Note: This will be the final Weekly Roundup of 2019.
- Claude Mariottini recently posted a piece explaining why the common Christian interpretation of Melchizedek as a Christophany doesn’t add up and serves to undermine the claims made in the book of Hebrews that Jesus was a priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 7:11).
- What’s wrong with Young Earth Creationism? That’s the question Randal Rauser asks and answers in his opening statement from the recent debate he had with David Johnson. Rauser finds Genesis 1 to be an etiological and poetic description of the origins of the cosmos and I’m somewhat inclined to agree. But you don’t care what I think! So check out Rauser’s post.
- Bart Ehrman interacts with a newer view of inerrancy held by some evangelicals. Specifically, he interacts with Mike Licona and his take on contradictions in the New Testament which, as Ehrman states, is perplexing. Simply because you have a way to explain a contradiction doesn’t mean you’ve done away with it. And wouldn’t that make the text errant? I’m with Ehrman on this. I just don’t get inerrancy.
- Speaking of Ehrman, he recently had a dialogue with Peter Williams on the historical reliability of the Gospels over on Unbelievable. Check it out!
- Are the biblical authors committing plagiarism in their version of the Flood narrative (i.e. Genesis 6-9) or is something else going on? This is the question Megan Lewis addresses in “Mesopotamia and the Bible – Intertextuality, or Plagiarism?” She compares the Mesopotamian versions with the biblical, demonstrating that though the biblical authors most assuredly borrowed from the Mesopotamian versions, it is an example of intertextuality rather than plagiarism. This is going to be an ongoing series that I’m very excited to watch.
- BONUS: Normally I only include five items in the roundup but my friend @bibhistctxt has recently published another piece in his ongoing series concerning Israelite origins and I couldn’t resist including it. This post is on the Merneptah Stele and includes background information about its discovery as well as its content and its importance for the study of Israelite origins. Another great post in an excellent series.
The Amateur Exegete 