Joe Hoffmann on Jesus, Ellis and Kurtz

Found here:

http://rjosephhoffmann.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/founders-syndrome-jesus-elllis-and-kurtz/

Joe Hoffmann on Paul Kurtz

Read about it here:

http://rjosephhoffmann.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/the-lion-in-winter-the-exile-of-paul-kurtz/

Updates and Such

I know its been about three weeks since I updated last, but some news.

(1) You’ll notice that I have removed some of the blog posts on here. Not to worry, they’ll return. You may have to update your links to them if you’re linking in. They’ll be back around mid-April.

(2) I’ve been very busy lately working on submissions; too busy to contribute anything here. I apologize to my frequent visitors for not updating as frequently or with new content. As mid-year approaches I will be weighed down with other responsibilities, but I’ll try to keep everyone updated as more good things happen.

(3) There is a certain internet apologist who feels it is his duty as a devout Christian to slander my name across the web. At some point in the future, a portion of this blog will be sectioned off to deal with the claims made by this individual, along with documentation and correspondence which has been omitted or ignored by the perpetrator in order to continue his slander campaign. In light of some recent identity theft crimes that this person may have committed, some other colleagues and I may be launching a full legal investigation. In light of similar identity theft and cyberbullying incidents that happened to Dr. Schiffman (so similar, in fact, that its eerie), along with the charges filed against Normal Golb’s son for committing the crimes, there is a good chance authorities will be looking into the matter. Updates to follow.

Note: Its one thing to have opinions. Opinions are like noses, after all; everyone has them (and its their right to).  But engaging in slander and posing as academic individuals to harass somebody else because you feel that it is your god-given duty to destroy that person’s reputation–that is something entirely different. It’s also illegal.

New Years Resolutions

These are not necessarily resolutions as much as they are personal goals:

1. I want to publish at least 3 books this year; at least two of these books will be published academically.
2. I want to submit or contribute at least 10 articles to academic journals, series, or seminars (20 would be ideal).
3. I want to publish at least 4 blog posts a month (at least 1 a week); it would be ideal to publish 8 blog posts a month.
4. I want to sow the seeds for future book projects (to be written next year) and gather the resources and data to do so.
5. I want to read 2 new books a month.

Resolutions:

1. To allow for more tolerance of different ideas and perspectives
2. To be more strict in methodology
3. To lose weight and eat better (Isn’t this the standard New Years resolution?)
4. To buy James Crossley, James McGrath, Jim West, Emanuel Pfoh, Roland Boer, Niels Peter Lemche, Philip Davies, and Thomas Thompson a drink (Best to start saving now)
5. To jump another 8 ranks on N.T. Wrong’s Biblioblog Top 50 (Watch out Jim West!)
6. To be a better boyfriend, provider and bestfriend.
7. To be a better son.

Staying the same:

1. Critically examine every claim
2. Shape my opinions in accordance to the evidence (never the other way around)
3. Stay awesome
4. Still not a fish

John Loftus and our Dialogue

John has asked me to stop corresponding with him.  Why?  Because John does not know how to read criticisms of his work.  Not only are there examples of John not replying to direct questions on this blog (see here and here) but apparently on another forum, a poster by the moniker of ’spin’ is facing the same situation, where John refuses to read a post in its entirety and makes spin repeat himself and continue to demand evidence from John (It has apparently also happened with a mod there named Toto, as well).

I respect John a lot for his work on freeing minds.  I do not appreciate, however, his laziness at reading and responding to things in an appropriate manner.  He skims (he does not read) through material and his replies reflect this.  If John lacks the time to read critiques through from start to finish, he should avoid responding until he has the time.  But since John refuses to read my emails now, I can no longer continue this discussion with him (as he fails to read beyond the second sentence of every email I send him).  So I must apologize to my readers who are anxiously awaiting a reply from me to John’s two additional parts of his historical Jesus posts, but out of my respect for John, I will honor his (albeit somewhat ignorant) request to stop all communication with him.  I hope he comes around and actually takes the time to read where our conversation went poorly, but that may be wishful thinking on my part.

