Book Review: ‘Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?’ by Joshua Bowen
Author: Joshua BowenBook: Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?Publisher: Digital Hammurabi PressYear: 2020Total Page Count: 243Price: $19.99 (print) I. INTRODUCTION “Slavery in the Bible,” writes biblical scholar Wil Gafney, “represents more than the ubiquity of slavery in the ancient world; it represents the theological bulwark on which the Atlantic slave trade rested.”[1] This fact makes modern Christians uncomfortable. How could the god... Continue Reading →
Invasion of the Bible Snatchers – Ray Comfort’s ‘Scientific Facts in the Bible’ – In the Beginning
To see other posts in this series, please go to the series’ page. Among the most memorable and iconic verses from the King James Bible is the one with which it begins: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Other translations follow suit, including the NIV, ESV, and NASB.[1] And like the... Continue Reading →
Taking a Break
Seven thousand words into writing a piece responding to the claims of a certain pop-apologist on the dating and authorship of the Acts of the Apostles and its relationship to the dating of the Synoptics and I had an epiphany that came in the form of scripture: “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of... Continue Reading →
(Re) Considering Christianity: A Skeptic Looks at the Christian Religion – Introduction, part 9
To see more posts in this series, please go to the series’ page. “Only ONE BOOK…is necessary to critique any translation from ANY set of manuscripts, or any scholar who criticizes the AV.”[1] These are the words of the late Peter Ruckman, a guru of the King James Only movement in the United States whose provocative and vitriolic... Continue Reading →
The Weekly Roundup – 2.21.20
What did ex-pagans and Jews expect when they became followers of Jesus? This is the question that Alex Finkelson addresses in his recent post "What kind of blessings did the churches inherit from Israel?" As Finkelson discusses, the various promises made to the patriarchs and even to king David are tangible: a literal kingdom in... Continue Reading →
“They Pierced My Hands and Feet” – A Brief Reply to @Cato_37 on Psalm 22 and the LXX
Both of my readers know that I am a glutton for punishment. If I’m not wading into the waters of bad Christian apologetics or exegesis, then I’m drowning in the waters of bad atheist exegesis. Today’s post will be the former. On Twitter I followed an exchange between some atheists and a Christian with the... Continue Reading →
Quora Questions w/the Amateur Exegete: #6 – The Ending of Mark and the Other Gospels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvEKlQ2o0pQ Recommended Reading •Mary Ann Beavis, Mark, Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011), 22-23.•John R. Donahue and Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Mark, Sacra Pagina (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), 29-34.•Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 41-69.
Evangelical (Atheist) Eisegesis: ‘The Skeptics Annotated Bible’ (#2)
As is so often the case with atheistic readings of biblical texts, the annotations of Steve Wells in his Skeptic’s Annotated Bible are bewildering. At times, SAB gets things precisely correct, like when it decries what amounts to divinely sanctioned marital rape in Deuteronomy 21:10-14. Wells summarizes the passage by writing, “If you see a pretty woman among the... Continue Reading →
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