Search Results for: rulers this age

O’Neill-Fitzgerald “Christ Myth” Debate, #8.5: Who did make it into the historical record?

–o0o– All posts in this series are archived in the O’Neill-Fitzgerald Debate –o0o– I have been neglecting to include David Fitzgerald’s (DF) own responses to some of Tim O’Neill’s (TO) diatribes against Nailed. Let’s make amends here. After all, TO did post a reply last year to DF’s response, so it’s only reasonable to see … Continue reading “O’Neill-Fitzgerald “Christ Myth” Debate, #8.5: Who did make it into the historical record?”

O’Neill-Fitzgerald “Christ Myth” Debate, #8: Why should anyone have noticed Jesus?

–o0o– All posts in this series are archived in the O’Neill-Fitzgerald Debate. –o0o– What a careful, honest or even just competent treatment of the subject would do would be to deal with all relevant positions throughout the analysis . . . . (O’Neill, 2013) . Tim O’Neill (TO) repeats, and repeats again and again in … Continue reading “O’Neill-Fitzgerald “Christ Myth” Debate, #8: Why should anyone have noticed Jesus?”

A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 7: The Source of Simon/Paul’s Gospel

Introduction I’ll begin this post by acknowledging my debt to Earl Doherty. It was he who convinced me that the gospel Paul believed and preached was derived only from scripture and visions/revelations, and that it did not include a Son of God who lived a human life on earth. Doherty’s demonstration of those points in … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 7: The Source of Simon/Paul’s Gospel”

Is Luke Among the Lying Historians?

One of my earliest posts asked what Josephus might have said about the worth of the Gospels as history had he read them. In preparation for my final post on historical-critical methods with Stephen’s martyrdom as a case study I have come across (as another commenter also did) a chapter in Lies and Fiction in … Continue reading “Is Luke Among the Lying Historians?”

A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 3: Three Deutero-Paulines

This is the third post in the series: A Simonian Origin for Christianity. From the previous post: Cerdo, from Antioch, learned his doctrines of two gods from the Simonians. (Irenaeus: Against Heresies, 1.27,1). Cerdo, like Marcion after him, also believed that the Pauline letters had been interpolated and some forged. (Tertullian: Against All Heresies, 6.2). … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 3: Three Deutero-Paulines”

The Gospel of Mark As a Fulfilment of Isaiah’s New Exodus

Rikki Watts presents a very thorough argument in Isaiah’s New Exodus in Mark (1997) that the major themes, structure, and narrative details in the Gospel of Mark were drawn directly from the Book of Isaiah, and in particular from the last chapters of Isaiah that speak of a New Exodus for Israel from captivity to … Continue reading “The Gospel of Mark As a Fulfilment of Isaiah’s New Exodus”

Terrorism Facts #4: Personal Motives of Palestinian Suicide Bombers

Palestinian suicide bombing operations are now (hopefully) history. The last one was five years ago. It is still good (even if painful) to understand them, however. (I have certainly found much of the reading preparation for this post to be painful; sometimes I could not bring myself to repeat certain details of what I learned.) … Continue reading “Terrorism Facts #4: Personal Motives of Palestinian Suicide Bombers”

End of Faith and Other Pulp Fiction

Sam Harris in The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation has written a lot of uninformed nonsense about religion in general and Islam in particular. Don’t misunderstand. His logical arguments against religious belief systems are entirely valid. For a time when I was in the process of recovering from my own religious … Continue reading “End of Faith and Other Pulp Fiction”

Honour Killing (from Inside Muslim Minds)

I was recently challenged over what some see as my defence of Islam and failure to condemn the many evils is apparently spawns — terrorism, honour killing, sexism, Sharia law, persecution of apostates, denial of free speech — and told I could easily do so without any fear of over-generalizing. I was surprised to find … Continue reading “Honour Killing (from Inside Muslim Minds)”

Tom Verenna Debates James McGrath

Recently I was playing with the time capsule button of WordPress and managed to accidentally relocate an old July 2010 post to today. Since trying to undo and relocate events in time is forbidden by the Time Lords of the universe I quickly deleted it. But a few quick ones did see it and commented … Continue reading “Tom Verenna Debates James McGrath”

The Ignatian Letters Written By A Follower Of Apelles? (Part 1)

. This post continues from The Author of the So-Called Ignatians was an Apellean Christian Links to all posts in this series are collated at: Roger Parvus: Letters Supposedly Written by Ignatius   . When I presented my first contention — that the real author of the Ignatians was Peregrinus — I argued that a … Continue reading “The Ignatian Letters Written By A Follower Of Apelles? (Part 1)”

The Author of the So-Called Ignatians was an Apellean Christian

. This post continues from The Teachings of Apelles, Marcion’s Apostate All posts so far in this series: Roger Parvus: Letters Supposedly Written by Ignatius   . From this survey of the teaching of Apelles it can be seen how closely his doctrine matches the combination of beliefs exhibited by the author of the letters. … Continue reading “The Author of the So-Called Ignatians was an Apellean Christian”

Islam, the Untold Story

Updated about 4 hours after first posting — especially in the opening paragraphs of “The Arab conquests are FOLLOWED by the rise of Islam“. Historian and novelist Tom Holland raises some fascinating questions about the evidence pertaining to the origins of the Muslim religion. Is it possible that all three “religions of the book” will … Continue reading “Islam, the Untold Story”

Reading Wrede Again for the First Time (8)

William Wrede’s The Messianic Secret Part 8: A Different Kind of Messiah? — An astonishingly persistent misconception This unit picks up after our mid-stream break in which we answered the question: “What Is the Messianic Secret?“ Restatement of purpose It is not my main purpose to argue for or against Wrede’s thesis. That isn’t why I’ve … Continue reading “Reading Wrede Again for the First Time (8)”