If anybody reading this would like to bring up John’s points that they would like me to address, I would welcome that exchange and would be happy to respond.

This Weeks Projects

I promised everyone some blog posts last week the last few weeks, but because of life issues I have had to put them off for more important matters.  Thankfully, I will have some available time this week within the next week to deliver what I could not by tonight.  This includes the following (so stay tuned and keep checking in to see what I’ve written – or subscribe to this blog):

1. A blog on ancient literature and its composition, model use, genre, and most important of all, how ancient authors learned how to compose literature (the use of ‘ancient’ here should be read as ‘hellenistic and roman period’) This is taking longer than I would have preferred.
2. The second installment of my disagreement with John Loftus.  He has three parts and I will have to work on my response to his second part sometime this week sometime in the near future.  My apologies to those readers and John Loftus in particular for not being able to complete this task as quickly as I had hoped.
3. I am reading Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin, by Nicholas Ostler.  I hope to finish by the end of the week (because it is on loan and needs to be returned by then) and when it is done, I will be writing a review of it here.
4. I would like to write another installment of my ‘Why the Gospels Contradict each Other’ series, but doing so is time consuming–more than other blog articles.  I will work to include an article in this series this week, but I cannot make any promises.
5. The first installment you’re likely to see is an article on how classical peoples and behavior compared to our modern society.  In antiquity, out of fear of eternal powers and all encompassing fate, some turned to mystery religions to deal with and try to predict not only their own ends, but the ends of others and even life itself.  Today, people hold similar fears, and even more pressing, realistic ones (nuclear holocausts, bioterrorism, etc…), but instead of joining mystery religions, many turn to metaphysical spiritualism (i.e. Sylvia Brown) or self-help (Wayne Dyer, Dr. Phil).  I want to explore why this happens, how people went from joining religions and partaking in rituals to spending hundreds of dollars on pseudoscience and con artists.  It is not so much that these people have changed how they interpret the world (its still all completely huey), but rather it is the means by which they buy into it – the method in which the message is transmitted – that has changed.  I thought it may make an interesting article. I decided to scrap this one.

Jim West and the Carnival

Jim West has been goodly enough to include me in his Biblical Studies Carnival #36, which can be read (with amusement and gained enlightenment) here.

What is Happening Around the Biblioblog-o-sphere?

Well since I only have a few people I can keep track of with my busy schedule, here is what I have noted that are worthy of…well…note!

It’s not very biblioblog-ish or religionsgeschichte oriented, but Jim West has posted a hilarious Thanksgiving joke (that everyone should read)!  He has also recently published a live-blog (now no longer live) of the Nova special “The Bibles Buried Secrets.”  Vridar has an interesting perspective on an interview done between Dorothy Rowe and Philip Adams concerning her work as a psychologist, sometimes helping apostates overcome life after religion.  The quest for the Historical N.T. Wrong continues on Roland Boer’s blog (we’re getting closer)!  My friend and (sometimes) sparring partner James McGrath dishes out his second instance of what he feels is a historical core to the Gospel accounts (which I will kindly respond too sometime this weekend or next week before Thanksgiving).  Also, he has been working hard, completing his study on the Mandaeans and has been goodly enough to link to a Grant for the continued study of this very ancient sect from the days of the Pre-Nicene Church Fathers.  Richard Carrier has recently given a lecture on why religion and science and those interested can see the full lecture here.   Richard has also blogged about the up and coming Jesus Project conference in Amherst, New York, which he will be attending along with other New Testament “minimalists” such as Bob Price, R. Joseph Hoffmann, Hector Avalos, Gerd Leudemann, and Dennis R. MacDonald.  And last (but not least), N.T. Wrong has recently put together a long list of Biblioblogs, not only rating them from Very Conservative to Very Liberal, but also noting to how active these blogs have been.  No doubt a lot of work went into it and it is really a great resource (even if some toes have been stepped on–rightly so).

Until next time…march on, O Nimrods of the Biblioblogisphere!  March on!