Search for "brodie"

Stronger evidence for Publius Vinicius the Stammerer 2000 years ago than for Jesus

Publius who? That is the point of this post. Assertions that there is as much evidence for Jesus as for any other person in ancient times, or that if we reject the historicity of Jesus then we must reject the existence of everyone else in ancient history, are based on ignorance of how we really do know about … Continue reading “Stronger evidence for Publius Vinicius the Stammerer 2000 years ago than for Jesus”

Remaking God in the Image of Abraham

According to Levenson the central elements of the Christian message derive from a reinterpretation and midrashic reworking of prominent tropes in the Hebrew Scriptures. In particular, the central Christian message and characterization of Jesus can be traced directly to the central motifs that lie at the heart of the old biblical stories and proclamations about … Continue reading “Remaking God in the Image of Abraham”

Why did Jesus not wait for his disciples at his tomb? — Or, Why did the disciples not follow Jesus on water? — same question

I’m restricting this question to a study in the Gospel of Mark, and to its ending at 16:8 with the women fleeing in dumbstruck fear and after the young man told them to: Go and tell his disciples, and Peter: He is going before (προαγει) you into Galilee: there you will see him, as he … Continue reading “Why did Jesus not wait for his disciples at his tomb? — Or, Why did the disciples not follow Jesus on water? — same question”

Permissions: mine and yours

If you see anything on my blog that appears to be in breach of copyright let me know {neilgodfrey1[AT]gmail.com} and I will take immediate appropriate action. Vridar by Neil Godfrey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at vridar.org. Permissions beyond the scope of this … Continue reading “Permissions: mine and yours“

Killer Saints?

There’s a footnote in Brodie’s The Crucial Bridge I paid little attention to until I heard a radio discussion about Japanese warrior Samurai becoming Buddhist monks. Then I thought again about Brodie’s footnote (p.12-13)

The Elijah-Elisha Narrative and the Gospel of Mark

Dale and Patricia Miller and Thomas Brodie discuss the Elijah-Elishah Cycle — 1 Kgs 16:29–2 Kgs 13:25 — as a source of Mark’s gospel. Brodie: Brodie does not limit the influences on Mark to the Elijah-Elisha (E-E) narrative. He acknowledges diverse inputs from the broader Hellenistic culture. But in his “Crucial Bridge” he looks closely … Continue reading “The Elijah-Elisha Narrative and the Gospel of Mark”

Mark’s ending and Masada (& Elisha)

This may be nothing but another passing shape in a cloud, but has anyone else passingly wondered if there might be some relationship to Mark’s ending in the way the Jewish war ended at Masada?

Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Chapter 3

3. Names in the Gospel Traditions In this chapter Bauckham discusses the names in the Gospels apart from those of the Twelve and of the public figures, proposing that they were eyewitnesses of the “traditions” to which their names are attached and that they continued to live as authoritative living witnesses to guarantee the veracity … Continue reading “Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Chapter 3”

"I always enjoy reading Neil’s blog because I think that he is careful, thorough, intellectually fair, and honest."

— April DeConick, – November 2007
"Neil, this is actually rather useful. Good job."

— R. Joseph Hoffmann, – June 2014
"I’ve even been cited by atheists with approval (which I really don’t know how to take, so thanks, I think, but I’m not sure, Vrider (even though I feel like I need to take a shower now))."

-- Jim West, – September 2010
"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)
"I think you have a high quality blog that provides a positive public service by discussing academic topics within a wider audience."

— Russell Gmirkin, – October 2016
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
"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
"These reviews of yours are so bloody weird!"

— James Crossley, – April 2010
"Many thanks for this post, and for the quality of your blog."

— Philippe Wajdenbaum, – November 2018
"Vridar is consistently thought-provoking, well-informed, and asking the right questions. There are intelligent, thoughtful comments and commenters regularly offering productive discussion. Books and publications are covered with a range of perspectives with attempts at fair and accurate representation of others’ arguments and content (where there are occasional and inevitable missteps on that I notice Neil making corrections and apologies where warranted, which wins points with me). Please carry on."

— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
"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
"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
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
"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
"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)
"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
"I find your blog most interesting and appreciate your ongoing effort to keep to the evidence for the issues discussed!"

-- Thomas L. Thompson, - April 2020
"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)
"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
"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 want to say here that this site is so resourceful and highly on top of the most modern scholarship in the areas discussed here. . . I know of no other site which offers a wide range of topics related to careful critical analysis of historically and scripturally related issues."

-- Martin Lewadny, - March 2009
"Fantastic. I’m so glad you’re helping to spread these ideas!"

Nancy Fraser - June 2019 (personal email)
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)
"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
"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
It is worth saying another word of appreciation here for Neil Godfrey's effort to make Bruno Bauer accessible in English.

-- Peter Kirby, - May 2023

Mark on Palestinians, written out of their rights to the land – compared with a new history: “What we describe as a distinct “culture” has a unique language, customs and history which for Jews began around 950BC…” Oct 16, 20:45
Mark on Palestinians, written out of their rights to the land – compared with a new history: “I am constantly amazed by a third perspective, which often goes unmentioned: What about simple humanity? If someone who lived…” Oct 16, 20:29
Neil Godfrey on Palestinians, written out of their rights to the land – compared with a new history: “And as noted by Carroll, Robert P. “The Myth of the Empty Land.” In SEMEIA 59. Ideological Criticism of Biblical…” Oct 16, 18:55
Neil Godfrey on Palestinians, written out of their rights to the land – compared with a new history: “Nationalism is a modern Western concept and certain Jews embraced it along with other Europeans — though a little later…” Oct 16, 18:42
James Faubel on Palestinians, written out of their rights to the land – compared with a new history: “A minority of Jews in Babylon, after being freed to leave by Persia, said they were going to “return” to…” Oct 16, 17:48
Amer on Palestinians, written out of their rights to the land – compared with a new history: “Muslims of Palestine have been so engrossed in their identity as Muslims and as Arabic speakers – History remembers them…” Oct 16, 00:12
Gordon Rouse on Palestinians, written out of their rights to the land – compared with a new history: “The false notion seems to be that Judaism was a uniform religion, nation and culture that vacated the region after…” Oct 15, 23:19
RoHa on Palestinians, written out of their rights to the land – compared with a new history: “Moral considerations apply to individual people. They are concrete particulars. “Peoples”, in the tribal/“nation” sense, are not. It is debatable…” Oct 15, 21:33
Neil Godfrey on ABOUT VRIDAR: Authors’ profiles (updated 14th March 2019): “Thanks for notifying me. The links are fixed now.” Oct 14, 19:36

Search Results for: brodie

Stronger evidence for Publius Vinicius the Stammerer 2000 years ago than for Jesus

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Remaking God in the Image of Abraham

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Why did Jesus not wait for his disciples at his tomb? — Or, Why did the disciples not follow Jesus on water? — same question

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Permissions: mine and yours

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Killer Saints?

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The Elijah-Elisha Narrative and the Gospel of Mark

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Mark’s ending and Masada (& Elisha)

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Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Chapter 3

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