Interested in reading the script for the first episode of season 1 of 'Amateur Exegesis'? Look no further!
Script for Amateur Exegesis – Season 2, Episode 1: “Ancient Letters”
Michael Coogan: The Israelites Didn’t Exist in a Vacuum
Michael D. Coogan, "In the Beginning: The Earliest History," in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Michael D. Coogan, editor (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 20. The ancient Israelites did not live in a cultural vacuum. From prehistoric times on Palestine was linked by trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia, and one or the other... Continue Reading →
Musings on Mark: Reign of the Demons
Jesus’ first public miracle in the Gospel of Mark is an exorcism (Mark 1:23-26) This is no coincidence; neither is the fact that it is contained within a pericope portraying Jesus as a teacher (vv. 21-28). On a narrative level, the Markan author desires to show how Jesus is the one with unique authority: he... Continue Reading →
Shaily Patel: Postcolonial Criticism
Shaily Patel, "Excursus: Methods of Ideological Criticism," in Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, sixth edition (OUP, 2016), 192. Postcolonial criticism emphasizes the influence that empires and imperial policies, both ancient and modern, have on the texts, history, and scholarship of the New Testament. Postcolonial interpreters analyze how... Continue Reading →
Evangelical Eisegesis: A Dalliance with Daniel, part 2
In this series we are exploring the claim made by pop-apologist SJ Thomason in her post "Did Daniel the Prophet Accurately Predict the Timing of Jesus' Death?"1 that the prophetic utterance of Daniel 9:24-27 predicted Jesus' death in 33 CE. There has been one previous post in this series: Part 1 - Daniel in Context This... Continue Reading →
Evangelical Eisegesis: A Dalliance with Daniel, part 1
"Fulfilled prophecies are what distinguish the Bible from other holy texts and are evidence of direct revelations by God." - SJ Thomason.1 In a bid to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity and the significance of Jesus of Nazareth, pop-apologists often appeal to so-called prophecies found in the Hebrew scriptures that are "fulfilled" in the events... Continue Reading →
Hopelessly Confused: Heather Schuldt Takes on Bart Ehrman, part 1
Yesterday I posted a lengthy but necessary rebuttal to pop-apologist Heather Schuldt's bewildering piece on the Documentary Hypothesis. As I was poking around on her blog I noticed she had recently written another piece, this time attacking New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman, entitled "5 Examples Why Bart Ehrman Is Not a Gospel Expert."1 It is in... Continue Reading →
Bart D. Ehrman: Defining “Greco-Roman Biography”
Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, sixth edition (OUP, 2016), 99-100. If I were to attempt a definition of the Greco-Roman biography, then, it might be something like this: ancient biography was a prose narrative recounting an individual's life, often with a chronological framework, employing numerous subgenres (such as... Continue Reading →
Michael D. Coogan: The Quest for Historicity of the Patriarchs
Michael D. Coogan, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, third edition (OUP, 2014), 89. The further removed biblical writers are from the events they describe, the less secure are modern scholars' attempts to determine whether these events actually happened. With regard to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob... Continue Reading →
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