James F. McGrath

Artificial Minds and Human Religions: An illustration of the diversity of possible intersections between religious thought and practice and technological advances

James F. McGrath — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:27:02 PDT

A survey of recent science-fiction would show that the theme of this paper -artificial minds and human religions -is one that is of significant interest in our time... Furthermore, science-fiction provides an opportunity to explore future possibilities, and exploring where technology might take us and how religious traditions might respond seems more advisable than waiting until developments actually occur, and then scrambling to respond.

Review of Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan, editors, So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy

James F. McGrath — Tue, 31 May 2011 05:44:24 PDT

Article reviews the book So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy.

The Desert of the Real: Christianity, Buddhism & Baudrillard in The Matrix Films and Popular Culture

James F. McGrath — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:23:04 PDT

Winning Strategies from IR All-Stars

Chad Bauman et al. — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 05:18:21 PDT

Your faculty and students have been producing scholarly work for many years. Is it locked away in print format, getting very little use? Are you thinking about creating an Institutional Repository (IR) at your college or university to digitize these valuable resources and make them more widely accessible? If so, Butler University and bepress invite you to learn from game-winning IR specialists. This event will feature successful strategies for content acquisition and growth, distributing scholarship globally, and using metrics to take stock of your progress. Dave Stout (bepress Sales Director) will kick off the event with a brief introduction to IRs at 9:25 a.m.

Robots, Rights and Religion

James F. McGrath — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 10:50:39 PST

If there is one area in which science fiction has failed to quickly become historical fact, it is in the field of artificial intelligence (A.I.). While some continue to prophesy that machine minds that are indistinguishable from human ones are just around the corner, many others in the field have become far more skeptical. All the while, there have been at least a few who have consistently found the whole idea problematic for reasons unrelated to our technical abilities, in particular the implications A.I. seems to have for our understanding of human personhood. For example, in his 1993 book The Self-Aware Universe, Amit Goswami ironically suggested that, if scientists like Alan Turning are correct to predict that we will one day produce genuinely intelligent, personal machines, then a new society will need to be created: “OEHAI, the Organization for the Equality of Human and Artificial Intelligence.” What Goswami intended as a joke seems to be a genuine potential consequence of the development of an authentic artificial intelligence. If we can make machines that think, feel, and/or become self aware, then it will not only be logical but imperative that we ask about their rights as persons. It is this topic that the present chapter will explore. The interaction of artificial minds and human religions is of significant interest in our time, and science fiction provides an opportunity to explore the topic in imaginative and creative ways. Exploring where technology might take us, and how religious traditions might respond, seems more advisable than waiting until developments actually occur, and then scrambling to react, as we are often prone to do. It is better to explore and reflect on these issues before they become pressing contemporary ones.

Reading the Story of Miriai on Two Levels: Evidence from Mandaean Anti-Jewish Polemic about the Origins and Setting of Early Mandaeism

James F. McGrath — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:33:59 PST

New Testament scholars, drawing on Mandaean sources to shed light on the Gospel of John, may have done more harm than good to both Johannine and Mandaean studies. Nonetheless, approaches to the Gospel of John developed over the past 50 years have shed light on the Gospel’s Jewish context and the clues its polemical emphases can provide about the time and setting in which it was written. J. L. Martyn’s suggestion that the Gospel of John can be read on “two levels”, telling us about the context in which it was written while telling a story set in the time of Jesus, has the potential for fruitful application to Mandaean literature as well. As in the case of the Gospel of John, there is good reason to think that the anti-Jewish features of some Mandaean literature may ultimately provide evidence of the Jewish origins, or at the very least context, of the community that produced it. This article examines the story of Miriai, and what it presupposes about the relationship between Jews and Mandaeans and the nature of conversion at the time of its writing.

On Hearing (Rather Than Reading) Intertextual Echoes: Christology and Monotheistic Scriptures in an Oral Context

James F. McGrath — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:07:14 PST

While recent studies of the New Testament have found the methods of intertextuality and orality studies to be fruitful approaches, there has been insufficient interplay between the two. This article explores the capacity of hearers of texts to pick up on echoes of familiar texts, stories, and songs. Using as an example Paul’s interpretation of Scripture in connection with the topics of monotheism and Christology, the article suggests that, in the absence of explicit and emphatic statements of the difference or distinctiveness of his views, Paul’s allusions to key monotheistic texts would have been understood to indicate Paul’s agreement with the axiom of Jewish monotheism, the Shema.

