The “Science Times” section of the New York Times today has a note on an oceanographer, Doron Nof, who proposes to explain Jesus’ walking on water with his standing on a bit of ice.

I wonder, when I occasionally see something like this, if the 19th century practice of finding rational explanations for Biblical miracles (and thereby curiously preserving the Bible’s historical accuracy) is still alive. I doubt it’s that, though. I expect that if Nof & co. had just had some dry academic observations about historical climate records, few outside their subsubdiscipline would take notice. The publicity gods are the ones really being worshipped here.