'In the Company of Jesus'… Elizabeth Struthers Malbon: The Key to the Markan Plot 22 Jun 201817 Jun 2018 Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark's Gospel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 17. Conflict is the key to the Markan plot. As Markan characterization…
'The Gospel on the Margins'… Michael Kok: We Don’t Know What The Gospels Were Called In The Early Second Century 22 Jun 201814 Jun 2018 Michael J. Kok, The Gospel on the Margins: The Reception of Mark in the Second Century (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015), 67-68. The titular usage of εὐαγγέλιον may have predated Marcion, but…
Apologists… Using the Bible to Date the Exodus 22 Jun 201828 May 2018 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Hosea 11:1, NRSV The pivotal event in the history of ancient Israel is an…
'Doctrine Impossible' (2017)… Steven Tiger: The Bible’s Inconsistenices Are Not Surprising 21 Jun 201816 Jun 2018 Steven Tiger, Doctrine Impossible: A Journey from Dogmatic Religiosity to Rational Spirituality (Lexington, KY: 2017), 74-75. From a rational perspective, the clear implication of this 2000-year history of heterodoxy is that…
Christian Scriptures… Render Unto Caesar: Jesus’ Subversiveness 21 Jun 201815 Jun 2018 The day after Jesus' rather anticlimactic entry into Jerusalem on a colt (see Mark 11:1-11 as well as my post on the topic), the religious authorities send the Pharisees and…
'Philosophy of Religion' (VSI)… Tim Bayne: Can We Explain Fine-Tuning? 21 Jun 201816 Jun 2018 Tim Bayne, Philosophy of Religion: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2018), 37-38. Let us grant then that the fine-tuning facts require explanation. Can science provide the necessary explanation? Many…
Christian Scriptures… Libby Anne’s Notes on Translating the Bible 20 Jun 201815 Jun 2018 Over at the blog Love, Joy, Feminism, Libby Anne has some interesting things to say about Bible translation. Drawing from a Facebook post by author Stant Litore, Anne discusses the complications…
ANE… Digital Hamurabbi Takes Down Hugh Ross 20 Jun 201815 Jun 2018 Hugh Ross is a highly educated man. He holds a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Toronto and runs the website Reasons to Believe, a Christian apologetics organization. But while…
'The Gospel on the Margins'… Michael Kok: The Weight of Petrine Authority 20 Jun 20184 Jun 2018 Michael J. Kok, The Gospel on the Margins: The Reception of Mark in the Second Century (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015), 9-10, 11. Evidently the weight of Petrine authority did not compel…
'Philosophy of Religion' (VSI)… Tim Bayne: An Objection to Atemporalism 19 Jun 201816 Jun 2018 Tim Bayne, Philosophy of Religion: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2018), 21. A second objection to atemporalism is rather more serious. The objection in question is that atemporalism is…
