2010-05-12

My favourite James blog

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

by Neil Godfrey

Two of the things I do not like about my blog are that it is not funny and it always seems to be picking on anyone named James. So to make up a little for both faults I am compelled to give prominent linkage to Dr. Jim’s Thinking Shop & Tea Room. The theology of this particular James is impeccable and his humour divine.

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Latest posts by Neil Godfrey (see all)

A Beginning of Christianity — An Objection; and the Role of Asceticism - 2025-02-21 01:00:10 GMT+0000
A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch - 2025-02-20 11:35:52 GMT+0000
Which One Came First? “Gnostic” ideas or “Orthodox” Christianity? - 2025-02-18 09:25:20 GMT+0000

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Dr. Jim says:

2010-05-13 08:44:16 GMT+0000 at 08:44

Thanks for the plug!
You forgot to mention the Slinky Jazz Babes!
Ok, there hasn’t been one for a while, but I’m almost done with a few deadlines and then…

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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
"Very good. This post is going straight to the March 2016 Biblical Studies Carnival."

—N.T. Wrong, – March 2016
"Here I give an admittedly subjective short list, in random order, of useful, high level and regularly updated weblogs on the study of the Old Testament . . . ‘Vridar: Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science’ (http://vridar.org/) by Neil Godfrey"

-- Klaas Spronk, - Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXI, 3/4 (2014)
"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!"

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

— John Moles, September 2011 (personal email)
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.

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Editor, An English Edition of Bruno Bauer’s 1843 Christianity Exposed
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"Neil, for what it is worth it is obvious to me that if you had earlier in life tracked into a graduate program at one of the world’s leading research universities you would be one of the world’s formidable ones. You are doing essentially the same quality now (apart from the philology and languages) except mostly sticking to commenting on others’ work as informed comment/discussion."

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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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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.

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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
"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
"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)
"Many thanks for this post, and for the quality of your blog."

— Philippe Wajdenbaum, – November 2018
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
"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
"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

Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “I think you’ve let the horses run a little wild here 😉 — but yeh, some ideas can lead to…” Feb 21, 23:15
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity — An Objection; and the Role of Asceticism: “But as for that point about oral tradition being unjustified — I do recall Thomas Brodie calling it out in…” Feb 21, 03:09
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity — An Objection; and the Role of Asceticism: “Yes, I did read it and should refresh my memory of it by returning to my marked digital copy. I…” Feb 21, 02:52
Clarke W Owens on A Beginning of Christianity — An Objection; and the Role of Asceticism: “Robyn Faith Walsh, in The Origins of Early Christian Literature, argues that reliance on oral traditions and early communities is…” Feb 21, 02:28
RParvus on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “Neil, I know I’ve been rightly accused of excess speculation, but sometimes I can’t help myself. I will blurt this…” Feb 20, 23:26
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “I don’t know that Justin was using a harmony of the gospels. He flat out contradicts the Gospels and Acts…” Feb 20, 21:23
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “I am relying on Justin Martyr where he says in his Dialogue with Trypho: These men call themselves Christians in…” Feb 20, 21:17
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “Probably. Some scholars do argue that point. But I think they all work with the gnostic-orthodoxy model on the assumption…” Feb 20, 21:14
Neil Godfrey on A Beginning of Christianity? — A Closer Look in Antioch: “I did sneak it in with “and that the figure of Paul may be related in some way to Saturninus…” Feb 20, 21:11

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