CADRE Comments

This is a follow up to the discussion questions that I posted under Screwtape Proposes a Toast, Discussion Questions, Part I .  As I explained when I posted the first part of these questions, this past winter I taught a class at my church on some of the writings of C.S. Lewis. Towards the end of the quarter, the class and I read through several short works by Lewis and discussed the content of each of the works in light of contemporary America. The short works were “Screwtape Proposes a Toast,” “Meditation in a Toolshed,” “Bulverism” and “Man or Rabbit.” The classes were each one hour long and mainly focused on the questions or concerns that arose from the materials.  I am posting hereunder my discussion questions prepared for the class for Lewis’ “Screwtape Proposes a Toast”, Part II. Some of the questions overlap with Part I because I used them as a way to ease the class back into where we were in the discussion when we left off.  I am purposely not posting ...

Recently, a friend pointed me towards a news article from Bible-News which claims that a new Chapter of Acts has been found -- supposedly a long-lost final chapter (Chapter 29). The news article apparently obtained its information from a book entitled The Lost Chapter of Acts by E. Raymond Capt (2009).  The article caught my attention because, of course, Acts ends abruptly in Chapter 28 with Paul in prison. This sudden ending without reporting Paul’s ultimate death at the hands of the Romans has led many scholars and other interested observers (such as myself) to conclude that Luke probably finished writing Acts while Paul was in prison and before his death. So, finding additional material which should be a part of Acts would be both challenging to the dating of the Acts of the Apostles (as well as the Gospel of Luke) and just plain fascinating to read. For those interested, the Bible-News article, which contains the entire text of the claimed new addition to Acts, can find i...

The New York Times (NYT) is a good newspaper. Certainly, it's one of the finest in the nation. But when it comes to matters of religion, the NYT seems to stumble around a lot. It strikes me that the NYT usually jumps on board with much of what is said by the Harvard Divinity School. (One would think that the rivalry between the two states in sports would make them a little more hesitant to side with a Massachusetts university, but such is not the case.) So, it was much to my surprise when the Old Gray Lady published an article a few days ago entitled " How the 'Jesus' Wife' Hoax Fell Apart " subtitled "The media loved the 2012 tale from Harvard Divinity School" by Jerry Pattengale. The article notes (rightfully) that: "Two factors immediately indicated that this was a forgery," [Christian Askeland—a Coptic specialist at Indiana Wesleyan University] tells me. "First, the fragment shared the same line breaks as the 1924 publication...