Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Continuing from Why Josiah’s Reforms “Must Have Happened” – part 2 The Deuteronomistic History (DH) is a modern theoretical construct holding that behind the present forms of the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings (the Former Prophets in the Hebrew canon) there was a single literary work. In the late 19th century, … Continue reading “Why Josiah’s Reforms “Must Have Happened” – part 3 (conclusion)”
. . . he told me that while she wasn’t a stupid person, he described her as “someone who’s always had trouble finding a place in life, in terms of career and goals, and what her wants are and what her drives are. And as a result, she’s always been—as smart as she is—easily pulled … Continue reading “Conspiracy Theories — The Who and The Why”
The many fair-haired blue-eyed Indigenous Australians (who often trigger scepticism and resentment in non-Indigenous Australians) were usually raised by Aboriginal mothers or removed from their Aboriginal mothers and placed in brutal institutions. They identify as Aboriginal because their white fathers, and often grandfathers too, never lifted a finger to help, or were only fleetingly in … Continue reading “On “White” indigenous Australians …..”
Criticism of the Pauline Epistles by B. Bauer Second Section The Origin of the First Corinthians Letter 1851 3 The Introduction. 1: 1-9. If it were really Paul who wrote to his Corinthians, he would not have addressed the church, which he could consider as his own work, with a phrase that points to a … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Criticism of the Pauline Letters – II. Origin of the First Corinthians Letter”
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”
This week, about two hours drive due west of where I live, two police officers and a helping neighbour were murdered by a trio of “sovereign citizens” — for the “crime” of entering their property. The father of two of the trio, two brothers, had not heard from either of his sons in twenty years. … Continue reading “Sovereign Citizens, ISIS and Moonies — the common thread that binds them all”
If you are like me and a little mystified about how we got to where we are today with increasing numbers actually deploring our traditional democratic systems, with more or our fellow citizens seemingly ignorant of how our system of government works, even of how society functions, and are just a wee bit concerned about … Continue reading “Degenerations of Democracy”
Previous posts reviewing NV’s Writing With Scripture: 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 … Continue reading “The Message of the Feeding Miracles of Jesus — a review of Writing with Scripture, part 6”
This is the second post in my review of Nathanael Vette’s Writing With Scripture: Scripturalized Narrative in the Gospel of Mark. The series is being archived at Vette: Writing With Scripture. For a richer understanding of the creative literary world that gave rise to our Gospel I highly recommend reading these reviews of Vette’s work … Continue reading “Creating New Stories from Scripture — a review of Writing with Scripture, part 2”
And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come and see!” And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures saying, “A … Continue reading “The Black Horse of the Apocalypse and its Rider”
As an affirmed denier of all things supernatural, I must consider my recent deep dive into Critical Race Theory and Bob Price’s latest “troubles” to be entirely coincidental. To show you how far out of the loop I’ve been, I hadn’t the slightest inkling something was amiss in Priceland until I saw his rebuttal to … Continue reading “Cutting Ties with Robert M. Price”
[More stuff from James McGrath’s What Jesus Learned from Women.] In the previous post, we discussed McGrath’s assertion that the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple was learning from the teachers of the law. According to the esteemed doctor, Jesus was just a really good pupil. In rebuttal, I provided some reasons to think that Luke wanted us … Continue reading “A Wunderkind in the Temple? (Part 2)”
Having made a decision to check out Hillsong a bit more after the release of those loathsome scenes of our Trump-loving Prime Minister boasting of “doing God’s work” and even “laying hands on” people and praying for them under the pretence of being empathetic, I searched “randomly” through Google algorithms and came across People in … Continue reading “The Mind of a Hillsong Insider — Both Inside and Out”
For anyone wondering why I have not posted anything for a little while, — I’ve been in catch-up mode. When I posted something about the Gospel of Mark in relation to Vespasian and the Serapis cult I became focused on finding more about the Serapis cult, where and when and in what modes it functioned. … Continue reading “Vridar posts delay”