The Roundup – 11.6.21 – The Amateur Exegete

Over at Psephizo, Ian Paul looks at Mark 9:30-37 including, among other things, a comparison of this section with the so-called Community Rule found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
After a two-year hiatus, @StudyofChrist has returned to Twitter and to YouTube. I’m excited about this because his content is superb. His first video since he’s been back is an overview of the book of Daniel. Check it out!
I stumbled upon a podcast that appeared last year that had the clever title That’s What She Said (About the Bible). It features Dr. Marion Taylor and Kira Moolman who explore the life and work of various historical women who either preached, wrote commentaries, etc. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of episodes and I’m not sure if there will ever be more. Regardless, I’ve enjoyed listening to Dr. Taylor and Moolman talk about these fascinating women.
Over at Bible History Daily, John Drummond talks about the “sons of God,” Nephilim, and their connection with Greco-Roman mythology. While pagan mythology often painted these demigods as heroes, Drummond notes that the biblical author painted them as fallen corruptors of the world.
David Frankel looks at Psalm 114 and queries whether its original subject wasn’t Israel but Yahweh (e.g., “When Yahweh went out from Egypt….”). He says that the psalm was originally about the god of Israel’s “change of address” from the cosmos to the land that his people would dwell in.
The Center for Biblical Studies at the University of Manchester did a brief interview of Dr. Sarah Parkhouse on her recent research on Coptic apocrypha.
In the wake of all the hubbub about the destruction of Sodom, Candida Moss takes a different track on the biblical story: it’s revelation of how women were treated as property, as well as what it tells us about the nature of sexual violence. “In no reading [of the account] are the sexual interactions figured in this story consensual. Perhaps that should have always been our focus,” she writes.
You can catch the recent “Paul within Judaism” Symposium on YouTube for free! There are hours of talks, Q&As, and more. I haven’t gotten through it all but did listen to Paula Fredriksen’s contribution. Fascinating stuff as usual!
Rachel Adelman talks the conception of Cain as a product of a fallen angel possessing the serpent of Genesis 3 and copulating with Eve. Relatedly, when I was a young KJV-Onlyist, I believed that Cain was the son of Eve and Satan (i.e., the serpent) because of 1 John 3:12 – “Cain, who was of that wicked one.”
Sarah Rollens offers her “unpopular opinion” about who really founded the churches in Galatia to whom Paul wrote in his letter.
Isaac Soon has taken the bibliography of a recent piece by Sarah Parks on multiracial biblical studies and turned it into a clickable links. I’ll need to start adding these to my library!
The Non-Alchemist explains the “Hiddenness Argument Against God” over on his YouTube channel. A great summary!
James Diamond discusses tohu and bohu from the Priestly creation narrative.
Over at the podcast “Exegetically Speaking,” Jeremiah Coogan briefly talks about the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, specifically what the ancient author meant when “undertaking” the writing of his bios of Jesus.
Katapetasma discusses the Gospel of John and its language of light and dark in its historical context.
Beth Allison Barr responds to Calvinist Kevin DeYoung on the English Standard Version, particularly its complementarian slant.
Have you ever wondered why Melchizedek, a character mentioned only in Genesis 14 and Psalm 110, became so important in later Jewish and Christian texts? Joshua Garroway has you covered!