammoth new work, Paul and the Faithfulness of God (see my previous postings on the work hereand here).  This concerns his emphatic view that in Paul’s view  ”Israel” becomes effectively the church, or more specifically becomes simply all those who put faith in Jesus...

Scot McKnight Reflects on Heaven

Heaven, what used to be the primary motivator for many to become a Christian or be faithful of a Christian, has fallen on hard times. I wonder what you think about heaven? But I’m not asking about just your theory. Instead, I want to come at this from a pastoral angle: What would you tell a seventeen year old Christian kid who discovers she has an incurable cancer?

The Role of the Churches in the Ukrainian Revolution

The Churches are playing a decisive role in the Ukrainian revolution. This is apparent from the prominence in Independence Square of dozens of priests and pastors from different religious confessions who have been there every day for three months, offering to gather ecumenically with the faithful in prayer...

President of The King's College Provides Insightful Review of "Noah" Movie

A few weeks ago, I [Greg Thornbury] was invited to attend a screening of Darren's Aronofksy's highly anticipated and purportedly controversial new film on Noah. Our small group spent a considerable amount of time both before and after film hearing from Aronofsky himself and co-writer Ari Handel. Both were interested in listening to and responding to our theological and critical reactions. My immediate response was that this was a film with profound moral and theological imagination...

Bonus: National Catholic Register Provides Insightful Interview of "Noah" Writers

Brought up with a Jewish education, Aronofsky wrote a poem for a seventh-grade English class about the dove flying back to Noah’s ark. The assignment was for a United Nations writing contest (about peace) that Aronofsky won, and he wound up reading his poem aloud at the U.N. — an experience he credits with shaping his decision to become a storyteller.

Aronofsky says he has wanted to make a film about Noah since high school, and his efforts to get this film afloat stretch back over 15 years. Now, the director’s controversial take on Noah, played in the film by Russell Crowe, has generated some backlash, often among people who haven’t seen the film...

________________________

Extra-Curricular Activities is a weekly roundup of stories on biblical interpretation, theology, and issues where faith and culture meet. We found each story interesting, thought-provoking, challenging, or useful in some way – but we don't necessarily agree with or endorse every point in every story.

If you have any comments on these stories, we welcome you to share them here. We hope you enjoy!

–The Editors of Koinonia Blog