Archaeological Support for Gmirkin’s Thesis on Plato and the Hebrew Bible

Neils Peter Lemche (link is to my posts referencing NPL) has reviewed archaeologist Yonatan Adler’s The Origins of Judaism (link is to my post on Adler’s book) and related its evidence and argument to the work of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato and the Hebrew Bible. — on which I have posted in depth here. Lemche’s review … Continue reading “Archaeological Support for Gmirkin’s Thesis on Plato and the Hebrew Bible”


BMCR Review of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts

Bryn Mawr Classical Review has published a review by Nicholas Banner of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts in addition to giving space for Gmirkin to post a reply. Last year and early this year I posted a series on the same work: Plato and the Biblical Creation Accounts (Gmirkin). Banner’s judgment … Continue reading “BMCR Review of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts”


Plato and the Biblical Creation Accounts (Gmirkin)

1. Biblical Creation Accounts and Plato – 1 2022-09-25 In his opening chapter RG explains how he will go about identifying the sources behind the Primordial History gives an overview of the history of the scholarly views of Genesis 1-11 and where his own research fits(hint: it all started with the Copenhagen school of biblical … Continue readingPlato and the Biblical Creation Accounts (Gmirkin)


Vridar Goes to Poland with Russell Gmirkin, Plato and the Hebrew Bible

. . . with Russell Gmirkin’s book, Plato and the Hebrew Bible These three Vridar posts have been translated into Polish and posted on the Testimonia blog: 1. Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible 2. The Pentateuch’s Debt to Greek Laws and Constitutions — A New Look 3. David, an Ideal Greek Hero — … Continue reading “Vridar Goes to Poland with Russell Gmirkin, Plato and the Hebrew Bible”


The Hebrew Bible Composed in the Hellenistic Era: Dr. Robert M. Price & Russell Gmirkin – MythVision Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9znMWH3LC9E Vridar posts on Russell Gmirkin’s books discussed in the podcast: Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and the Date of the Pentateuch Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible .


Hebrew Bible of Hellenistic Origin – Gmirkin responds to Anthonioz’s review

A week ago we saw Stéphanie Anthonioz‘s review of Russell Gmirkin’s Plato and the Hebrew Bible on The Bible and Interpretation. See Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible – review. Today we can read Russell’s response: A Response to Stéphanie Anthonioz, “Review of Russell E. Gmirkin, Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew … Continue reading “Hebrew Bible of Hellenistic Origin – Gmirkin responds to Anthonioz’s review”


Some preliminaries before resuming Gmirkin’s Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible

I originally wrote the following as an introduction to my next post on Russell E. Gmirkin’s new book, Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible. On reflection, it was too long to be part of a post addressing the book so here it is a separate introductory post instead. Our historically conditioned deafness to … Continue reading “Some preliminaries before resuming Gmirkin’s Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible


Not Finding the First Jesus? Look for the Last ….

Seeking, but not finding I think I have been searching in the wrong places for the origin of the Jesus figure in our New Testament writings. Of course it would be easiest to assume that there is some truth to the gospel narratives and that there was a historical preacher by that name who was … Continue reading “Not Finding the First Jesus? Look for the Last ….”


Seeking a Plausible Origin for the Seducing Serpent in the Garden of Eden

I intend in this post to throw an idea into the ring for consideration. I have very little with which to defend the idea but I find it of interest. I have nothing stronger than that as my motive for posting it here: that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was an allusion to … Continue reading “Seeking a Plausible Origin for the Seducing Serpent in the Garden of Eden”


Understanding Contradictions and Incongruities in the Bible – Or Not…

A couple of months ago I posted Why Bible Authors Wrote Anonymously and with Contradictions. I was setting down in writing my thoughts as informed by my latest reading at the time. But doubts remained. In that post I said that ancient Near Eastern authors corrected details in an existing narrative by adding contradictory statements … Continue reading “Understanding Contradictions and Incongruities in the Bible – Or Not…”


Finding a Place for King Josiah in the History of Biblical Israel

Recent posts relating to King Josiah’s reforms: Why Josiah’s Reforms “Must Have Happened” – part 1 (2024-03-30) Why Josiah’s Reforms “Must Have Happened” – part 2 (2024-03-31) Why Josiah’s Reforms “Must Have Happened” – part 3 (conclusion) (2024-04-01) The Discovery of the Law in Josiah’s Day Compared with Like Discoveries (2024-04-02) Caught out (2024-04-04) Did … Continue reading “Finding a Place for King Josiah in the History of Biblical Israel”


Two Ages and the Inventions of Four Religions

One of my primary interests has been to understand how the religions of the Bible (Judaism and Christianity) and the Bible itself (both the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament and the Christian New Testament) came about. There are other far more important questions pressing on us at the moment and I will address those as … Continue reading “Two Ages and the Inventions of Four Religions”


Why the Bible Gives Persia Such Good Press: a Hellenistic Perspective

If the Old Testament books were not written before the Hellenistic era as a number of scholars have argued and as I have posted about for some years now, why would their authors have chosen a very favourable Persian empire as the narrative setting of the restoration of Judea after the Babylonian exile? We know … Continue reading “Why the Bible Gives Persia Such Good Press: a Hellenistic Perspective”