The Blogging Revolution: New Technologies and their Impact on How we do Scholarship

James F. McGrath — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:09:07 PST

What follows below is the text of my presentation at the session on blogging and online publication at the Society of Biblical Literature 2010 annual meeting in Atlanta.

Written Islands in an Oral Stream

James F. McGrath — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 07:07:13 PST

Note: full-text not available due to publisher restrictions. Link takes you to an external site where you can purchase the book or borrow it from a local library.

"Destroy This Temple": Issues of History in John 2

James F. McGrath — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 07:00:10 PST

Note: full-text not available due to publisher restrictions. Link takes you to an external site where you can purchase the book or borrow it from a local library.

“Early Jewish and Christian Monotheism: A Select Bibliography

James F. McGrath — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:42:40 PDT

Note: full-text not available due to publisher restrictions. Link takes you to an external site where you can purchase the book or borrow it from a local library.

Jesus as False Prophet

James F. McGrath — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:38:04 PDT

Note: full-text not available due to publisher restrictions. Link takes you to an external site where you can purchase the book or borrow it from a local library.

Was Jesus illegitimate? The evidence of his social interactions

James F. McGrath — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:36:59 PDT

This article examines the social status of the historical Jesus in relation to recent studies that place Jesus into the social category of an illegitimate child. After surveying the evidence with respect to the situation of such individuals in first century Mediterranean and Jewish society, we shall proceed to examine whether Jesus' implied social status (as evidenced by accounts of his adult social interactions) coheres with what one would expect in the case of someone who bore the stigma of that status. Our study suggests that the scandal caused by Jesus' association with the marginalized clearly implies that he did not himself fall into that category.

Two Powers’ and Early Jewish and Christian Monotheism

James F. McGrath et al. — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:57:06 PST

Our understanding of early Judaism and its relationship to Christianity has been significantly advanced by Alan Segal’s formative work on the two powers heresy. This work demonstrated that belief in two heavenly powers was considered an intolerable heresy by the rabbis and that Christians were among those indicted. Furthermore, Segal argued that the two powers debate could be traced back to the first century, as evidenced by certain christological passages of the NT4 and by Philo's writings.

The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in its Jewish Context

James F. McGrath — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:06:02 PDT

Chapter 5: "Monotheism and Worship in the Book of Revelation" is an excerpt from The Only True God. Copyright 2009 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with permission of the University of Illinois Press. This excerpt, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, distributed, photocopied or posted on-line without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Prologue as Legitimation: Christological Controversy and the Interpretation of John 1:1-18

James F. McGrath — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:06:17 PDT

Recent scholarship on the Fourth Gospel has suggested that this document was produced by a Christian community which was involved in an intense conflict with a local synagogue, the focus of which was christology. This study attempts to relate the Johannine prologue to this context, using Berger and Luckmann's model of legitimation . John's christological portrait of Jesus in the prologue is best understood in terms of the author's use of traditions and imagery which were authoritative to both him and his opponents, in order to defend the legitimacy of his and his community's beliefs. By looking at the prologue from this perspective, our understanding of the development of the distinctive Johannine portrait of Jesus is enhanced.

Review of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls. The History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, The Lost Library of Qumran"

James F. McGrath — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:06:17 PDT

Review of Barbara Thiering, "Jesus of the Apocalypse. The Life of Jesus after the Crucifixion”

James F. McGrath — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:51:29 PDT

Review of James C. VanderKam's The Dead Sea Scrolls Today

James F. McGrath — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:11:54 PDT

For this book is neither another technical, detailed study of one or more documents or aspects of life at Qumran, nor another unscholarly sensationalist attempt to market some new conspiracy theory.

Change in Christology: New Testament Models and the Contemporary Task

James F. McGrath — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:24:23 PDT

The purpose of this paper is to review different models of development which have been suggested, and to suggest a way out of the impasse between the two major views which have predominated this field of study.