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Progressive Christian

2026-08-07T14:49:48-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Two New Songs: Shine! and Come Spirit Come

Last updated on: August 7, 2026 at 2:49 pm By James F. McGrath

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I’m pleased to share two new songs that I’ve written, both intended to be used as modern hymns for communal singing in churches: “Come Spirit Come” and “Shine!” The stories behind them are very different. “Come Spirit Come” was written rather deliberately after I was asked to learn a song that was unfamiliar to me, a contemporary Christian worship song, and it struck that these songs have such standard features that I should be writing songs in the same genre... Read more

General Christian

Religious Music and Entertainment

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songs

2026-07-28T10:48:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

AGI Has Not Arrived, and No Tech Company Wants It To

Last updated on: July 28, 2026 at 10:48 am By James F. McGrath

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I have made some bold statements here about artificial intelligence, and I hope this most recent one will not disappoint, when I say that AGI has not arrived, and no tech company wants it to. But James, you ask, how can you be so sure? I’ll tackle the two points in turn. How We Can Know AGI Has Not Arrived Chatbots are not conscious. LLMs are not sentient. Here’s how we can be absolutely certain that AGI has not... Read more

Technology and Religion

artificial intelligence

2026-07-19T16:43:45-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Thinking about Protocol Droids

Last updated on: July 19, 2026 at 4:43 pm By James F. McGrath

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I have been thinking about protocol droids a lot lately. Why? It is not just because I am a Star Wars nerd. That would be a sufficient explanation for why I would be thinking about protocol droids, but not why I have been thinking about protocol droids as much and as often as I have been lately. For those who do not get the reference, C3PO in Star Wars is a protocol droid. The reason for my recent surge in... Read more

Technology and Religion

artificial intelligence

Star Wars

artificial intelligence

2026-07-16T14:04:03-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What Paul Knew About Jesus

Last updated on: July 16, 2026 at 2:04 pm By James F. McGrath

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Adam Gopnik recently published an article in the New Yorker about what Paul knew about Jesus and Paul’s influence. There was something else not long ago about Paul’s religion, playing it off against the teaching and religion of Jesus. It is about time I commented on this. Gopnik writes, “Paul turned the heresy of a tiny sect of Messianic Jews into the dominant religious and cultural architecture of the West for the next couple of thousand years.” As stated, the... Read more

General Christian

2026-07-16T21:47:49-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Baptist’s Defense of the Muslim Call to Prayer

Last updated on: July 16, 2026 at 9:47 pm By James F. McGrath

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Attack on Religious Freedom in Indiana Indiana is the home of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and thus while we do not have an especially high concentration of Muslims in the state, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s recent attack on religious freedom in Indiana is nonetheless troubling. To me as a scholar of religion, as a Baptist and thus a historic supporter of the separation of church and state, as an American and thus a historic supporter of the... Read more

General Christian

Politics and Religion

separation of church and state

2026-08-07T22:38:04-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Was the “Sinful Woman” in Luke Really a Prostitute?

Last updated on: August 7, 2026 at 10:38 pm By James F. McGrath

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A Sinful Woman When I wrote my book What Jesus Learned from Women, I thought long and hard about Luke’s story of a sinful woman (Luke 7:36-50). Ultimately, I did not find myself able (or at least willing) to decide between a couple of different options. Is the story something Luke created, taking the story of the anointing at Bethany (which he does not narrate) and turning it into a significantly different one? Or were there two events in the life... Read more

General Christian

History and Religion

Education and Religion

2026-07-02T19:24:41-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

‘Disclosure Day’: The Real Revelation Isn’t Aliens

Last updated on: July 2, 2026 at 7:24 pm By James F. McGrath

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I would have been intrigued by Disclosure Day simply because it was science fiction, directed by Steven Spielberg, with a score by John Williams. Heck, any one of those things alone would have guaranteed that I would see it eventually. Combine all three, and it gets bumped up in priority. But I soon heard lots of voices saying it is an important film for its engagement with religious themes. Science fiction with religious themes? That’s my thing, as you know,... Read more

Catholic

Religious Music and Entertainment

2026-07-01T18:00:00-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mourning John and Dancing Jesus?

Last updated on: July 1, 2026 at 6:00 pm By James F. McGrath

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Mourning John and Dancing Jesus? This past Sunday, my Sunday school class was up to Luke 7:31-35: “To what, then, will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’ “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say,... Read more

2026-06-27T13:30:00-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Generative AI is Nothing New

Last updated on: June 27, 2026 at 1:30 pm By James F. McGrath

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I confess to giving this post a clickbait sort of title in calling it “Generative AI is nothing new.” The statement is true in important ways, however, even if it requires clarification. Let me explain. In a recent conversation I had with some leading figures at the intersection of AI and religion, one theme was repeated by several of them. We have all seen discussions of AI that cite nothing whatsoever that is more than a few years old. It... Read more

Technology and Religion

artificial intelligence

2026-06-27T13:46:22-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Christology within Judaism (Enoch Seminar June 2026)

Last updated on: June 27, 2026 at 1:46 pm By James F. McGrath

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Introduction This summer’s Enoch Seminar meeting on the topic of Christology within Judaism is sure to be remembered as a key moment in this area of study. We gathered in Rome at the Waldensian School of Theology. While I have been involved in a lot of conferences, and have been involved in leading and organizing what happens in certain program units at big conferences, this Enoch Seminar meeting was my first time taking the leading role assembling an entire conference... Read more

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