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 →
Over on the Digital Hammurabi YouTube Channel, Josh Bowen (PhD, John Hopkins University) interviewed renowned biblical scholar John J. Collins (PhD, Harvard University) on the subject of violence in the Hebrew Bible. Collins is the author of multiple books including the phenomenal textbook The Hebrew Bible: An Introduction which is in its third edition. Bowen... Continue Reading →
I had not planned to write about pop-apologist SJ Thomason for a while. Back in February she wrote a response to a piece I had written concerning the dating of the Gospels[1] and while I had been working on a rebuttal to it I gave it up because, let’s be honest, it would take way too... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
You didn't want it, ask for it, or need it, but nevertheless the Weekly Roundup has returned! Andre Gagne (PhD, Université catholique de Louvain/Université de Montréal) posted the first in a series on eschatology entitled "Unraveling the 'End Times,'" complete with that charming Canadian accent we've all come to love in our neighbors to the... Continue Reading →
I became an atheist in 2013 after a yearlong battle staving off doubt and unbelief through prayerful meditation over the Bible and by reengaging apologetic literature that had helped me in the past. When my journey to atheism first began, I read Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and was thoroughly turned off. Still feeling apprehension about... Continue Reading →
This morning I had the privilege of being interviewed by Jackson Wheat, a YouTuber and student of evolutionary theory, on a variety of subjects related to the Bible including the days of Genesis, the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, Leviathan, henotheism, and more. It should go without saying that I spoke as a non-scholar... Continue Reading →
Note: This is a post written by Chris H. (@unicornwiz) in response to comments made by Richard Carrier (see note #1 below). Chris can be reached on Twitter or at his email address biblicalhistoryskeptic32ad@gmail.com. Carrier made a really bad article showing how little he cares to read his sources.[1] I am here just going to post the... Continue Reading →
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