2009-12-25

Christmas message

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

by Neil Godfrey

If I had to give a Christmas message this is it. The following news stories, one from Agence France-Presse and one from Antiwar.com, are meant to be read as a couplet.

Iraq Christians mark Christmas under threat

and

Christians United for War

Both were published on the same day, 24 December, 2009

For what it is worth nowadays, this can be found on the Wikipedia:

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed World War II, called the waging of aggressive war “essentially an evil thing…to initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

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No Evidence Cyrus allowed the Jews to Return - 2024-04-22 03:59:17 GMT+0000
Comparing Samaria and Judah/Yehud – and their religion – in Persian Times - 2024-04-20 07:15:59 GMT+0000
Samaria in the Persian Period - 2024-04-15 11:49:57 GMT+0000

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"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
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— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
"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
"Very good. This post is going straight to the March 2016 Biblical Studies Carnival."

—N.T. Wrong, – March 2016
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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"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."

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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
"These reviews of yours are so bloody weird!"

— James Crossley, – April 2010
https://earlywritings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=145080#p145080
Neil made a good synthesis of the work without being an “expert” of the field.

-- Enrico Tuccinardi, - October 2022
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— Richard Carrier, – March 2014

Neil Godfrey on Samaria in the Persian Period: “In that context I have to ask if you have yet read: Parpola, Simo. “The Assyrian Tree of Life: Tracing…” Apr 23, 22:24
Gordon Rouse on Comments on Eric Zuesse’s Christ’s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity: “I would love insight even into your confusion here! I read Carrier’s argument for why Paul is authentic, and I…” Apr 23, 00:39
James Faubel on No Evidence Cyrus allowed the Jews to Return: “So, like the Cyrus Cylinder itself, 2nd Isaiah and Ezra/Nehemiah are propaganda, not “history” or even historiography. This comports better…” Apr 22, 20:46
Neil Godfrey on Comments on Eric Zuesse’s Christ’s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity: “No. But I think my current thoughts are back closer to the Dutch radicals now. I simply don’t know what…” Apr 22, 15:39
Gordon Rouse on Comments on Eric Zuesse’s Christ’s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity: “[This was November 2010 — I am less inclined to the position of the Dutch radical school now] Hi Neil,…” Apr 22, 11:13
Neil Godfrey on Comments on Eric Zuesse’s Christ’s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity: “Page post: https://vridar.org/historical-method-and-the-question-of-christian-origins/ Blog posts: https://vridar.org/2022/04/04/historical-research-the-basics/ https://vridar.org/2019/02/16/ancient-historiography-and-historians-vridar-posts/ https://vridar.org/2018/09/08/tall-tales-do-not-mean-we-doubt-the-historicity-of-davie-crockett-why-should-we-therefore-doubt-jesus/ https://vridar.org/2018/09/06/how-do-historians-decide-who-was-historical-who-fictional/ https://vridar.org/2018/09/03/heres-how-philosophers-know-socrates-existed/ https://vridar.org/2018/05/07/doing-history-how-do-we-know-queen-boadicea-boudicca-existed/ https://vridar.org/2017/12/05/why-the-biographies-of-socrates-differ/ https://vridar.org/2017/08/09/did-the-ancient-philosopher-demonax-exist/ https://vridar.org/2016/10/20/and-the-mysterious-unknowns-of-other-historical-figures/ https://vridar.org/2016/07/24/the-quest-for-the-historical-hiawatha-the-historical-mythical-jesus-debate/ https://vridar.org/2013/12/08/jesus-is-not-as-historical-as-anyone-else-in-the-ancient-world/ https://vridar.org/2013/11/07/how-can-we-know-if-the-jesus-narratives-are-memories-or-inventions/ https://vridar.org/2013/01/31/that-chart-of-mythical-and-historical-persons-with-explanations/ https://vridar.org/2013/01/29/the-historical-jesus-and-the-demise-of-history-2-the-overlooked-reasons-we-know-certain-ancient-persons-existed/ https://vridar.org/2013/01/19/the-historical-jesus-and-the-decline-of-history-1-what-has-history-to-do-with-the-facts/…” Apr 21, 21:12
Neil Godfrey on Comments on Eric Zuesse’s Christ’s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity: “This is not addressing my point. Of course “single events” spark other major historical events (the assassination of the Archduke…” Apr 21, 21:11
Neil Godfrey on Comments on Eric Zuesse’s Christ’s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity: “I have answered that a dozen times. Please see my posts on historical methods and how we determine what is…” Apr 21, 20:26
Eric Zuesse on Comments on Eric Zuesse’s Christ’s Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity: “Well, my point is that if we are to doubt whether Jesus existed, or whether Paul who wrote about Jesus…” Apr 21, 20:12

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