Archive for the 'Religious Studies' Category

Well, it has been a long time since my last posting.  For a number of reasons.    However, I am pleased to say that there are nine world religion video summaries that are now available on iTunes U!   They are a part of the RELS201 Introduction to World Religions course that I teach at APUS.  I hope that you find them to be useful.

For those of you who have been following the development of the Certificate of Christian Studies at UNBC the last couple of years, you may be interested in knowing about the future.  No, not the whole “future”, just the future of Christian Studies.    The course offering will be expanding from six courses to seven, which will reflect a modification to the Church History course(s) and the Old/New Testament courses, and the addition of a new course called

Mixed in with all of the useless stuff on the Internet, there are occasionally some great resources.  And Covenant Theological Seminary’s Worldwide Classroom is definitely one of the good ones!  They provide FREE lecture manuscripts, study guides and mp3′s for twenty courses in spirituality, Biblical studies, theology, ministry, etc.  If you are looking to deepen and expand your Christian worldview, why don’t you take some time and explore the Worldwide Classroom.

Another question from a few years ago (I like digging up these old ones!):

Question - “What is the difference between guides and angels?”

Reply -That is a good question, and the answer depends to a small degree on what your current understanding of the two terms is (ie. in what context are you using the terms, etc.). Anyway … a little historical background helps define the two terms.

The purpose of this short posting is to present some of the history of Halloween, and to be a starting point for more study, as the material presented below is merely introductory.

The modern annual festival of Halloween comes (via the ancient Romans) from

For those of you who are interested in the current state of religion and spirituality in Canada, check out these statistics and commentaries:

• Who’s Religious? (Statistics Canada)
• Canadian Weekly Religious Service Attendance (Statistics Canada)
• The Comeback of Organized Religion in Canada (Reginald Bibby)

It takes a while to read through the numbers and analysis, but it seems that the general Canadian “shift” is not away from religion per se, but rather is a change in how religious beliefs and values are expressed (via personal participation).

Also, in general, experience seems to indicate that

The First Copernican: Georg Joachim Rheticus and the Rise of the Copernican Revolution, by Dennis Danielson (Walker & Company, 2006)

What is it like to walk in the shadow of a giant? It takes a special person to grasp the genius of someone else’s yet-unpublished masterpiece, and then passionately, relentlessly and obsessively bring it to the rest of the world.  It takes a person like Joachim Rheticus – the first (and for a long time, the only) disciple of Nicholas Copernicus.  Throughout the pages of The First Copernican, Danielson does a masterful job of describing the relationship between the two visionaries, the mystery and intrigue of medieval science, religion and politics, and the final outcome of Rheticus’ own personal and scientific struggles as he introduced the Copernican revolution to the world.

Reaching back into the vault of questions and articles …

“In spite of the religious inclusivity of New Age thinking, in spite of its interest in Oriental religions, and in spite of its criticism of mainstream Christianity, it is still Christ who dominates New Age speculation wherever the need is felt to explain the relation between God and humanity by some mediating principle”[1]

Background
I was recently on a flight and was barely settled in my seat on the plane when the woman seated beside me struck up an engaging conversation which very quickly turned to questions about the Bible, Christian theology, and finally Jesus himself. Although she was interested in my Christian understanding, her theological perspective had developed from a combination of Hindu philosophy, New Age thought and some vague Christian principles,[2] which she freely disclosed. Eventually our conversation began to focus on Jesus Christ and she mentioned that she believed what Jesus said about himself in the Gospels, but the way to the Father[3] was not limited to Jesus alone. To this, I mentioned that I questioned the value of religious pluralism, given the theologically exclusive nature of the Bible and Jesus’ explicit claims to be the only way to God (eg. John 14:6). It is her response and objection to my thoughts on the exclusiveness of Jesus Christ that is the focus of this brief essay.

Have you ever wondered why it is so important to know and understand the Bible, even apart from a position of faith?  If so, read this article – Why and What Professors of English Say Students Need to Know about the Bible – and you will have your question answered!