Way back in 2003 I signed up to Theologyweb, a theology discussion forum – the best Theology Discussion forum anywhere on the web, in my humble opinion. One of the site owners is my friend Dee Dee Warren, who also runs the Preterist Podcast.

There have been a couple of relatively small “conferences” of Theologyweb geeks over the years. However, in conjunction with Perissos (run by my friend Lynn Erhorn), Theologyweb is looking at holding a large theology conference in Jacksonville, Florida. Here’s what Dee Dee had to say about it (I copied this from the Preterist Podcast)

Perissos Resources along with Theologyweb.com are discussing co-hosting a large theology convention in Jacksonville, FL March 1-3, 2013. We want to center the event around 2 formally-formatted 3-hour debates on eschatology (end-time philosophy) and a benefit banquet with a well-known keynote speaker. We’re also considering inviting several ministries to speak and raise awareness, hold book/media signings, and have several panel discussions. Some of you know we’ve done two small TWeb staff conventions in the past (2007, 2009), but we think it’s time to do a much bigger event that will almost feel like TWeb, only in person.

Our primary objective is to bring glory to God and see His kingdom advance. To that end, we want minister to the public with these programs as well as financially benefit the two ministries that will dedicate the next year of their lives to bring this event to fruition. The first step in this process is to test the market. If we’re the only ones excited about such an event, then it wouldn’t make much sense to go forward. So, we’re praying for clear direction and we’re asking you to tell us what you think of this concept. Your input at this crucial phase of our planning can make all the difference in whether or not this exciting event becomes a reality.

Clearly, this is a large endeavor. It will require a budget, sponsors, and, most importantly, sufficient interest to justify putting such an event together. We think this could have great ministry value and community impact, but we’d like to know what you think! We’ve put together a brief survey you can complete that will help us measure interest. You can access it below. We’re asking you to complete the survey (it’ll take about 2 minutes) and then tell all your friends about it so they can come and chime in, too.

It is our sincere hope that we can draw about 500 people to this event and that process begins right here. If we don’t get 250 responses in the next 2 weeks, the project may never see the light of day. We’d be sad to see that happen, since we’re already talking to some of the names you’ll see on the survey and there is interest on their part to participate. Please, be as social as you can about this! Post the link on Facebook, talk about it with friends, send an email to your fellow theology buffs!

If you might be interested in going to this conference, can you please complete the survey. This will help greatly with planning.

One more thing: One of the organisers approached me about this in particular, because if this conference does go ahead (and we will hopefully know fairly soon if it will), and if I can find a way (and at this stage I’m not sure what this will involve), then I’ll be speaking at this conference. And if that happens, I’ll also try to arrange other speaking opportunities in Florida while I’m over there.

Please: Spread the word. Complete the survey if you’re interested. And if you’re in the area and you’d like see something arranged while I’m there, let me know!

Glenn

I’m heading for the seat of power! In a manner of speaking, anyway. In a couple of weeks I’m getting on a plane, becoming a North Island dweller once more and moving up to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. I’m going to be working on a project for my employer (I won’t bore you with the details of that here).

Ruth and the kids aren’t coming with me. We didn’t want to move the family – not initially at least, because of the potentially temporary nature of the work and because we’re really not sure how long it will last, but it’s going to last a while – at least until late this year (maybe October or later). There’s even a chance it may be extended further – perhaps until sometime next year, but we don’t know anything that far in advance yet. If we reach the end of the school year here in Dunedin and the role is extended, then it’s likely we’ll all move up to Wellington and begin a new era in our family’s history. As far as my (non-academic) career is concerned, Wellington will be a good thing and may lead to great opportunities in the future.

So from May the 14^th I will be living like a monk for a while! Actually that’s not quite true, I will be back every now and then. My employer will be flying me back to Dunedin once a month, and we’ll be trying to live frugally so that I can afford to fly back once a month in addition to this (flights still aren’t nearly as cheap as I’d like them to be, and although I’ll be different work, as it’s a secondment my official job description doesn’t change), so twice a month (or at least thrice every two months, depending on what we can manage) I’ll have my family back. I’ll have a phone-and-Skype marriage for the rest of the time! While the move as a whole will be worthwhile and even a little exciting, this is that part that will undoubtedly be hardest.

