Biblical Intertextuality (Part 5): Jonah and The Matrix (along with a few other biblical themes)

As hard as it is to believe, The Matrix is 16 years old. As I sat in the movie theater, watching The Matrix for the first time, I had two distinct impressions. First, as I watched the black leather-clad Trinity vault herself into the air and commence to wipe out the police officers who were…

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Ken Ham, Ron Burgundy…and a Little bit of Skepticism and Silliness

This evening, I noticed that Ken Ham had a new post on his blog, entitled, “A Hero in My Life.” No, he wasn’t writing about a hero in his life. He was writing about how children are telling him that he is a hero in their lives. It’s quite an extraordinary piece, really. He claims it was written by a…

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Biblical Intertextuality and Jonah (Part 4): The White Whale, Moby Dick–Satanic or God-like?

It is ironic that the central question literary scholars ask concerning the identity of Moby Dick is virtually the exact same question biblical scholars ask concerning the identity of the “big fish” in Jonah. The question concerning literature scholars about Moby Dick is whether the White Whale is symbolic of God, whether it is symbolic…

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Biblical Intertextuality: Captain Ahab, the Diabolical Antithesis of Jonah (Part 3)

One of the main questions concerning Moby Dick is the exact identity of the white whale: is Moby Dick symbolic of God himself, or just symbolic of nature, or just an extremely powerful whale? The identity of Moby Dick, though, does have a certain effect on how one sees Captain Ahab. As we will see when we…

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Biblical Intertextuality: Jonah in Moby Dick–Father Mapple’s Sermon (Part 2)

At various times in college, I attempted to read Moby Dick—I failed every time. My natural inclination was toward poetry, and Moby Dick was a novel…a long novel…with long chapters detailing the specifics of whaling. I couldn’t get through it. But then, as I was researching Jonah for my master’s thesis, I decided to give…

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Biblical Intertextuality: Looking for Jonah in Modern Literature and Film (Part 1)

Back when I was in graduate school at Trinity Western University, I wrote my master’s thesis on the book of Jonah. There was one chapter of it, though, that I ended up having to cut out of my thesis. It was a chapter in which I discussed “Jonah-themes” in modern literature and movies. My undergraduate…

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AiG’s Attack on Karl Giberson’s “Saving the Original Sinner” (Part 2)

Yesterday, I began assessing the assessment that Elizabeth Mitchell of Answers in Genesis gave to Karl Giberson’s book, Saving the Original Sinner. Today, I would like to finish it. As is already obvious from “Part 1,” Mitchell does not like Giberson’s book…at all. What is so unfortunate (yet altogether predictable) is that instead of writing…

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Answers in Genesis Attacks Karl Giberson’s “Saving the Original Sinner” (Part 1)

Back in August I wrote a four-part post series in which I critiqued the “book review” of Elizabeth Mitchell from Answers in Genesis on Peter Enns’ book, The Bible Tells Me So. You can read my posts, beginning here. I ended up writing four posts on Mitchell’s “book review” because I felt it necessary to…

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Book Review: Karl Giberson’s “Saving the Original Sinner” (Part 3)

Here is the rest of my book review of Karl Giberson’s book, Saving the Original Sinner. Chapter 6: The Origin of Mrs. Cain (and the Posse that Chased her Husband) In chapter 6, Giberson takes us on a brief jaunt through the 16th and 17th centuries. The overall gist of the chapter is that with the…

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Karl Giberson: Saving the Original Sinner (Book Review: Part 2)

Today I wish to briefly review the first half of Karl Giberson’s book, Saving the Original Sinner. It is “Black Friday,” and I’m sitting at Starbucks, drinking my morning coffee. So consider this not so much of a “formal” book review, as it is more of a chat over coffee about a very good book I’ve…

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