2009-12-20

Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow

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

by Neil Godfrey

http://images.smh.com.au/2009/12/19/988571/billboard-420×0.jpg

Never thought I’d see a church as progressive as St Matthews in Aukland, New Zealand.

Have a look at the Australian ABC news stories:

Mary and Joseph poster sparks unholy row

and

Church resurrects controversial billboard

but finally the inevitable . . .

Sexy God billboard removed

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"Thanks for this detailed interaction! I’ll try to offer something more substantial than 'Thank you' in response at some point, but I didn’t want to wait . . . to express appreciation for your detailed interaction with what I’ve written!"

— James McGrath, – June 2009
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
"Thanks for your very elaborate review! I realized that I hadn’t added your blog to our blogroll. This oversight has been corrected. Looking forward to more segments."

— Anthony Le Donne, – September 2009
"Fantastic. I’m so glad you’re helping to spread these ideas!"

Nancy Fraser - June 2019 (personal email)
"Very good. This post is going straight to the March 2016 Biblical Studies Carnival."

—N.T. Wrong, – March 2016
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— James Crossley, – April 2010
"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!"

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-- Klaas Spronk, - Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXI, 3/4 (2014)
"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
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— Philippe Wajdenbaum, – November 2018
"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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"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"

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— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
"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."

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— Earl Doherty, November 2013 (personal email)
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
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
"I have found your website really valuable as an interpretive filter for Biblical scholarship, especially the origins of Christianity and historicity of Jesus issue. Your clarity of expression, fair comments and personal insights are much valued. I refer to your site frequently as yet more names and publications pop up requiring an academic critique and helpful recommendations for book purchases. So, please continue to delve deeply and share this intellectual sustenance with your grateful readers."

— Mary Booker, – February 2020 (personal email)
"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
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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— April DeConick, – November 2007

Stephen on “Josephus and Jesus, New Evidence” – Review 3 – “received with pleasure”: “perhaps implied, “if it be lawful [for me] to call him a man” – Josephus would have had no problem…” Jun 27, 14:05
Stephen on “Josephus and Jesus, New Evidence” – Review 3 – “received with pleasure”: ““a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man” I had speculated: Perhaps the original TF described…” Jun 27, 13:43
Stephen on Speaking of Josephus . . . .: “It seems much easier to understand the New Testament and Josephus if one simply assumes there was a first century…” Jun 27, 09:25
Richard Carrier on “Josephus and Jesus, New Evidence” – Review 3 – “received with pleasure”: “Neil, thank you for putting the time in to write this series on Schmidt. I am looking forward to every…” Jun 26, 15:24
Mike on Speaking of Josephus . . . .: “How about this timeline for the fictional Jesus and a legit original TF which was later edited and/or added to…” Jun 26, 05:11
Neil Godfrey on “Josephus and Jesus, New Evidence” – Review 3 – “received with pleasure”: “But “truth” for Josephus meant that Vespasian was the world ruler to come out of Judea, not Jesus. Yes, and…” Jun 26, 01:21
Neil Godfrey on “Josephus and Jesus, New Evidence” – Review 3 – “received with pleasure”: “Since posting I have inserted this afterthought: Josephus boasted that the Judean nation observed their holy laws “with pleasure” throughout…” Jun 26, 01:15
Stephen on “Josephus and Jesus, New Evidence” – Review 3 – “received with pleasure”: “In the TF, Jesus is said to be a sophos aner (a wise man). In War 2.17.8 Judas of Galilee…” Jun 25, 23:48
Stephen on “Josephus and Jesus, New Evidence” – Review 2 – ‘a teacher of . . . truisms’: “The reason I apply the “world ruler” interpretation to the TF is because Josephus would have known that “Christ” or…” Jun 25, 11:45

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