But while I’m in Wellington I’ll be living like a monk. I’ll be focused on a few things: Work (of course), writing (so the blog output might actually increase while I’m away – I won’t be able to take many books up, so when I can I’ll invest a tablet), and working out (I’ll be going to the gym as much as I can). Wellington is a University city (although not as much so as Dunedin), so I’ll also be on the lookout for opportunities to speak to student groups, but I really don’t know what the “scene” is like up there.

Do I have any readers/listeners in Wellington? If so, drop me a line!

Glenn Peoples

I’m working on several things for the site at the moment. I’m writing a series I started a while back on Richard Carrier and the resurrection of Jesus. I’ll have a few comments to make about Bart Ehrman’s new book on the historical Jesus. I have some podcasts that I’m working on, too. Good things take time, and I want this stuff to be good. But in the meantime, I thought this recent turn of events might be of some public interest around here.

I know, I recently blogged on the Reason Rally when I became aware of it, commenting on the gratuitous practice of assuming that to advocate an atheist or non-theist outlook is ipso facto to advocate reason and rationality. But today something else caught my eye, prompting a question: How much would you pay for one of the best seats in the house at the Reason Rally?

Fifty dollars? One hundred dollars? What about two hundred dollars? Or five hundred?
Read the rest of the entry »

There have been rallies in the past of people who would have been happy to see this or that (or all) religions purged from society. Such gatherings, thankfully, have seen a change in tone and tactic over the years. What is being billed as “the largest secular event in world history,” the “Reason Rally” will be held in Washington DC on 24 March this year.

In spite of how often I have been assured by atheists (those denying God’s existence) and agnostics (those simply not affirming God’s existence or nonexistence) that nonbelievers (and atheists in particular) are not a monolith, not part of a movement, not followers of a religion etc, this huge rally, the largest of its kind ever, has been organised with “the intent to unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide” and to “give secular Americans an opportunity to unite under a banner of reason and community at a level of impact that has never been seen before.” For those who want to convince the world that atheists don’t belong to anything, the job just got harder!

The list of headline speakers includes comedians, lobbyists, singers, TV show hosts and renowned zoologist (and above all, outspoken atheist) Richard Dawkins, among others.
Read the rest of the entry »

The latest issue of Philosophia Christi - one of my favourite philosophy of religion journals – is out (Volume 13, number 2). Here’s what you’ll see on the back cover:

I’m betting that this is the first time two philosophers from New Zealand have appeared in the same issue of this journal.

(And as they say, the last shall be first and the first shall be last!)

The end of the year is almost upon us, and here are my favourite blog posts for 2011. I could just list the ones that have the greatest number of actual hits (traffic wise), but that wouldn’t tell us much because some posts have been accumulating hits since January and some just started in December. So, you’re left with my favourites instead. I haven’t included any podcast episodes, and I’ve chosen no more than one from each month.

January: Deal Breakers and Christian Essentials – Although I identify as a relatively conservative Evangelical Christian, I cop a bit of flack from those who think that whatever they happen to believe counts as the boundary markers for evangelicalism, and anyone who falls outside of that is either suspect or already in the garbage chute to hell. Here I offered some reflections on the kinds of things that I think should really “make the difference” when considering another person’s point of view and whatever it’s acceptable from a Christian perspective.

February: When God attacks: Trying to make sense of God in natural disasters – Written shortly after the Earthquake that devastated Christchurch, here I offer some of my thoughts on reconciling the God revealed in Christ with the suffering we see in tragedies like this one.

March: Yeah, OK, so March was pretty average.

