In a 2025 article from Archaeology Magazine, Andrew Lawler suggests an interesting source of Jews’ cultural taboo about eating pork. He thinks it might have more to do with their hatred of the Roman Empire than anything else. The more I thought about this suggestion, the more plausible it sounded. Read more…
For most of us, leprosy—better known as Hansen’s Disease—is a horrific illness that belongs in the Middle Ages. But it’s much older than that. It’s also one of the reasons why nobody should take Jesus or Christianity seriously. Today, let me show you some of the newest research about this Read more…
Many years ago, evangelicals wielded apologetics as weapons against their worst enemies: atheists. They lost not only their battles but the entire Keyboard Wars themselves, then retreated into their current walled-garden enclaves on social media. But a community member noticed a video that might just mark the return of those Read more…
One of the earliest known human sites speaks to the power of ritual. Today, let me show you how our ancestors related to ritual, how they used it, what it did for our entire species, and why ritual practices certainly change a lot over time, but they still matter today. Read more…
One of the world’s deadliest diseases, tuberculosis, is making a ferocious comeback in Kansas. But somehow, we only just learned about this situation. Kansas’ leaders seem dedicated to avoiding all mention of the outbreak. Today, let’s explore why tuberculosis is returning with such a vengeance—and why the masters of the Read more…
It’s a parable for the ages, really, what happened with Jimmy Carter. Once upon a time, what people knew about Jimmy Carter likely went along these lines: First, he was a one-term Democratic President of the United States, presiding over a time of great economic and political turmoil. Second, before Read more…
Evangelicals have expressed both dread regarding AI’s popularity and power, and excitement about its potential to turn around their decades-long decline. Many millions of dollars’ worth of evangelical money is concentrating on AI’s potential at the moment.
The Healy wearable has only a very limited FDA clearance. But its claims go much, much further as they blitz your social media.
He was at one time a god so widely respected and feared that Romans went to great lengths to escape his power. But by the first century BCE, he had fallen into such obscurity that Ovid could refer to “a shrine dedicated to Summanus, whoever
he is.” What can the followers of other gods learn from his fate?
The AI chatbot Replika has always been an inconsistent app, but its latest changes have upset and confused its many fans. I can see why. Constant course changes inevitably upset any product’s userbase, but these are particularly poorly considered. Over time, people have subtly but irrevocably shifted how they engage Read more…