Search for "rulers this age"

Beloved and Only Begotten Sons Sacrificed by Loving Fathers (Offering of Isaac, 5)

First of a couple of backtracks here before completing the Offering of Isaac’s / Sacrifice of Jesus series. Based on Levenson’s The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son. According to what Eusebius tells us in his Praeparatio Evangelica, one passage Philo of Byblos wrote of sacrifice among the gods: It was a custom of … Continue reading “Beloved and Only Begotten Sons Sacrificed by Loving Fathers (Offering of Isaac, 5)”

What is happening in Tibet (2)

Related post now added at Tibet protests . . . hope for Diego Garcians. . .? Update from my previous post on this topic. See also Human Rights in China. Update 1: The ugly reality (Ahmed Quraishi) Pakistani foreign affairs commentator Ahmed Quraishi has argues that the Tibetan issue has been orchestrated by Washington to … Continue reading “What is happening in Tibet (2)”

Dating the Book of Acts: Marcionite Context 2 — and beyond

Continued from Dating Acts: Marcionite context . . . (see also Tyson and Marcion archives) After attempting a form of controlled analysis for determining the main themes and their supporting literary patterns in Acts, and arguing that the results are best explained as a response to the Marcionite challenge, Tyson examines the characterizations of Peter … Continue reading “Dating the Book of Acts: Marcionite Context 2 — and beyond”

The literary genre of Acts. 9: The ancient novel

Continuing notes from Richard Pervo’s Profit with Delight. (Previous related posts are archived here.) Skipping ahead here, wisely or otherwise, to chapter 4 and its discussion of “the ancient novel”. This post looks at different ways of seeing how ancient novels are made/how they work, with the hope of offering new ways to see and … Continue reading “The literary genre of Acts. 9: The ancient novel”

Dating the Book of Acts: the Marcionite Context (1)

This post continues notes from Tyson’s Marcion and Luke-Acts: A Defining Struggle. Previous posts reconsidering the date of the composition of Acts and the Marcionite challenge can be found in my Tyson and Marcion archives. Tyson begins with Haenchen.

Making sense of the Ephesian Riot in Acts

Continuing from the previous post on the literary genre of Acts which left dangling some unusual problems with the Ephesian Riot scene in Acts 19, two of which are: Paul is not involved in the riot at all, so what is the significance of this lengthy graphic narrative? A previously unmentioned Jew is put forward … Continue reading “Making sense of the Ephesian Riot in Acts”

The literary genre of Acts. 7: Chapter 19 as a case study

Continuing notes from Pervo’s Profit with Delight on the literary genre of Acts . . . . Pervo offers a review of Acts 19 to illustrate the magnitude of the problem of reading Acts as history.

“The little apocalypse” — its literary function and context

Immediately before the plot in Mark’s gospel reaches the point where Jesus experiences his final dramatic adventure — passing through betrayal, trial and death before entering the heavenly kingdom — Jesus delivers a long prophetic speech to his disciples. This inclusion of a detailed prophecy prior to the the hero launching out into a new … Continue reading ““The little apocalypse” — its literary function and context”

Gospel of Judas — Opposing translations and their significance

The National Geographic had a best seller on its hands when it published the Gospel of Judas that presented Judas as the hero of the Twelve rather than the villain as he is in the canonical gospels. But the significance is not just that in one version Judas is a hero and in the other … Continue reading “Gospel of Judas — Opposing translations and their significance”

Millenarians and Nationalists

As a past student of American history and society I relished catching up with more recent publications a couple of years ago and one of the more interesting was America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism (2004) by Anatol Lieven. Sharing some notes from one section of this book — a discussion of … Continue reading “Millenarians and Nationalists”

Signs in Josephus, Signs in Gospels and Acts

Weeden has presented reasons for thinking the story of Jesus, the son of Ananus, that has come to us through Josephus, played a significant part in customizing details of Mark’s gospel of Jesus. Indeed, this entire section of Josephus‘s Wars that cites 8 warning signs of the imminent fall of Jerusalem has several intriguing overlaps … Continue reading “Signs in Josephus, Signs in Gospels and Acts”

Pilate and the cosmic order in Mark

This is a disorganized collage of thoughts stimulated partly by the unlikely combo of John Carroll’s The Existential Jesus and Michael Patella’s The Lord of the Cosmos.

Ancient historians at work: Polybius, Herodotus (cf Gospels, Acts)

For what it’s worth, I’m posting a few excerpts from a couple of nonbiblical historians, mainly for benefit of those following some of the posts and discussion re my Bauckham and Acts 27 (Paul’s sea voyage/shipwreck) reviews. The point is to compare nonbiblical historical methods, approach, critical analysis, with what we read in the Gospels … Continue reading “Ancient historians at work: Polybius, Herodotus (cf Gospels, Acts)”

For fundamentalists only: Isaiah 53 in context

"Very good. This post is going straight to the March 2016 Biblical Studies Carnival."

