Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
I recently read something I liked on a blog run by someone (James Bishop) I would think of as a fundamentalist or certainly very conservative Christian. The article is Why I No Longer Hold to Inerrancy & The Need For A New Model of Inspiration. I was reminded so vividly of my own days of doubt … Continue reading “So far, but no farther… or maybe the journey has just begun”
The first two gospels portray Jesus being anointed by an unnamed woman in Bethany in order to “prepare him for burial.” In the third gospel that scene has been removed and replaced with another, set earlier, of an unnamed woman anointing Jesus’ feet. How do we know the Gospel of Luke was rewriting the Bethany … Continue reading “Why Did Luke Replace the Anointing of Jesus at Bethany with the Sinner Woman Washing His Feet?”
A week ago James McGrath posted Earl Doherty as Christian Reformer in which he expressed a point I have been making for some years now and especially since Thomas Brodie “came out” as not believing that there was a historical Jesus. Approvingly citing Matthew Green, McGrath writes if mythicism did turn out to be true, … Continue reading “James McGrath and I Finally Agree on Mythicism”
Having just read Daniel Gullotta’s review of Richard Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus I expect to be posting over the coming weeks a series of analytical responses. In the meantime, some overview thoughts. Firstly, the choice of journal for this review, The Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus. One of the editors … Continue reading “Daniel Gullotta’s Review of Richard Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus“
Nicholas Covington of Hume’s Apprentice has collated lowlights of his discussions about Jesus mythicism with James McGrath and Larry Hurtado. He includes references to posts on the same topic by Jonathan Bernier, too. Nicholas identifies the same circularities of argument and the same logical fallacies that characterize their points as I have also found in the … Continue reading “Another summary of discussions with McGrath and Hurtado”
Professor Hurtado has followed up with another post (“Mythical Jesus”: The Fatal Flaws) that was prompted by my earlier criticism of what I considered his flawed, even unprofessional, treatment of Carrier’s arguments in particular and the arguments of the Christ Myth hypothesis more generally. In his reply Hurtado accused me of “dismissing” and “impugning” a huge body of … Continue reading “On Larry Hurtado’s Response”
One of the more informative biblioblogs that I generally appreciate is Michael Kok’s The Jesus Memoirs: The History and Reception of the New Testament. Lately Michael Kok has been posting “course materials” setting out in easy-to-read summaries the basics of the various New Testament books. I have been unable to keep up with all of them … Continue reading “Do we have evidence of oral traditions as sources for the gospels?”
Warning: If you are looking for snazzy gotcha type parallels that demonstrate a genetic relationship between the letters of Paul and Enoch you will be disappointed. This post is not about direct imitation or identification of “a source” for Paul’s letter. The first page addresses form parallels; to see the content and ideas click “read … Continue reading “Meet Paul and Enoch; both come from the same place”
A number of biblical scholars appear to be afflicted with something akin to the Red Scare or the Yellow Menace of the old Cold War days. They don’t need to know much about communism to know that it’s bad and evil and a threat to everything decent and that it appeals mostly to benighted minds in … Continue reading “Why do professional scholars blog this sort of vacuous nonsense?”
Don’t think of books. Think of open databases, literary projects, both earthly and heavenly archives. Ben Sirach, for example, becomes a generative character or figurehead from whom writings flowed like canals from a river. That’s how Eva Mroczek, Literary Imagination in Jewish Antiquity, says we should understand the way ancient Jewish scribes (Second Temple and gospel … Continue reading “Divine Revelation Not Limited to the “Bible Canon””
Westar Institute has posted an update on the health of John Shelby Spong [link (https://www.westarinstitute.org/membership/westar-fellows/fellows-directory/john-shelby-spong/) no longer active: Neil Godfrey, 24th July 2019. Try: https://www.westarinstitute.org/membership/westar-fellows/fellows-directory/john-shelby-spong/) by Cassandra Farrin. Back in September Episcopal Café announced that he had had a stroke. Spong’s book Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism had a major impact on my understanding of … Continue reading “Bishop John Shelby Spong Update”
Without citing any instances to support his claim, Bart Ehrman charged “mythicists” as sometimes guilty of dishonestly quote-mining Albert Schweitzer to make it sound as if Schweitzer supported the view that Jesus was not a historical person. Ehrman’s unsubstantiated allegation has been repeated by Cornelis Hoogerwerf on his blog (without any acknowledgement to Ehrman); Jona … Continue reading “Albert Schweitzer on the Christ Myth Debate”
There are many excellent biblical scholars whose works are discussed here as often as opportunity arises. Check out the Categories list in the right column here to see the extent of our coverage. But as with any profession there are some rogues who need to be exposed. A few hours ago on the Religion Prof … Continue reading “Biblical Scholar Watch #1”
What a hoot! Bart Ehrman is listed alongside Richard Carrier as an authority citing reasons to doubt the historical existence of Jesus! (For those not in the know, Ehrman has expressed deep loathing of Carrier and has written a book arguing that anyone who thinks Jesus did not exist is bonkers.) That’s in the Big … Continue reading “Jesus Lives and therefore Lived — If You Believe”