Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
The plague of Athens is one of the most detailed, vivid and life-like accounts of any event from ancient times. The historian who penned it (Thucydides) assures all readers that he relied upon eyewitness reports and that he personally investigated what had happened in order to be sure of leaving a record that would be … Continue reading “How Ancient Historians Constructed Dramatic Fiction: Thucydides and the Plague”
This continues from my previous post on A.J. Woodman’s argument. There are good reasons for approaching the Book of Acts and other historical writings of the Bible from the perspective of the wider literary culture of their day. Thucydides, the Greek historian of the Peloponnesian War, is generally thought of as an outstanding exception among … Continue reading “Ancient Historians: Thucydides, historian of realism, not reality”
Was it acceptable for Greek, Roman and Jewish historians to invent accounts of the past? Did even historians imitate and creatively reproduce entire passages from the great epic poems and tragic plays of their day? Can we trust ancient historians who declare they relied upon eyewitness reports? How does our understanding of history differ from … Continue reading “How History Was Done in Bible Times: Myths about Herodotus and Thucydides”
Continuing, with an interlude …. Study the historian before you begin to study the facts. . . . It is what is already done by the intelligent undergraduate who, when recommended to read a work by that great scholar Jones of St Jude’s, goes round to a friend at St Jude’s to ask what sort … Continue reading “Where does John the Baptist fit in History? — The Evidence of Josephus, Pt 6”
Continuing…. (3) The Passage’s Reference to God’s Punishment of Herod Peter Kirby asserts that contradictory viewpoints in Josephus are no reason to suspect the involvement of an alien hand somewhere in the transmission of our manuscripts. He quotes my (somewhat facile) paraphrase of Zindler’s point: Neil Godfrey notes another one of the reasons that Zindler … Continue reading “Where does John the Baptist fit in History? — The Evidence of Josephus, Pt 4”
Continuing from Where does John the Baptist fit in History? . . . . Peter Kirby’s first argument for the authenticity of the John the Baptist passage in Antiquities of Josephus is (1) The Textual Witness Itself All manuscripts contain the passage and Kirby goes one step further and states as a fact: It is … Continue reading “Where does John the Baptist fit in History? — The Evidence of Josephus, Pt 1”
Some critics have portrayed me as being like a moth fluttering to the nearest flame, as one who is always attracted to the latest most radical viewpoint, and therefore my views cannot be taken seriously. What those critics generally fail to recognize, however, is the consistency of my readings of the sources and the fact … Continue reading “Gospel and Historical Jesus Criticism — Method and Consistency”
The first to murder a relative The Greek poet Pindar informs us that Ixion was the first murderer, and a murderer of his kin: He was the hero who, not without guile, was the first to stain mortal men with kindred blood (Pythian Ode 2:20) Ixion did not kill his brother but in better-known versions … Continue reading “The Biblical Cain and his Greek Counterparts”
Previous installments: How and Why the Gospel of Mark Used Scripture — a review of Writing with Scripture, part 1 Creating New Stories from Scripture — a review of Writing with Scripture, part 2 To What Shall We Compare the Gospels? — a review of Writing with Scripture, part 3 Nathanael Vette (NV) is demonstrating … Continue reading “Creating Pseudo-History (and Comedy) from Scripture — a review of Writing with Scripture, part 4”
Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. Thomas Witulski identifies this other beast that arises from the earth with the sophist Antonius Polemon. We introduced him in the post on emperor worship and Revelation. We … Continue reading “Revelation’s Second Beast, the False Prophet”
Hello again everyone. It’s been too long since I’ve posted here. One of the reasons for my absence was that I have been working my way through several new works in other languages that I have had to scan and translate mostly “by machine” as I go. Reading one work led to several more and … Continue reading “Historical Research: The Basics”
no claim is above the requirement of justification Anyone who reads widely about how historians work and how we can know anything about the past — as well as how to critically analyse news and media reports and any information at all — will likely at some point come across an interesting perspective in an … Continue reading “How to Read Historical Evidence (and any other information) Critically”
Think of the world from which Christianity emerged and mystery religions easily come to mind. That may be a mistake. A more relevant context, influencers and rivals were the popular philosophers and their schools in the first and second centuries. The Jew and the Christian offered religions as we understand religion; the others offered cults; … Continue reading “Jesus (and Paul) in the Ancient Philosopher Tradition”
Tim O’Neill makes a statement about history that I have never encountered in any work by any historian explaining to readers what he or she does. The only persons I have heard make the claim come from theological faculties when they try to place the evidence for Jesus on the same (or even higher) level … Continue reading “Getting History for Atheists Wrong (Again – and not just Probably) — #2”