Corporate Engagement

Historical Jesus by Thomas Sheehan on MP3 Digital Download

Historical Jesus by Thomas Sheehan on MP3 Digital Download.

Over the last four decades historical scholarship on Jesus and his times—whether conducted by Jews, Christians, or non-believers—has arrived at a strong consensus about what this undeniably historical figure (born ca. 4 BCE, died ca. 30 CE) said and did, and how he presented himself and his message to his Jewish audience. Often that historical evidence about Jesus does not easily dovetail with the traditional doctrines of Christianity. How then might one adjudicate those conflicting claims?

This is a course about history, not about faith or theology. It will examine the best available literary and historical evidence about Jesus and his times and will discuss methodologies for interpreting that evidence, in order to help participants make their own judgments and draw their own conclusions

I've just finished listening to this course on my long walks through the Garigal National Park on Sydney's northern beaches. I walked for 3.5 hours one day, loving the weather and the aussie bush and the fascinating lectures.

Its a great series, well-structured, though sometimes repetitive, with good audience participation. Well worth downloading if you have an interest in this area. It is pretty evenly balanced. Sheehan is a catholic who preferred the period of vatican 2 and has little time for fundamentalism in any form - all of which is good in my book.

Happy people will believe anything

The Pagan Prattle Online.

Psychological research conducted at the University of Missouri-Columbia has shown a correlation between mood and credulity. In particular, being in a good mood correlates with believing any old bollocks.

Kaka, Dawkins and the 'atheist challenge'

In recent times, as the SMH reports, the popular proponents of atheism have been making a bit of a splash of late:

Books by new atheists such as Professor Dawkins (The God Delusion), Sam Harris (The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason) and Christopher Hitchens (God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) are bestsellers.

The first episode of The Root of All Evil? was watched by 760,000 people in the capital cities, almost twice the usual number for the Sunday evening Compass slot. The ABC has been inundated with requests to repeat the program, or release it on DVD.

The Herald received several hundred email comments and almost 100 letters in response to an article on Professor Dawkins and the rise of atheism on Monday.

But are they really any match for the PR efforts of Kaka, arguably the world's greatest player who laid on Milan's second goal in this morning's Champions League final?