—N.T. Wrong, – March 2016
"Neil, this is actually rather useful. Good job."

— R. Joseph Hoffmann, – June 2014
"Note that I do not use the term ‘amateur’ pejoratively. . . . In fact, Godfrey is extremely well read and his librarian skills have brought many important academic works to my attention."

Raphael Lataster - August 2019
"Neil, in my mature judgement (I am now an old man), this fine 4-part study is a brilliant reworking, an instructive restatement of Hayden White’s Metahistory (and his subsequent writings). Your critique of certain historiographic representations as imbedded in the case study of the “scientistic”, “empirical” Richard Carrier provides a solid starting point for the more honest “fictive” reading of the New Testament that you encourage. Your last paragraph is a very intelligent call to sensitive readers of these texts. I suspect a whole generation of biblical students has been educated without the insights provided by the incomparable White. Bravo!"

-- Timothy Bagley, - November 2024
"Thanks much for this book review. I think it expands, and contributes to, the effort in honouring Thomas that we with Lukasz originally had in mind with this volume. Best, Emanuel"

-- Emanuel Pfoh - August 2020
https://earlywritings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=145080#p145080
Neil made a good synthesis of the work without being an “expert” of the field.

-- Enrico Tuccinardi, - October 2022
"I’d like to thank you for this very nice representation of what I was trying to show in the book. It’s always gratifying when a reader zeroes in on exactly those aspects I thought were most interesting and most central to my argument. Thank you for this careful and engaged reading of my work – much appreciated!"

— Eva Mroczek, – June 2017
"By the way, my thanks to Neil for an ongoing superb job of exposing Jim’s review for what it is: a farcical and none too effective exercise in mythicism assassination, nothing to do with rational, let alone unbiased, scholarship. I’m also happy to see even Jim giving Neil credit where credit is due."

— Earl Doherty, June 2011
"I still wonder at all the material you turn out for Vridar. The more I read your stuff (and I still do, of course), the more I realize how much we all owe you. Your voice is unique."

— Earl Doherty, November 2013 (personal email)
"I want to say here that this site is so resourceful and highly on top of the most modern scholarship in the areas discussed here. . . I know of no other site which offers a wide range of topics related to careful critical analysis of historically and scripturally related issues."

-- Martin Lewadny, - March 2009
"Vridar is consistently thought-provoking, well-informed, and asking the right questions. There are intelligent, thoughtful comments and commenters regularly offering productive discussion. Books and publications are covered with a range of perspectives with attempts at fair and accurate representation of others’ arguments and content (where there are occasional and inevitable missteps on that I notice Neil making corrections and apologies where warranted, which wins points with me). Please carry on."

— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
"Thanks for this detailed interaction! I’ll try to offer something more substantial than 'Thank you' in response at some point, but I didn’t want to wait . . . to express appreciation for your detailed interaction with what I’ve written!"

— James McGrath, – June 2009
"I think you have a high quality blog that provides a positive public service by discussing academic topics within a wider audience."

— Russell Gmirkin, – October 2016
This is superb work, Neil, and reminds me of Albert Schweitzer’s work from a century ago. . . . .

I commend you for being the first to even TRY to translate Bruno Bauer’s brilliant Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs, which is now more than 150 years old.

. . . . .Thank you for your historic effort.

-- Paul Trejo, M.A., - November 2022
Editor, An English Edition of Bruno Bauer’s 1843 Christianity Exposed
"I have found your website really valuable as an interpretive filter for Biblical scholarship, especially the origins of Christianity and historicity of Jesus issue. Your clarity of expression, fair comments and personal insights are much valued. I refer to your site frequently as yet more names and publications pop up requiring an academic critique and helpful recommendations for book purchases. So, please continue to delve deeply and share this intellectual sustenance with your grateful readers."

— Mary Booker, – February 2020 (personal email)
Congratulations, Vridar, . . . I declare, Vridar, your own hard work translating Bruno Bauer will make a major difference in future studies of Bruno Bauer and the evolution of Hegel’s philosophy of religion.

-- Paul Trejo, - April 2023
"Many thanks for this post, and for the quality of your blog."

— Philippe Wajdenbaum, – November 2018
"Fantastic. I’m so glad you’re helping to spread these ideas!"

Nancy Fraser - June 2019 (personal email)
"Thanks for your very elaborate review! I realized that I hadn’t added your blog to our blogroll. This oversight has been corrected. Looking forward to more segments."

— Anthony Le Donne, – September 2009
It is worth saying another word of appreciation here for Neil Godfrey's effort to make Bruno Bauer accessible in English.

