Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Annotated list of Vridar posts on the Book of Revelation Bruce Malina and Revelation as an Astral prophecy Born of a woman in heaven: cosmic origin of the Messiah 2011-06-05 Discussing Professor Bruce J. Malina’s book On The Genre And Message Of Revelation: Star Visions and Sky Journeys He sets out a case for the … Continue reading “Book of Revelation — Annotated List of Posts“
This post concludes Thomas Witulski’s analysis of the text of Revelation 11:3-13. On the verses describing the resurrection and ascension of the two witnesses, W judges that they are inserted by a later hand for the following reasons. The narrative of the two witnesses up to the moment of their deaths is told in the … Continue reading “The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 – part D”
Human rights — they are so Western! But how can anyone, any culture, frown upon them and want them excluded from their frame of reference? Think China. Around twenty years ago I visited Tiananmen Square. Soldiers, every few metres it seemed, still guarded the space. One could not just freely wander anywhere there as if … Continue reading “Imagining an Alternative to Human Rights”
All posts reviewing Nathanael Vette’s Writing With Scripture are archived at Vette : Writing With Scripture With thanks to T&T Clark who forwarded me a review copy. Having “settled” again (this time Thailand) I can resume my discussion of Nathanael Vette’s [NV] Writing With Scripture. We come now to the Passion Narrative in the Gospel … Continue reading “How (and Why) Jewish Scriptures are used in Mark’s Passion Narrative — a review of Writing with Scripture, part 9”
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”
When I offered to post a comprehensive review of Writing With Scripture by Nathanael Vette the publisher sent me a copy and now I hope this first in a series of reviews will begin to do justice to all concerned and interested. I write primarily as a layman for interested lay readers. Who is Nathanael … Continue reading “How and Why the Gospel of Mark Used Scripture — a review of Writing with Scripture, part 1”
In the preceding post I copied extracts from Demetrios Kritsotakis’s thesis Hadrian and the Greek East that illustrated the unprecedented level to which the Roman emperor Hadrian was exalted as a divinity — all in the context of Thomas Witulski’s thesis that the Book of Revelation is best dated to the time of Hadrian (117-138 … Continue reading “Hadrian — Man, Program and Impact in the Context of Revelation”
This post begins to set out the main points of Thomas Witulski’s discussion of the situation facing the Christians in Pergamon as described in Revelation 2:12-17. This account, following his discussion of the two beasts in Revelation 13, is part of the larger argument to place Revelation in the time of Hadrian. The numbers in … Continue reading “The Doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitans”
We have seen how emperor worship directed towards Hadrian in Greece and the Roman province of Asia surpassed anything before known: Emperor Worship and the Book of Revelation. The “advent” and “presence” of an emperor, a divine figure, meant salvation for all in the region. As Horace wrote of Augustus: Great guardian of the race … Continue reading “Emperor Hadrian as Revelation’s Beast from the Sea”
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”
How do we go about finding a date for when the Book of Revelation was composed? The Book of Revelation: an Early Date Revelation Dated to the Year of the Four Emperors – Counting “Kings” Dating Revelation to the Time of Domitian (90s ce) Many have dated the work to just prior to the fall … Continue reading “When was the Book of Revelation Written?”
A few weeks ago I set out the reasons for dating the Revelation of John to the “year of the four emperors”, 69 CE. This time we set out the reasons others date the work to late in the reign of the emperor Domitian (81-96 CE). In future posts we will look at a case … Continue reading “Dating Revelation to the Time of Domitian (90s ce)”
Last month a National Church Life Survey found that only 49% of Australians believe that “Jesus was a real person who actually lived”. From NCLS Research: Is Jesus Real to Australians? That finding (although the sample size surveyed was small — 1286) was too depressing for one somewhat prominent Christian scholar in Australia who dashed … Continue reading “Bearing False Witness for Jesus”
Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs. Criticism of the Gospels and history of their origin. Drittes Buch. Die ursprüngliche Vorgeschichte. Third book. The original prehistory. 3 1. Die Wirksamkeit des Taufers. 1. The effectiveness of the baptizer. 3 Auf die Vorgeschicht, wie sie in den Berichten über die Geburt und Kindheit Jesu enthalten ist, … Continue reading “Ch 1 – The Effectiveness of the Baptist”