Category Archives: Theology

RIP Günter Bechly

Posted on 09/01/2025 by Jon Garvey

I’ve been saddened to hear of the untimely death (in a road accident) of my favourite palaeontologist, Günter Bechly, over in Austria. You can see a report and an appreciation over at Evolution News and Views.

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology, Theology of nature | 1 Comment

What the Bible should have said #28

Posted on 04/01/2025 by Jon Garvey

Judges 20: a nation confronts gang-rape 4 So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. 5 During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. 6 I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel’s inheritance, because they committed this lewd and outrageous act in Israel. 7 Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.” 8 All the men rose up together as one, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | 1 Comment

Religion without a covenant

Posted on 02/01/2025 by Jon Garvey

Another holiday, and another Islamist atrocity. If reports so far are to be believed, the perpetrator in New Orleans was, once more, a recent convert seeking to prove his credentials by waging war on the infidels – meaning Christians, Jews, atheists, idolaters, and Muslims either apostasising or not sufficiently zealous. Since that includes most people in New Orleans, the indiscriminate slaughter is seen to be a feature, not a bug. It’s maybe not for nothing that in Genesis 16:12 the angel of Yahweh prophesies that Ishmael “will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | 2 Comments

Ox and ass before him bow…

Posted on 26/12/2024 by Jon Garvey

Happy Boxing Day, all you labourers going from house to house for your Christmas boxes! Yes, very nice, thank you, driving over to Sussex to our daughter’s family. Missing our turning off the A30 in thick fog was a bit of a bummer, though.

Posted in History, Theology | Leave a comment

The DNA of the babe in the stable

Posted on 24/12/2024 by Jon Garvey

I’ve just read David Mitchell’s book Jesus – the Incarnation of the Word. I bought it after seeing the author interviewed by Seth Postell, an Israeli Christian academic whose work I reference in my own Generations of Heaven and Earth, but it turns out to be pretty seasonally appropriate for a Christmas blog.

Posted in Science, Theology | Leave a comment

Revisiting Genesis cosmology

Posted on 17/12/2024 by Jon Garvey

More seasoned readers of The Hump will remember its emphasis on “origins” before it started to document how the world has finally gone completely mad. One recurring theme was to refute the claim that the Bible, and Genesis 1 in particular, teaches an erroneous “Middle East obsolete science cosmology.” The matter broadly boils down to the proper consideration of genre.

Posted in Creation, History, Science, Theology, Theology of nature | 1 Comment

Free speech on Queer Street

Posted on 24/11/2024 by Jon Garvey

There’s a good article by Steven Tucker at Daily Sceptic on the sinister connotations of Queer Theory, which I first wrote about here in 2018. In this piece I want to add how, whether or not “queering” is intended to destroy society, nevertheless it will inevitably do so if permitted to continue. I add a few thoughts on how freedom of speech relates to that.

Posted in Philosophy, Politics and sociology, Theology | 3 Comments

Clearing my mind on COVID

Posted on 16/11/2024 by Jon Garvey

I’ve been ploughing through an astonishing tour-de-force review of the literature, both academic and popular, on COVID-19 by the economist Martin Sewell, available here from Researchgate.

Posted in History, Medicine, Politics and sociology, Science, Theology | Leave a comment

Seeing through democratic smoke

Posted on 09/11/2024 by Jon Garvey

A former medical colleague was urging me recently to lobby my MP to vote against the Assisted Dying Bill. I’ve done my share of ethical lobbying in the past, even on the same subject, contributing to a series of parliamentary consultations as well as twisting the arm of my representative in the Commons. But I think my friend, like so many well-meaning people, has insufficiently realised how Parliament has, especially since the Blair government, changed from being the place where the common people’s views are represented, to the place where they are kept under control by the illusion of representation.

Posted in History, Politics and sociology, Theology | Leave a comment

Anomalous parallels

Posted on 08/11/2024 by Jon Garvey

From an article in Spiked: The Guardian put out a news notification that said, ‘Trump becomes the first convicted criminal to win the White House’. A profound observation, for Jesus Christ was the first convicted criminal to rule the universe.

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | 2 Comments