Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.” — Mark 9:1 We know what follows so we read on to see “the fulfilment” of that saying six days later with Peter, James and John … Continue reading “Who Will See “The Kingdom of God Coming with Power” in Mark 9:1?”
Isaiah’s Suffering Servant has been co-opted by Christians as a prophecy of Jesus Christ but how did pre-Christian Jews understand this figure? My last post in a series examining Martin Hengel’s scholarly work on this question was From Israel’s Suffering (Isaiah’s Servant) to Atoning Human/Messianic Sacrifice (Daniel). Here is the long overdue follow up post. … Continue reading “How Did Daniel Understand Isaiah’s Suffering Servant?”
Rikki Watts presents a very thorough argument in Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark (1997) that the major themes, structure, and narrative details in the Gospel of Mark were drawn directly from the Book of Isaiah, and in particular from the last chapters of Isaiah that speak of a New Exodus for Israel from captivity to … Continue reading “The Gospel of Mark As a Fulfilment of Isaiah’s New Exodus”
The “little apocalypse” or “Olivet prophecy” of Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Luke 21 is often cited as a key passage for dating the gospels. The idea is to match the events described in this passage with what seems to be the best fit historically. Others have questioned whether we are right to attempt to … Continue reading “The little apocalypse of Mark 13 – historical or creative prophecy?”
The Cyrus Cylinder is not evidence that the Persian king Cyrus commissioned a return of Judeans to restore their temple (as explained in the previous post) but it does show us why the biblical authors proclaimed Cyrus to be the “anointed one” as their central character in their mythical narrative of that return. In the … Continue reading “Origin of the Cyrus-Messiah Myth”
Having surveyed what the archaeological evidence tells us about religious practices of the Judeans in Elephantine (see the previous post) let’s now compare the evidence for Judah and Samaria in the same period. This time I am quoting only two sources, a chapter by Reinhard G. Kratz in A Companion to the Achaemenid Empire and … Continue reading “Judah and Samaria in Persian Times — the Evidence (and a way out of a quandary)”
My title refers to the anonymous texts in both the Old and New Testaments and why among those anonymous works we encounter numerous contradictions, even within the same works. I came across one of the clearest explanations to this question in David’s Secret Demons by Baruch Halpern. Halpern explains why “Near Eastern” writing is so … Continue reading “Why Bible Authors Wrote Anonymously and with Contradictions”
Critique of the Gospel History of the Synoptics by Bruno Bauer Volume 1 —o0o— 391 Appendix. The Messianic Expectations of the Jews at the Time of Jesus. All those who have spoken out against Strauss’s interpretation of the evangelical history in recent years also felt it was their duty to protest against the derivation of … Continue reading “Appendix. The Messianic Expectations of the Jews at the Time of Jesus”
Critique of the Gospel History of the Synoptics by Bruno Bauer Volume 1 —o0o— 142 Second section. The preparations for Jesus’ public appearance. § 12. The effectiveness of the Baptist. 1. The locality. In those days, as Matthew has already told us, when Jesus lived in Nazareth, John the Baptist appeared and called his people … Continue reading “§ 12. The effectiveness of the Baptist”
Other posts arguing against the view that Second Temple Jews were longing for the appearance of a messiah: Were Jews Hoping for a Messiah to Deliver Them from Rome? Raising Doubts (2019-05-07) “The Chosen People Were Not Awaiting the Messiah” (2019-05-05) Myth of popular messianic expectations at the time of Jesus (2017-02-03) Questioning Carrier and … Continue reading “Bruno Bauer: Messianic Expectations of the Jews at the Time of Jesus”
For earlier posts where I indicated the importance of some of Garbini’s approaches, see Testing (or not) Historical Sources for Reliability and Interview with Thomas L. Thompson #1. The current post follows on from the previous one where we outlined the identification as “forerunners” of Israel the Banu Yamina (Benjamin) with their “davids” in the … Continue reading “Israel’s Origins – before Palestine”
The creation account in Genesis 1 is unlike other creation myths from the ancient world. There are little hints in the chapter that the author was aware of more dramatic myths of gods fighting monsters and in the process creating the cosmos, but unlike those myths Genesis 1:1-2:3 appears to be . . . . … Continue reading “Genesis 1 “Amazing” “Unique” — [Biblical Creation Accounts/Plato’s Timaeus – 2]”
By the time I finished reading Nanine Charbonnel’s penultimate chapter of Jésus-Christ, sublime figure de papier a queasy sense of déjà vu dragged my mind back decades to a time when I believed that the Bible was a coded book that needed “keys” to open up its true meaning to modern readers. Before Michael Drosnin‘s … Continue reading “Are There Really “Keys” to Understanding the New Testament? (Charbonnel continued)”
continuing the series of Charbonnel: Jesus Christ sublime figure de papier Eucharist: Body and Blood of the People We read about Jesus, on the eve of his death, as the eucharist or Last Supper meal, or as the ideal end-time sacrifice, that is, the sacrifice that effects not only forgiveness of sins but the communion … Continue reading “Jesus’ Death as the Death of the People of God: Communion and Passion”