April: It was really hard to pick just one in April, there were a few that I like here. Maybe you should just check out the whole month. But if I’m going to pick one, I’ll pick a fairly geeky one: Does John 1:3 rule out uncreated abstract objects? – Here I offer my thoughts on William lane Craig’s claim that the idea of uncreated abstract objects is at odds with the view that God is the creator of “all things,” and that it is specifically at odds with John 1:3, contrary to the view of Peter Van Inwagen. While it’s not a hill I would die on, I side with Van Inwagen and claim that actually John 1:3 is compatible with the existence of uncreated abstract objects.

May: Richard Carrier on the Resurrection part 1 – Compiling this list has reminded me that at some point I should complete part 2 of this series! This post was the first of several that will dissect the arguments of Richard Carrier on why the doctrine of Christ’s resurrection that we know of was not the original view of the early church, and that it represents a mutated view that crept in very early in the history of the Christian faith. Like most readers, I think his arguments are considerably less than compelling.

June: An open letter to my traditionalist friends – This one is an open letter to the many evangelicals who feel that they must perpetuate the crucially important doctrine of the everlasting torments of hell, and who find themselves called to combat the rising tide of annihilationism (the view I hold). Here I offer a public explanation of why, quite frankly, they are failing and ought to fail.

July: Jesus: The Cold Case – This was a collection of my thoughts on the TV documentary in New Zealand, Jesus: The Cold Case, where, in essence, a tiny selection of theologians and New Testament scholars with views that fall well outside mainstream biblical scholarship were called on to offer the authoritative view that most of hat the Gospels say about the death of Christ is creative anti-Semitic falsehood.

August: Christian employers and the hiring process – I wrote this post at the risk of arousing animosity towards myself in the community of Christian colleges, but I thought – and still think – that this needed to be said. Christian institutions that care about excellence need to purge themselves of the nepotism that many of them are familiar with.

September: Not sure really…

October: Divine Command Ethics: Ontology versus epistemology – Here I attempt to explain a very common confusion when people criticise the idea that morality might depend on God.

November: Brief thoughts about God’s freedom to command - Sometimes (!!) I can admit when I’m wrong. Here I explain how I improved (in my view) my view on the relationship between God’s nature and divine commands.

December: The conditional premise of the moral argument – Here I say a thing or two in defence of the claim that if God did not exist, then moral facts wouldn’t exist either.

Remember folks, the blog has been here since May 2006, so there are plenty of old blog posts to browse through in the Archive over on the right.

The next podcast episode will be out during this week so you still have that to look forward to in 2011, but otherwise, I hope you’ve enjoyed another year of Say Hello to my Little Friend!

Best wishes to all

Glenn Peoples

The offices of Beretta and Say Hello to my Little Friend are about to undergo relocation. All office staff and volunteers will be off for the next week or so, our sound engineers will be taking a break, all equipment is being moved and the entire organisation is getting a change of scenery.

Yeah, I’m moving house, so the blog will be pretty quiet while we pack and stuff.

There’s a shiny new button to press over on the right.

It’s a link to the new store, Say Hello to my Little Store, run by yours truly. You can buy philosophy and theology related T-shirts and other stuff (the inventory is increasing), as well as material promoting this blog and podcast.

Now you won’t ever have to wonder what to buy for Christmas presents again!

EDIT: If you’d like to request an item with a specific theme, suggestions are welcome.

For those of you who don’t know, Say Hello to my Little Friend is an affiliate of the world’s best online bookstore, The Book Depository. In addition to having some unbeatable prices, they offer free postage worldwide on all purchases. Beat that!

Click this button over on the right:

Then when you visit The Book Depository, any purchases you make there in the next fifteen minutes will cent a few cents in my direction – for no extra cost. Alternatively, any time you’re at The Book Depository and you’re about to buy something, add the following to the end of the URL at the site: /?a_aid=shtmlf (only add the / if there’s not already a / at the end of the URL).

It couldn’t be simpler, and although what they pass on to me is pretty meagre (e.g. $0.75 for a purchase price of $15.00), every little penny helps. Spread the word!