Flotsam and jetsam (the very overdue edition)

• The New York Times reports on a recent gathering of scientists who met to discuss what and where the Garden of Eden might have been – kind of – in “A Romp Into Theories of the Cradle of Life.”

Darwin speculated that life began in a warm pond on the primordial Earth. Lately other scientists have suggested that the magic joining of molecules that could go on replicating might have happened in an undersea hot spring, on another planet or inside an asteroid. Some astronomers wonder if it could be happening right now underneath the ice of Europa or in the methane seas of Titan.

• Scot McKnight has begun a series on Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.

Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa prove — not contend — that students are not learning what they should, professors are not doing all they could, administrators are not focused on education enough and, as if that weren’t a glassful, society is and will continue to suffer is something isn’t done about it.

• Fred Sanders offers a fascinating look into pop culture with “Born This Way (so Raise Your Glasses, All You Fireworks).“

Three hit songs in the last few months have pushed the same message: You are awesome. You’re awesome just the way you are, even –no, especially– if you don’t fit in.

• Brian LePort offers his thoughts on what “rapture” means in 1 Thess. 4:17.

My take on the passage is that it refers to our meeting Christ in the air to welcome him to his earthly rule. If this is a “rapture”, fine, as long as it is not confused with the popular idea.

• Rod has started what looks like a fascinating series on Firefly & Theology. (If you’re not familiar with Firefly, it was an outstanding scifi series on Fox that sadly only made it through one season, though it was later made into a movie.)

• The Gospel Coalition has launched a new resource on Preaching Christ in the Old Testament that looks very interesting.

• And, here’s an explanation of how to win at rock-paper-scissors every time.

The religious significance of Super Bowl commercials

I’m toying with the idea of doing a few posts looking at the religious significance of some of the Super Bowl commercials that will be aired during today’s game. I mentioned a few days back that modern advertising draws much of its power by tapping into religious themes and ideas. So, it might be interesting to take a look at a few of them and see what these commercials might be saying about the religious sensibilities of American culture.

So, if you’re going to watch the game (or just the commercials) today, keep an eye out for any that might make for an interesting theological discussion. If you come up with some ideas, feel free to email me or let me know in the comments.

To help you stay on top of things during the game, here’s a Super Bowl Commercial Schedule.

Or, if you don’t want to bother watching the game, but you still want to see the commercials. Here’s a list of 30 Super Bowl commercials already available for viewing.

The most religiously significant “pop culture” artifacts of 2010

Over at Patheos, Greg Garrett has posted a list of the seven “pop culture” artifacts produced last year that had the greatest religious significance. As he rightly points out, pop culture is a vital source of information for understanding how people view the world:

When we look at the way people understand the world, we have to pay attention to more than news reports, speeches, policy reports, and scholarly treatises. Most people, honestly, don’t make their meaning in those ways.

So, he offers the following as his list of the pop culture artifacts that had the greatest religious significance in 2010 (read the post for his explanations of each):

• Dr. Who (Season Five)
• The Green Zone
  
• Glee (Season Two)
  
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1
  
• Lost (Season Six)
  
• Superman: Secret Origin
  
• U2: 360 Tour

What do you think? Anything missing from this list?