2007-11-24

Gaza (the reality behind myth of “God’s will” for modern Israel)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

5 minute video: Gaza’s Reality: The living conditions of Palestinian refugees living in Gaza. A short clip from the award-winning film ‘Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority.”

Independent article: UN official discusses impact of the siege of Gaza

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"Thanks much for this book review. I think it expands, and contributes to, the effort in honouring Thomas that we with Lukasz originally had in mind with this volume. Best, Emanuel"

-- Emanuel Pfoh - August 2020
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— John Moles, September 2011 (personal email)
https://earlywritings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=145080#p145080
Neil made a good synthesis of the work without being an “expert” of the field.

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It is worth saying another word of appreciation here for Neil Godfrey's effort to make Bruno Bauer accessible in English.

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— Eva Mroczek, – June 2017
This is superb work, Neil, and reminds me of Albert Schweitzer’s work from a century ago. . . . .

I commend you for being the first to even TRY to translate Bruno Bauer’s brilliant Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs, which is now more than 150 years old.

. . . . .Thank you for your historic effort.

-- Paul Trejo, M.A., - November 2022
Editor, An English Edition of Bruno Bauer’s 1843 Christianity Exposed
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— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
"Neil Godfrey and Tim Widowfield, who both write at Vridar . . . happen to be some of the most astute and well-read amateurs you can read on the internet on the subject of biblical historicity. I call them amateurs only for the reason that they don’t have, so far as I know, advanced degrees in the subject. But I have often been impressed with their grasp of logic and analysis of scholarship. I don’t always agree with them, but I respect their work."

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"Neil, in my mature judgement (I am now an old man), this fine 4-part study is a brilliant reworking, an instructive restatement of Hayden White’s Metahistory (and his subsequent writings). Your critique of certain historiographic representations as imbedded in the case study of the “scientistic”, “empirical” Richard Carrier provides a solid starting point for the more honest “fictive” reading of the New Testament that you encourage. Your last paragraph is a very intelligent call to sensitive readers of these texts. I suspect a whole generation of biblical students has been educated without the insights provided by the incomparable White. Bravo!"

-- Timothy Bagley, - November 2024
"By the way, my thanks to Neil for an ongoing superb job of exposing Jim’s review for what it is: a farcical and none too effective exercise in mythicism assassination, nothing to do with rational, let alone unbiased, scholarship. I’m also happy to see even Jim giving Neil credit where credit is due."

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— James McGrath, – June 2009
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-- Klaas Spronk, - Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXI, 3/4 (2014)
"I always enjoy reading Neil’s blog because I think that he is careful, thorough, intellectually fair, and honest."

— April DeConick, – November 2007
Congratulations, Vridar, . . . I declare, Vridar, your own hard work translating Bruno Bauer will make a major difference in future studies of Bruno Bauer and the evolution of Hegel’s philosophy of religion.

-- Paul Trejo, - April 2023

Neil Godfrey on ~~30 Best Atheist Blogs and Websites in 2025~~: “Thank you. How embarrassing. I had not posted for a while and was too quick to find something, then after…” Mar 26, 19:48
Denise Hudson on ~~30 Best Atheist Blogs and Websites in 2025~~: “Feedspot is a commercial site which generates list on all kinds of topics. This is a sample to entice you…” Mar 26, 12:47
Mark Cagnetta on Israel – Beacon of Western (White) Values in a (Dark) Middle East: “America’s support for the genocide in Palestine/Israel is largely due to the desperate need of Christians for a biblical Armageddon…” Mar 26, 03:11
Gordon Rouse on Israel – Beacon of Western (White) Values in a (Dark) Middle East: “Have you tried making any comment on The Guardian about this? — “This comment was removed because it did not…” Mar 26, 02:29
Neil Godfrey on Did Josephus Fabricate the Origins of the Jewish Rebellion Against Rome?: “I know there are quite a few who are attracted to the reading of Josephus that you present here, but…” Mar 21, 23:56
IsaWP on Where Did Israel – and David – Come From? Some Archaeological Evidence: “Thanks” Mar 21, 06:28
Neil Godfrey on Where Did Israel – and David – Come From? Some Archaeological Evidence: “I scan every print copy of anything I get a hold of and then run it through a machine translator,…” Mar 21, 06:06
IsaWP on Where Did Israel – and David – Come From? Some Archaeological Evidence: “Neil, could you share what you use to get reasonable translations? This one sounds fascinating but I only know a…” Mar 21, 05:12
IsaWP on New Book Questioning Authenticity of Paul’s Letters: “At first I thought the custom of writing as a fictional author and to a fictional audience was so different…” Mar 18, 18:03

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