Resisting the Gospels
Good stuff from Tim Gombis. Well, not good, but worth reading: It goes beyond unintentionally cultivated habits. I think that reading the Gospels for what they’re really saying threatens to upset and...
View ArticleResponses to Those Qeiyafa Cult Objects
Jim Davila notes a few. For example, Model shrines of the type presented Tuesday have been found at many other sites belonging to other local cultures, and their similarity to Temple architecture as...
View ArticleDid Paul Believe in a Historical Adam?
Not According to Joel Hoffman—because history (in the modern, post-Enlightenment sense) hadn’t been invented yet: I think that the whole notion of “historical” is a modern one, created by modern...
View ArticleBart Ehrman Q&A
Ben Witherington has begun a multi-part interview with Bart Ehrman about his book, Did Jesus Exist? (HarperOne, 2012). Should be interesting. Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six...
View ArticleThe Gospel according to “Traditional Baptists”
Scot McKnight makes some interesting points about how Baptists have traditionally understood “the Gospel.” After quoting a fairly representative (Arminian-influenced) doctrinal statement on “The...
View ArticleThe Synoptic Problem Solved!
This makes about as much sense as anything: The Gospel of Mark was the first draft of a doctoral candidate’s dissertation. He submitted it to his advisor who suggested the need for more background...
View ArticleNew Blog on Historical Jesus Research
According to the tag line, The Jesus Blog is “a weblog dedicated to historical Jesus research brought to you by a hillbilly and a treehugger.” Sounds like my kind of place!
View ArticleBeasley-Murray on Revelation 3:15
No charge is laid against the Laodiceans of evils such as find mention in the other letters. This presumably relates to the nature of their faith. The Laodiceans do not reject the gospel of Christ, nor...
View ArticleWhat Are All These Sinners Doing in the Bible?
Adam Kirsch has an interesting article up at The Tablet about the brutal honesty of the biblical writers with respect to the sins of the Bible’s main characters. He begins: It’s notoriously hard to...
View ArticleThe New Testament: Common Mistakes
Ken Schenck lists ten “fairly clear insights [of current New Testament scholarship] that have not fully trickled down to the popular level. Most of them deal with the so-called New Perspective on Paul....
View ArticlePaul, Judaism, and Christian Origins
Mark Goodacre provides a brief critique of a recent BBC2 documentary, and particular of claims Simon Schama makes about the apostle Paul’s relationship to Second Temple Judaism. Apparently, Schama is a...
View ArticleἌνθρωπος: Both “Man” and “Person”
Context determines which, as Joel Hoffmann explains: Suzanne McCarthy brings up the issue, again, of whether the Greek word anthropos is exclusively masculine (“man”) or gender neutral (“person”). The...
View ArticleA New Challenge to the New Perspective on Paul
Scot McKnight provides a brief review of Preston Sprinkle’s Paul and Judaism Revisited: A Study of Divine and Human Agency in Salvation. Based on Scot’s questions, it sounds like an interesting book,...
View ArticleAnother Voice in Favor of Farrer
Tim Henderson relates (confesses?) that he is now only 51% convinced of the two-source hypothesis. Namely, that Matthew and Luke both used Mark and Q as sources for their Gospels. In a post at Earliest...
View ArticleHengel on History in the Four Gospels
Martin Hengel was always (and remains) one of my favorites. Thanks to Ben Witherington for sharing this video where he discusses the historicity of the Gospels.
View ArticleMartin Hengel, Part Two
More from Hengel on history and the four Gospels, courtesy of Ben Witherington.
View ArticleMartin Hengel, Part Three
Ben Witherington has posted another video in which Martin Hengel discusses Jesus, history, and the Gospels.
View ArticlePhilemon
A former slave, fearing his ex-master’s anger, seeks out a powerful ally who might plead on his behalf. The story of Philemon? Actually, it is also the story of Sabinianus, whose freed slave came for...
View ArticleWhy Bart Ehrman Is Good for the Church
Greg Monette nails it, I think. Even though my own faith had to confront the sorts of issues Ehrman raises before Ehrman really came on the scene, I can identify with a lot of what Greg says. He...
View Article
