Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 4 —

All posts in this series: 1. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK 2. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 2 — 3. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 3 — 4. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 4 — 5. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / … Continue reading “Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 4 —”


Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 3 —

All posts in this series: 1. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK 2. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 2 — 3. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 3 — 4. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 4 — 5. Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / … Continue reading “Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 3 —”


Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 2 —

This is part 2 of the interview with John Curington. See Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK for the introduction and background this series. (Greg Doudna has posted a link to the full interview on his academia.edu page.) It is interesting to compare today’s events with “fake news” and its correlation with criminal violence. ~ … Continue reading “Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK / 2 —”


Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK

I am going to post in installments an interview that relates to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Since reading the interview I have followed up some of the information and names mentioned and the more I learn the more questions I have. The interviewer, Greg Doudna, has kindly agreed to write an introduction. (I … Continue reading “Billionaire Logic and the Death of JFK”


Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible

Russell Gmirkin in his new book, Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible draws attention to striking similarities between the Pentateuch (the first five books of the “Old Testament”) on the one hand and Plato’s last work, Laws, and features of the Athenian constitution on the other. Further, even the broader collection of writings that … Continue reading “Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible”


continuing … Biblical Narratives, Archaeology, Historicity – Essays in Honour of Thomas L. Thompson

The first part of this review is at https://vridar.org/2020/08/25/biblical-narratives-archaeology-historicity-essays-in-honour-of-thomas-l-thompson/ . . . Continuing the section Part 2. History, Historiography and Archaeology . . .  Jesper Høgenhaven’s chapter explores evidence in the Qumran texts for how Second Temple Judeans thought about the Biblical writings. We can be puzzled by the way biblical passages were joined to … Continue reading “continuing … Biblical Narratives, Archaeology, Historicity – Essays in Honour of Thomas L. Thompson”


“When everyone is agreed on something, it is probably wrong” — Thompson’s Rule

Another Thompson aphorism: ‘When everyone is agreed on something, it is probably wrong’. In other words, as Thompson has also put it, ‘in our fields, if all are in agreement, it signifies that no one is trying to falsify the theory: an essential step in any scientific argument’. — Doudna 2020 That’s not being perverse. … Continue reading ““When everyone is agreed on something, it is probably wrong” — Thompson’s Rule”


Deconstructing What We’ve Always Been Told About Qumran

never underestimate the power of scholarly conservatism Earlier this year I posted on work by Gregory Doudna arguing that the Dead Sea Scrolls were not a repository of a sect (Essene or otherwise) dwelling at Qumran in the first century CE. I still have more work to do on his article but till then anyone … Continue reading “Deconstructing What We’ve Always Been Told About Qumran”


The Dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls

As set out in a previous post, when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered they were dated on palaeographical (handwriting) analysis before the time of King Herod (37 to 4 BCE) or at least not later than the earlier years of Herod — before 20 BCE. We saw in the same post how the various scripts were subsequently … Continue reading “The Dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls”


How Dating the Dead Sea Scrolls Went Awry — #1

Previous posts in this series: Dead Sea Scrolls — All Well Before Christ and the First Jewish War Qumran Not a Sectarian Community (Essene or Otherwise): Argument from Archaeology – #1 Qumran Not a Sectarian Community – #2 For this post I am returning to Gregory Doudna’s 2014 conference paper, Dating the Scroll Deposits of the … Continue reading “How Dating the Dead Sea Scrolls Went Awry — #1”


Qumran Not a Sectarian Community (Essene or Otherwise): Argument from Archaeology – #1

Fundamentally people will continue to accept an interpretation of the site that best satisfies their own psyche, although I hope that they will take into account my redating of its development. — David Stacey I have frequently heard of doubts that the Qumran (the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls) consisted of Essenes or even of … Continue reading “Qumran Not a Sectarian Community (Essene or Otherwise): Argument from Archaeology – #1”


Dead Sea Scrolls — All Well Before Christ and the First Jewish War

A paper presented last the Caves of Qumran 2014 conference at Lugano, Switzerland, by Gregory L. Doudna argues that the traditional dating of the scroll deposits of the caves of Qumran to as late as the time of the First Revolt [66-70 CE] is supported by neither evidence nor plausibility. (Doudna 2017, p.238) Doudna’s paper makes … Continue reading “Dead Sea Scrolls — All Well Before Christ and the First Jewish War”