2007-11-26

Israel’s purging of Palestinian Christians — article

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

by Neil Godfrey

A January in-depth article by Jonathan Cook — on Electronic Intifada

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Delay in Vridar blog posting…. another reason - 2025-05-11 22:00:27 GMT+0000
“That’s what it means to be a Jew” — interviewing a West Bank settler - 2025-05-03 02:25:52 GMT+0000
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"For an excellent example of generally high-quality scholarship by someone who isn’t a biblical studies professor, see Neil Godfrey’s work posted on the website vridar.org."

— Tom Dykstra, – JOCABS 2015
"I think you have a high quality blog that provides a positive public service by discussing academic topics within a wider audience."

— Russell Gmirkin, – October 2016
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— April DeConick, – November 2007
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— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
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-- Timothy Bagley, - November 2024
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-- Klaas Spronk, - Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXI, 3/4 (2014)
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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"Note that I do not use the term ‘amateur’ pejoratively. . . . In fact, Godfrey is extremely well read and his librarian skills have brought many important academic works to my attention."

Raphael Lataster - August 2019
"Many thanks for this post, and for the quality of your blog."

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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.

-- Peter Kirby, - May 2023
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-- Martin Lewadny, - March 2009
"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."

— Earl Doherty, June 2011
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— Mary Booker, – February 2020 (personal email)
"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."

— Richard Carrier, – March 2014
"Neil, You’ve done a clean job in your posting on ‘Jesus the Healer’. It reflects well on you. Best, John"

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-- Emanuel Pfoh - August 2020
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Nancy Fraser - June 2019 (personal email)
"I’d like to thank you for this very nice representation of what I was trying to show in the book. It’s always gratifying when a reader zeroes in on exactly those aspects I thought were most interesting and most central to my argument. Thank you for this careful and engaged reading of my work – much appreciated!"

— 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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— Earl Doherty, November 2013 (personal email)
"These reviews of yours are so bloody weird!"

— James Crossley, – April 2010

James Faubel on Delay in Vridar blog posting…. another reason: “I recommend you do a Google Search for the pdf entitled “How to Take Smart Notes” by Sönke Ahrens. I…” May 11, 23:39
Eileen on Jesus, Enfant Terrible in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas?: “I agree with the analysis here. These passages make Jesus out to be more like a hero of Greek mythology…” May 7, 12:44
Thomas Worthington on “That’s what it means to be a Jew” — interviewing a West Bank settler: “The situation that Ari faces is that he is worshipping a fictional character from a book as a god, and…” May 6, 11:11
Neil Godfrey on “That’s what it means to be a Jew” — interviewing a West Bank settler: “What do you mean by “sooner they get started”? “Get started” on doing what, exactly?” May 4, 02:09
Neil Godfrey on Simon of Cyrene: once more on the ambiguity of the crucified one in the Gospel of Mark: “Your explanation, however, introduces a story, with characters and motives and actions, that are entirely fabricated and nowhere a part…” May 4, 02:08
Samarasinghe A. on Simon of Cyrene: once more on the ambiguity of the crucified one in the Gospel of Mark: “My take on ‘Simon of Cyrene’ – Mark’s narrative from beginning to the end is about the victorious forward march…” May 4, 01:45
Marty on “That’s what it means to be a Jew” — interviewing a West Bank settler: “Sounds like Ari understands the situation Israel is faced with. The sooner they get started the sooner there will be…” May 4, 00:54
Neil Godfrey on “That’s what it means to be a Jew” — interviewing a West Bank settler: “Indeed, not all Zionists believe in God, but they do believe He gave them the obligation to take the land…” May 3, 19:32
Steve Ruis on “That’s what it means to be a Jew” — interviewing a West Bank settler: “It is interesting that Israel and its supporters continue to push their “historical right” to the “Holy Land.” They acquired…” May 3, 17:10

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