Leroy Huizenga

This Sunday, October 7, Pope Benedict will name Hildegard of Bingen a Doctor of the Church, having in early May extended her cult to the universal Church to remove all doubt about her status as a saint. Doctors of the Church are saints whose sanctity and doctrine have benefited the Church to great advantage. What might Benedict wish for us to learn from St. Hildegard, whom he has called “a true master of theology and a great scholar of the natural sciences and of music”? … Continue Reading »

The Wall Street Journal reports that the cinematic return of the biblical epic is at hand . Russell Crowe will star in Noah , with a 148-foot ark, copious animals, and a $125 million budget. Steven Spielberg is in talks to direct Gods and Kings about Moses, Warner Bros. secured a script about . . . . Continue Reading »

Daniel Burke writes : There’s a rumor circulating the Internets about Harvard Theological Review rejecting Karen King’s research paper on the “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife.” Not so, says Harvard Divinity School spokesman Jonathan Beasley. In an email this morning, Beasley . . . . Continue Reading »

The rumor is that Harvard Theological Review is now declining to publish Karen King’s paper (available here as a draft pdf) on the Coptic fragment she calls the “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife.” It’s a rumor that appears to be true, as New Testament scholar Craig Evans writes: . . . . Continue Reading »

The plot thickens. This just in : Harvard University says it hasn’t committed to publishing research that purportedly shows some early Christians believed Jesus had a wife even though its divinity school touted the research during a publicity blitz this week.   The research centers on a . . . . Continue Reading »

Esteemed scholar Francis Watson of Durham University suspects the so-called Gospel of Jesus’ Wife , on which I wrote yesterday , might ultimately prove a forgery. He’s written a brief summary (pdf) of a longer piece (pdf) explaining his suspicions. From the summary: The papyrus fragment . . . . Continue Reading »

“Oh no,” I thought, “here we go again.” News of a long lost textual fragment which many will think could undermine traditional Christian faith is breaking, the latest in a long line of interesting discoveries sensationalized by the media into something supposedly subversive of traditional Christian faith. Whether the frenzy concerned the claims of The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, the Secret Gospel of Mark, St. James’ supposed ossuary, or the Gospel of Judas, when the smoke cleared, traditional Christianity was left standing… . Continue Reading »

I suppose when the weight of the State starts to collapse in on itself and you’ve mismanaged your own finances, why not go after the one thing that’s been generally off limits to your rapacity? The Washington Post reports there is serious conversation in Europe about taxing churches in . . . . Continue Reading »

On Wednesday, Ross Douthat, opinion columnist for the New York Times, gave a talk at the University of Mary on the themes of his book, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics . Mr. Douthat was kind enough to permit us to videotape the lecture. . . . . Continue Reading »

Politically, North Dakota is known as a deep red state, meaning it’s supposed to be conservative. At first glance, this seems to make sense. NoDaks (shorthand for North Dakotans) have supported GOP presidential candidates for the longest time , and recently our congressional delegation has . . . . Continue Reading »