Review of the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at the Discovery Center

 Where: Discovery Center – New York  When: January 8, 2012  Overall Impression of the Exhibit: Brief Introduction to the Exhibit: Today I traveled to New York to see the much-acclaimed Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Discovery Center (just off Times Square).  This is one of those exhibits I’ve been looking forward to seeing since [...]

The Transfiguration and the Inclusion of Moses

Ascension was nothing new in antiquity.  Richard Carrier jokingly noted that had there been television in antiquity, stories about people who ascend to heaven (or some variant of this) would have been more popular than crime dramas are today.  And, ironically, the New Testament doesn’t deny this. After six days Jesus took with him Peter, [...]

Question of the Day: Did the Author(s) of Job Believe in God?

I think this question is important, as the author(s) of Job seem to have a multifaceted approach to theology–one of necessity but also of indifference towards it.   Is it just so easy to lump the author(s) of Job in with the authors of Genesis?  Can we say, wholly, that the authors of the books [...]

Defining Mythicism: The Signs Gospel and the Figure of Jesus

James McGrath highlights a post by the blog Synoptic Solutions on the Signs Gospel and the figure of Jesus.  I tend to think the post is a little ridiculous.  Here is the offending snippet: In the Signs Gospel, Jesus is not being portrayed as a god on earth. Instead, he is portrayed as very human–a [...]

Gerd Lüdemann – The Death of the Biblical God

Gerd Lüdemann has a new article up on Bible and Interpretation’s website.  Here is a snippet: Ultimately all this presents a problem for all three “Abrahamitic” religions. The Church, regarding herself as the New Israel, has always taken the Old Testament myth of Yahweh’s election and concern for Israel as a firmly established constituent of [...]

Emanuel Pfoh – Anthropology and the Bible: Critical Perspectives (Introduction)

While I am on vacation this weekend, and since we recently sent our imprimatur to the publisher for our own book project (so I no longer have any pressing matters or deadlines), I thought I should catch up on book reviews (since muses never sleep nor do they take vacations, it seems).  Emanuel Pfoh was [...]

Noah and the Flood: The Historical Impossibility

Noah’s Ark/Flood Story: Recently there has been an aggressive push by the media to include stories in their coverage about the flood and the Ark.  Here are a few stories from the past few months: Man ‘re-creates’ Ark Ark Builder Says World Much Different Now than During the Period of the Flood Kentucky Tax-Payers to [...]

Wife of God: Was Asherah Edited Out of the Bible?

This is old hat as far as scholars go, but I’m glad it is getting wider distribution.  TIME posted the follow article (snippet version): Some scholars say early versions of the Bible featured Asherah, a powerful fertility goddess who may have been God’s wife. Research by Francesca Stavrakopoulou, a senior lecturer in the department of [...]

Scripture Citing Scripture: Intertextuality

James McGrath remarks on a mythicist position today on his blog: The other problematic criterion claims that, if something in the New Testament resembles some detail in Scripture, that is reason to believe that the story was fabricated on the basis of that Scripture. But James is perhaps unfamiliar with the fact that, as I have said again [...]

Narrative Function in Luke-Acts: Did Luke Have a Historical Source?

James McGrath had an interesting discussion on Paul and mythicism on his blog a few weeks back (alas, I am far behind on my blogging! Still working on a syllogism post which is nearly complete!); while I am still in the process of working on my next installment of ‘Defining Mythicism’ and the ongoing discussion [...]