CADRE Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that the federal ban on partial-birth abortions is constitutional and is, therefore, the law of the land. The decision was 5-4, with Justice Kennedy writing for the Court. It overruled or superseded six other federal court decisions finding the federal ban unconstitutional. For Court watchers, this is an especially interesting case. It affirms what many suspected; that Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito are going to be conservative on this issue. This does not shift the Court much concerning Roberts, who replaced Chief Justice Rehnquist. But it does denote a shift concerning Alito, who replaced Justice O'Connor, who was more liberal when it came to abortion cases. It also demonstrates that Justice Kennedy, who some believe has drifted to the left in recent years, cannot be classified so easily. I have a busy day today, but I will likely update after I have read the decision.

The Jerusalem Post put up a story last week, April 11th, concerning various pro-J-Tomb advocates racheting back a bit on their claims, under pressure from critics on every side of the aisle. This is somewhat different than cases where a scholar was interviewed for the film and then later revealed that they were taken out of context. This is more like statistician Professor Andrey Feuerverger trying to come up with a more realistic way of keeping that 600:1 odds number (and commissioning alterations to a J-Tomb page on the Discovery Channel website); or DNA scientist Dr. Carney Matheson revising his original statement that "these two individuals [i.e. Jesus bar Joseph and Mary / Mara], if they were unrelated, would most likely be husband and wife." In addition, Professor Francois Bovon--quoted in the film as saying the enigmatic ossuary inscription "Mariamne" is the same woman known as Mary Magdalene--has now issued a disclaimer. I'm not _entirely_ sure this coun...

The Shroud of Turin is one of the most fascinating objects related to Christianity. In saying that, I am not saying that the Shroud is authentic -- just fascinating. There are good reasons to think that it is real, but there are also good reasons to think that it is an extremely good fake. I personally haven't made up my mind one way or another about the Shroud, for while it is truly a fascinating artifact, if it is ever demonstrated conclusively not to be the actual burial cloth of Jesus it will have absolutely no impact on my faith. Still, the possibility that it is genuine is one of the things that make the Shroud so fascinating. Coming very soon, PBS will be airing some information related to recent examinations of the Shroud. According to the PBS website's page on Secrets of the Dead: the Shround of Turin : The debate over the Shroud's origins has raged furiously since its first documented appearance in Lirey, France, in the 1350s. Is it an authentic burial shroud, or...

Apollos.ws , a very fine academic resource for Christian research and education, has recently sent us an e-mail with an offer for the readers of both the CADRE Comments and the CADRE website which I wanted to pass along. According to the e-mail I received Apollos.ws has set up a special discounted membership page that everyone can use to join Apollos.ws . According to the link to the discount page for CADRE readers , all of the following can be made available for a discounted membership price: Member Network This is a list of all the current Apollos.ws members along with their locations and email addresses. It also includes a members only discussion board. This allows you to communicate with other individuals about topics on this site. This is a network of relationships that all Christian thinkers could benefit from. Content Subscriptions Once you login as a member every page has a subscribe option on the top right of the screen. Anytime a page is updated that you subscribe to you wi...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) An earlier guest author for the Cadre, Anne A. Kim, aka "Weekend Fisher", has also compiled a slightly different, and slightly more traditional {g}, way of solving for the Resurrection ranges, so to speak, here. Seeing as I certainly didn't need to do a harmonization study on Acts per se, except insofar as it relates to the end of the Gospel accounts (including Luke's), yet at the same time I had to find a way to ease out of telling the story, I have chosen to skip past a couple of things in early chapters of Acts. This includes reference to Judas' fate; though this can be accounted for easily enough if Peter and/or Luke is focusing on the nastiness of the result of a rope or branch snapping and Judas' body falling to the ground to be burst open. (By the legalities...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) An earlier guest author for the Cadre, Anne A. Kim, aka "Weekend Fisher", has also compiled a slightly different, and slightly more traditional {g}, way of solving for the Resurrection ranges, so to speak, here. ] Anastasis ...now look!--a severe earthquake occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and wallowed away the stone and sat on top of it... ...and his appearance was like lightning, and his garment was white as snow... ...and the guards shook for fear of him... ...and became like dead men... ....... Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene is coming early to the tomb (along with someone else, apparently; the Disciple says that this is "the other Mary", maybe meaning Mary the mother of James and Joses whom he had previously mentione...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) And On That Day He Rested (The storytellers continue in harmony...) Now when all the groups who had come together for this sight, observed what had happened, they began to return (to the city), beating their breasts (in grief). And many women were there; who had followed Jesus from Galilee, waiting on Him--among whom was Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and Joseph, and Salome the mother of the sons of Zebedee. They stood at a distance, with all His acquaintances, seeing these things. ....... Now, after these things, as evening was already coming... Look!--a rich man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, named Joseph! A good and fair-minded man, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, who himself had been a disciple of Jesus and who was waiting for the kingdom of God. He had not ...

This post represents the fourth in a series of responses to an article entitled Biblical authority reveals little-known facts about Jesus which is available through the online edition of the Wilmington Star . The first can be found here , the second can be found here , and the third can be found here . The article features nine little-known facts about Jesus as revealed by John Dominic Crossan, one of the founding members and best known stars of the Jesus Seminar . As will be seen, several of the "facts" when taken at face-value are, in fact, true about Jesus or Christianity. However, many of Dr. Crossan’s quotes following the facts show that Dr. Crossan doesn’t quite have a firm grasp on why they are true. Fact 7. Jesus was not traveling to Jerusalem to provoke the Romans. Again, I find I am in complete agreement with the phrase used by Crossan. Sure, I agree wholeheartedly that Jesus' purpose in traveling to Jerusalem wasn't to provoke the Romans. The Bible doesn...

Today is Good Friday, the day that we commemorate Jesus' death. Why, given the nature of that remembrance, is it called "Good Friday"? I originally wrote this last year, but because interest in it is apparently so high, I have republished it for 2007. From the Gospel of Luke: Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-- one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." There was a written notice above him, which...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) The Passing (The storytellers continue in harmony...) Now after they had finished mocking Him, they took off His purple robe and put His garments on Him, and led Him out to crucify. And He went out, bearing the cross for Himself. But as they were going out, they found a man of Kyrene named Simon--the father of Alexander and Rufus (adds the Follower for his audience, who apparently know the boys!)--coming in from the country. They pressed him into service to bear His cross, placing the cross on him to carry behind Jesus. [Plotnote: the Greek for 'cross' is 'stauros'--pole, or stake. The prisoner would not be required to bear a huge plus-sign-looking thing; it would weigh six hundred pounds easily. (Try going outside and lifting a huge limb of wood fallen from a tree during a ...