Catching up on some blogroll posts worth mentioning, and here's one from Jack Wolfgang. (Jack doesn't post much, but when he does, he makes up for the lag between entries.) Here's the scoop: research by a Florida State University oceanography professor suggests that Jesus may have walked on ice instead of water. According to the Talahassee Democrat report, the professor, Doron Nof, "maintains that a patch of ice floating in the Sea of Galilee, actually a freshwater lake in present-day Israel, would have been difficult to distinguish from unfrozen water surrounding it."
Nof and his colleagues came up with the theory after studying records of long-ago water temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea. The studies are based on core samples of shells and other animal remains taken from the bottom.
All of this leads Jack to conclude that Professor Nof is on thin ice. Of course, Nof is approaching the phenomenon as a scientist, not as a theologian. Jack notes that Nof's study fails to mention the account of Peter also walking on water and disregards the background of the disciples.
"[W]e aren't talking about a bunch of land-loving tourists on a boat," Jack points out. "We see in Matthew 4:18-22 that Peter, Andrew, James, and John were all fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. In that profession, you would be familiar with the Sea of Galilee, or you would go out of business quickly."