-- Peter Kirby, - May 2023
"Neil, You’ve done a clean job in your posting on ‘Jesus the Healer’. It reflects well on you. Best, John"

— John Moles, September 2011 (personal email)
"Neil Godfrey and Tim Widowfield, who both write at Vridar . . . happen to be some of the most astute and well-read amateurs you can read on the internet on the subject of biblical historicity. I call them amateurs only for the reason that they don’t have, so far as I know, advanced degrees in the subject. But I have often been impressed with their grasp of logic and analysis of scholarship. I don’t always agree with them, but I respect their work."

— Richard Carrier, – March 2014
"Neil, for what it is worth it is obvious to me that if you had earlier in life tracked into a graduate program at one of the world’s leading research universities you would be one of the world’s formidable ones. You are doing essentially the same quality now (apart from the philology and languages) except mostly sticking to commenting on others’ work as informed comment/discussion."

— Gregory Doudna, – January 2019
"I always enjoy reading Neil’s blog because I think that he is careful, thorough, intellectually fair, and honest."

— April DeConick, – November 2007
"Here I give an admittedly subjective short list, in random order, of useful, high level and regularly updated weblogs on the study of the Old Testament . . . ‘Vridar: Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science’ (http://vridar.org/) by Neil Godfrey"

-- Klaas Spronk, - Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXI, 3/4 (2014)
"For an excellent example of generally high-quality scholarship by someone who isn’t a biblical studies professor, see Neil Godfrey’s work posted on the website vridar.org."

— Tom Dykstra, – JOCABS 2015
"I’ve even been cited by atheists with approval (which I really don’t know how to take, so thanks, I think, but I’m not sure, Vrider (even though I feel like I need to take a shower now))."

-- Jim West, – September 2010
"These reviews of yours are so bloody weird!"

— James Crossley, – April 2010
"I find your blog most interesting and appreciate your ongoing effort to keep to the evidence for the issues discussed!"

-- Thomas L. Thompson, - April 2020

Neil Godfrey on That Second Question Frank Zindler Wanted to Ask Bart Ehrman: “Thanks for the update. I would like to know the name of the publisher Carrier is speaking about. But we…” Sep 7, 19:44
ABuddhist on That Second Question Frank Zindler Wanted to Ask Bart Ehrman: “He claims that his book, entittled, “The Obsolete Paradigm of a Historical Jesus”, was submitted for peer review and after…” Sep 7, 11:59
Neil Godfrey on Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Invalidate a Hellenistic Origin of the Hebrew Books of the Bible?: “Stefan Schorch also made an interesting observation that implies something akin to the “committee” model of authorship, though again he…” Sep 7, 08:11
Neil Godfrey on Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Invalidate a Hellenistic Origin of the Hebrew Books of the Bible?: “Here’s one proposal taken from the conclusion of chapter 1 in John J. Collins, The Invention of Judaism: Torah and…” Sep 7, 08:03
Neil Godfrey on Defending Russell Gmirkin’s Hellenistic Dating of the Old Testament – Part 6: “A starting point — check out the citations in the articles, too: Amzallag, Nissim. “The Identity of the Emissary of…” Sep 7, 01:20
Neil Godfrey on Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Invalidate a Hellenistic Origin of the Hebrew Books of the Bible?: “The notion of multiple sources going back to the biblical kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and others going back to…” Sep 7, 00:57
Neil Godfrey on That Second Question Frank Zindler Wanted to Ask Bart Ehrman: “Has he submitted his evidence to any relevant journal for publication yet? Or do we have to pay to eventually…” Sep 7, 00:45
Neil Godfrey on Defending Russell Gmirkin’s Hellenistic Dating of the Old Testament – Part 7: “I wish I could recall where I saw someone explain that had the Elephantine papyri been discovered earlier and the…” Sep 7, 00:43
Neil Godfrey on Defending Russell Gmirkin’s Hellenistic Dating of the Old Testament – Part 3: “In ancient times we have the “age of myth invention” in the Hellenistic era by Tanya Scheer — I posted…” Sep 7, 00:39

Search Results for: rulers this age

Beloved and Only Begotten Sons Sacrificed by Loving Fathers (Offering of Isaac, 5)

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What is happening in Tibet (2)

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Dating the Book of Acts: Marcionite Context 2 — and beyond

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The literary genre of Acts. 9: The ancient novel

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Dating the Book of Acts: the Marcionite Context (1)

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Making sense of the Ephesian Riot in Acts

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The literary genre of Acts. 7: Chapter 19 as a case study

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“The little apocalypse” — its literary function and context

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Gospel of Judas — Opposing translations and their significance

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Millenarians and Nationalists

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Signs in Josephus, Signs in Gospels and Acts

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Pilate and the cosmic order in Mark

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Ancient historians at work: Polybius, Herodotus (cf Gospels, Acts)

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For fundamentalists only: Isaiah 53 in context

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