Is our pain God's problem?

Earlier this year, Beliefnet was host to a blog debate between Bart Erhman, Professor of Religious Studies and professed agnostic, and N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham, on God and the problem of Suffering and Pain - some ideas to reflect upon while we study the N.T. Wright video series "Evil".

Bart Ehrman is James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the author of God's Problem and Misquoting Jesus, among many other titles. N.T. Wright is the Bishop of Durham for the Church of England and has taught at McGill, Oxford, and Cambridge. His books include Surprised By Hope, Evil and the Justice of God, and several other titles.

Find this series here.

posted by Christina @ 8:51 AM 0 comments

Quandary for Hebrew: How Would Isaiah Text? - New York Times

By ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: August 7, 2008

JERUSALEM — Some Israelis have described being moved almost to tears by a rare viewing of the Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved and most complete Dead Sea biblical scroll, on special exhibit this summer at the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum for the first time in 40 years.

The familiar, unfulfilled prophecy of the 2,100-year-old scroll — “and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” — undoubtedly arouses emotion here. But there is also a thrill born of ordinary people being able to read, and at least partly understand, an ancient Hebrew text.

more here

posted by Christina @ 9:28 AM 4 comments