Archaeological Support for Gmirkin’s Thesis on Plato and the Hebrew Bible

Neils Peter Lemche (link is to my posts referencing NPL) has reviewed archaeologist Yonatan Adler’s The Origins of Judaism (link is to my post on Adler’s book) and related its evidence and argument to the work of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato and the Hebrew Bible. — on which I have posted in depth here. Lemche’s review … Continue reading “Archaeological Support for Gmirkin’s Thesis on Plato and the Hebrew Bible”


BMCR Review of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts

Bryn Mawr Classical Review has published a review by Nicholas Banner of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts in addition to giving space for Gmirkin to post a reply. Last year and early this year I posted a series on the same work: Plato and the Biblical Creation Accounts (Gmirkin). Banner’s judgment … Continue reading “BMCR Review of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts”


Plato and the Biblical Creation Accounts (Gmirkin)

1. Biblical Creation Accounts and Plato – 1 2022-09-25 In his opening chapter RG explains how he will go about identifying the sources behind the Primordial History gives an overview of the history of the scholarly views of Genesis 1-11 and where his own research fits(hint: it all started with the Copenhagen school of biblical … Continue readingPlato and the Biblical Creation Accounts (Gmirkin)


Vridar Goes to Poland with Russell Gmirkin, Plato and the Hebrew Bible

. . . with Russell Gmirkin’s book, Plato and the Hebrew Bible These three Vridar posts have been translated into Polish and posted on the Testimonia blog: 1. Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible 2. The Pentateuch’s Debt to Greek Laws and Constitutions — A New Look 3. David, an Ideal Greek Hero — … Continue reading “Vridar Goes to Poland with Russell Gmirkin, Plato and the Hebrew Bible”


The Hebrew Bible Composed in the Hellenistic Era: Dr. Robert M. Price & Russell Gmirkin – MythVision Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9znMWH3LC9E Vridar posts on Russell Gmirkin’s books discussed in the podcast: Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and the Date of the Pentateuch Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible .


Hebrew Bible of Hellenistic Origin – Gmirkin responds to Anthonioz’s review

A week ago we saw Stéphanie Anthonioz‘s review of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato and the Hebrew Bible on The Bible and Interpretation. See Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible – review. Today we can read Russell’s response: A Response to Stéphanie Anthonioz, “Review of Russell E. Gmirkin, Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew … Continue reading “Hebrew Bible of Hellenistic Origin – Gmirkin responds to Anthonioz’s review”


Some preliminaries before resuming Gmirkin’s Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible

I originally wrote the following as an introduction to my next post on Russell E. Gmirkin’s new book, Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible. On reflection, it was too long to be part of a post addressing the book so here it is a separate introductory post instead. Our historically conditioned deafness to … Continue reading “Some preliminaries before resuming Gmirkin’s Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible


Why (to me) the Old Testament “Feels” Hellenistic

In this post I will explain “my personal reason” for strongly suspecting a Hellenistic origin of the biblical literature — though I am sure I have come across the same ideas throughout different books and articles over the years. It follows on from #5 in the preceding post. When I wrote that I was expecting … Continue reading “Why (to me) the Old Testament “Feels” Hellenistic”


The Problem with an Early Date for the Hebrew Bible

Imagine digging down through centuries of layers at an archaeological site and suddenly finding an old smartphone. You would know it must have been planted there by some trickster. You would know that it could not be more than a few years old despite uncovering it in a layer supposedly centuries old. I believe it … Continue reading “The Problem with an Early Date for the Hebrew Bible”


Four Ways Canaan Fell to Biblical Israel

In the first five books of the Bible there are four different ways God promises to give the land of Canaan to the Israelites. [I continue to write from the perspective argued by many scholars that the Bible’s narratives had multiple authors and that their respective stories did not always agree. In this post I … Continue reading “Four Ways Canaan Fell to Biblical Israel”


The Age of Inventions of Mythical Histories — Greek and Biblical

Some readers will be aware that I am sympathetic to the view that the books of the Old Testament were products of the Hellenistic era. I believe that sound historical methods involving critical analysis of assertions against evidence make such a late dating highly plausible. But it is also vital to be as fully informed … Continue reading “The Age of Inventions of Mythical Histories — Greek and Biblical”


How a Biblical Tale Could have Emerged from a Greek Myth

Derek Lambert of the MythVision program dedicated a program to something he found on “yours truly” blog outlining aspects of Philippe Wajdenbaum’s case for linking Abraham’s (near) sacrifice of Isaac with the Greek myth of Phrixus: The Bible’s roots in Greek mythology and classical authors: Isaac and Phrixus Greek Myths Related to Tales of Abraham, … Continue reading “How a Biblical Tale Could have Emerged from a Greek Myth”


Update on posts

All of the posts on Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts are now listed in the Archives By Topic (Annotated) section in the right-hand column of this blog. I have added brief notes against the respective titles to guide readers on the contents of each post. Scroll down the alphabetical list to near the … Continue reading “Update on posts”