2013-12-28

Vridar Maintenance — Caution: Construction Zone

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

by Tim Widowfield

Watch your step

Loader in viaduct replacement construction zone (Photo credit: WSDOT)

Hey, everybody. I just wanted to warn you that at various points throughout the weekend, I’m going to be tinkering with the blog. We’ve been having quite a bit of trouble with WordPress performance, and it’s possible that the root cause is our antiquated “Rubric” theme.

So if you see Vridar with a new, strange skin, don’t panic. Don’t start thinking that some portly theology student has taken us down with another fraudulent DMCA claim.

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Tim Widowfield

Tim is a retired vagabond who lives with his wife and multiple cats in a 20-year-old motor home. To read more about Tim, see our About page.

Latest posts by Tim Widowfield (see all)

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The Memory Mavens, Part 12: The Collective Memory of a Halbwachs Quotation - 2023-05-15 00:33:35 GMT+0000

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3 thoughts on “Vridar Maintenance — Caution: Construction Zone”

Neil Godfrey says:

2013-12-29 00:18:05 GMT+0000 at 00:18

Or as they say in Singapore:

Reply
Gorit says:

2013-12-29 22:18:30 GMT+0000 at 22:18

Mmm… Now I have to scroll down to see if it is you (Tim) or you (Neil) who has written the post…

Reply
1. Tim Widowfield says:
  
  2013-12-30 01:08:05 GMT+0000 at 01:08
  
  It should be better now.
  
  Reply

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— James Crossley, – April 2010
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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"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
"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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"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"

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— Russell Gmirkin, – October 2016
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
"Very good. This post is going straight to the March 2016 Biblical Studies Carnival."

—N.T. Wrong, – March 2016
"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
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— Mary Booker, – February 2020 (personal email)
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-- Thomas L. Thompson, - April 2020
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 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, this is actually rather useful. Good job."

— R. Joseph Hoffmann, – June 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.

-- Enrico Tuccinardi, - October 2022
"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)
"I still wonder at all the material you turn out for Vridar. The more I read your stuff (and I still do, of course), the more I realize how much we all owe you. Your voice is unique."

— Earl Doherty, November 2013 (personal email)
"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
"I always enjoy reading Neil’s blog because I think that he is careful, thorough, intellectually fair, and honest."

— April DeConick, – November 2007
"Fantastic. I’m so glad you’re helping to spread these ideas!"

Nancy Fraser - June 2019 (personal email)
"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
"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."

— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
"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

Neil Godfrey on Bart Ehrman and another unprofessional blow at mythicism: “I often read these sorts of criticisms of Carrier and I do tend to think that those who make them…” Nov 29, 00:59
Dave Horton on Bart Ehrman and another unprofessional blow at mythicism: “Yeah, ….no…..lol…..Bart Ehrman has been pretty close, and a much less ” I want to prove what I believe” and…” Nov 28, 13:53
Steve Ruis on Are Apostates a Threat to Believers?: “Once again, a claim is made out of whole cloth which causes the rest of us incredible labor debunking it.…” Nov 27, 17:01
Mike Duncan on REASONS NOT TO BELIEVE — P-L Couchoud: “Nature can’t be fooled, but humans can. The defiance of the four horsemen style is why they’re read, alas. I…” Nov 27, 04:29
Neil Godfrey on REASONS NOT TO BELIEVE — P-L Couchoud: “fwiw, I compiled a list of posts addressing scholarly research into religion under the heading Religion – What Is It?…” Nov 26, 21:46
Joul Layne on REASONS NOT TO BELIEVE — P-L Couchoud: “Do you think there is a science that history and those in the humanities do use, like bayesian type analysis?…” Nov 26, 20:57
Steve Ruis on REASONS NOT TO BELIEVE — P-L Couchoud: “Re “The naturalist-type scientist, whose object of study is nature, contrasts with the humanist-type scientist, well-versed in the methods of…” Nov 26, 15:46
Neil Godfrey on A FAREWELL TO CHRISTIANITY: “Thank you for your thoughts. Can I respond with the suggestion that most devout believers have more than a “literal”…” Nov 26, 04:12
D Kappeler on Meet Paul and Enoch; both come from the same place: “Tertullian he was actually late 2nd century/early third century, c 160 – 240. But you are correct, Enoch was widely…” Nov 26, 02:32

Watch your step

Tim Widowfield

Latest posts by Tim Widowfield (see all)

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