Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Based on my reading of the first chapter of The New Threat: The Past, Present, and Future of Islamic Militancy by Jason Burke. . . . The turning point was in October, 1981, argues Jason Burke. Prior to the 1980s the most well-known terrorists were Leila Khaled and Carlos the Jackal. Religious agendas were very rarely found … Continue reading “The Origins of Islamic Militancy”
. The first Christians shared all things in common; the first people of God began as a nation of twelve tribes. Plato would have been impressed with both beginnings. . Previous in this series: Plato’s and the Bible’s Ideal Laws: Similarities 1:631-637 (2015-06-22) Plato’s and Bible’s Laws: Similarities, completing Book 1 of Laws (2015-06-23) Plato’s Laws, … Continue reading “Plato’s and the Bible’s Ideal States”
Previous in this series: Plato’s and the Bible’s Ideal Laws: Similarities 1:631-637 (2015-06-22) Plato’s and Bible’s Laws: Similarities, completing Book 1 of Laws (2015-06-23) Plato’s Laws, Book 2, and Biblical Values (2015-07-13) Plato and the Bible on the Origins of Civilization (2015-08-13) — Book 4 of Plato’s Laws For Plato the ideal state must begin with the … Continue reading “Bible’s Presentation of Law as a Model of Plato’s Ideal”
Previous in this series: Plato’s and the Bible’s Ideal Laws: Similarities 1:631-637 (2015-06-22) Plato’s and Bible’s Laws: Similarities, completing Book 1 of Laws (2015-06-23) Plato’s Laws, Book 2, and Biblical Values (2015-07-13) — I love the way Old Testament books come alive as part and parcel of a long forgotten ancient world when I read other ancient writings … Continue reading “Plato and the Bible on the Origins of Civilization”
Continuing from the previous post. . . . Fallibility of eyewitness accounts Eyewitness accounts are not necessarily more reliable than other sources. Timothy Good compiled 100 eyewitness accounts of the assassination of President Lincoln and its immediate aftermath in We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts. David Henige comments in Historical Evidence and Argument (2005):df Reading these … Continue reading “Testing (or not) Historical Sources for Reliability”
Whatever you do, don’t just believe everything you’re told; every statement should be taken apart and scrutinised before, reluctantly, you accept that it might conceivably be true. . When a reader once tried to advise me that New Testament scholars of Christian origins were not unique among historians of the ancient world for their resistance … Continue reading “If Scepticism Does Not Come Naturally. . . It’s Worth Fighting For”
In 1823, the Supreme Court of the United States decided the case of Johnson v. M’Intosh (pronounced “Macintosh”). The case centered on a title dispute between two parties over land purchased in 1773 and 1775 from American Indian tribes north of the Ohio River. In the decision Chief Justice John Marshall outlined the Discovery Doctrine, … Continue reading “The Doctrine of Discovery: The Legal Framework of Colonialism, Slavery, and Holy War”
Akhenaten refresher Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled for 17 years in middle of fourteenth century, up till around 1336 or 1334 BCE originally known as Amenthotep IV (or in Greek, Amenophis IV); changed his name to Akhenaten opposed the orthodox priests of Ammon-Re; redirected their income to his new god Aton abolished traditional cults and idols of … Continue reading “Tales of Jesus and Moses: Two Ways to Apply Social Memory in Historical Studies”
Continuing . . . . The final account to be considered is that of the Greek geographer and historian Strabo who was probably writing early first century CE. The passage is found in Book 16, chapter 2 of his Geography. According to Strabo Moses was an Egyptian priest who established a religion that stood against the traditional focus … Continue reading “Moses and the Exodus: again, Moses as an Egyptian Priest”
Continuing to set out some of the many variants of the Exodus story as told in non-biblical sources . . . At the conclusion of these I will tie them together with Jan Assmann’s argument that they reflect memories of traumatic events in Egypt’s past. The Egyptian priest Manetho in the early third century B.C.E. … Continue reading “Moses and Exodus According to the Egyptian Priest Manetho”
A criticism of the view that Muhammad did not exist Excerpts from an interview published in Spiegel Online International Dispute among Islam Scholars: Did Muhammad Ever Really Live? SPIEGEL ONLINE: There is a group of prominent German Islamic scholars, who are becoming increasingly aggressive about questioning whether the existence of the Prophet is even historically accurate. The … Continue reading “Did Muhammad Exist? A revisionist look at Islam’s Origins”
Hi Neil, I have a copy of Norelli’s Ascension d’Isaïe and I consulted it when I wrote parts 7 through 9 of my blog series on a Simonian origin for Christianity. In part 7 of the series I noted in passing that Norelli put the date of composition for the Vision of Isaiah at the end of the first … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Contents, Manuscripts and the Question of its Composition”
Earl Doherty and Richard Carrier have suggested that there is an ancient text outside the Bible that stands as direct evidence for some early Christians believing Asc. Isa.), believed to be a composite document whose earliest parts were quite likely authored as early as the late first century. Scholarly work on Asc. Isa. has been … Continue reading “A New (Completely Revised) Look at the Ascension of Isaiah”
Related pages: James McGrath’s review on Bible and Interpretation James McGrath’s discussion of review on ExploringOurMatrix After addressing the introduction to James McGrath’s initial post reviewing Richard Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus I now discuss his primary focus — the Ascension of Isaiah (Asc. Isa.I). I should be able to say that I will discuss McGrath’s treatment … Continue reading “McGrath Reviews Carrier: Part 2, Ascension of Isaiah“