Category: ANE Literature
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… Continue Reading “Michael Coogan: The Israelites Didn’t Exist in a Vacuum”
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… Continue Reading “Book Review: ‘Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?’ by Joshua Bowen”
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… Continue Reading “Invasion of the Bible Snatchers – Ray Comfort’s ‘Scientific Facts in the Bible’ – In the Beginning”
Evangelical (Atheist) Eisegesis: ‘The Skeptics Annotated Bible’ (#1)
For more posts in this series, “Evangelical (Atheist) Eisegesis.“ 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… Continue Reading “Evangelical (Atheist) Eisegesis: ‘The Skeptics Annotated Bible’ (#1)”
Jay Williams on The Serpent of Genesis 3 and the Tree of Life
Over at the website The Bible and Interpretation there is a piece by religious scholar Jay Williams on “Eden, the Tree of Life, and the Wisdom of the Serpent.” It is at once both a very interesting and very bizarre piece. Williams points out not long… Continue Reading “Jay Williams on The Serpent of Genesis 3 and the Tree of Life”
Inanna: The Not So Parallel Goddess (Guest Post by Chris H.)
Note: This is a post written by Chris H. (@unicornwiz) in response to a recently published piece by @GodlessEngineer entitled “Inanna’s Descent Matches Jesus’ Passion Narratives.” Chris can be reached on Twitter or at his email address biblicalhistoryskeptic32ad@gmail.com. *Prenote: this revision was made possible… Continue Reading “Inanna: The Not So Parallel Goddess (Guest Post by Chris H.)”
The Weekly Roundup – 4.26.19
“All translations of great works are of course no more than approximations of the original, in some places happy ones, in some necessarily imperfect. But respecting the sheer physicality of the Bible’s language together with a stylistic decorum appropriate to the Hebrew diction can… Continue Reading “The Weekly Roundup – 4.26.19”
Invasion of the Bible Snatchers: Ray Comfort’s ‘Scientific Facts in the Bible’ – Hanging on Nothing
To see other posts in this series, please go to the series’ page. In the previous installment of “Invasion of the Bible Snatchers” you were introduced to Ray Comfort and his book Scientific Facts in the Bible. As we saw in that post, his first example… Continue Reading “Invasion of the Bible Snatchers: Ray Comfort’s ‘Scientific Facts in the Bible’ – Hanging on Nothing”
Steven DiMattei: Creation ‘Ex Nihilo’ a Foreign Concept
Steven DiMattei, Genesis 1 and the Creationism Debate: Being Honest to the Text, Its Author, and His Beliefs (Wipf & Stock, 2016), 10-11. In general terms, then, the authors and cultures of these ancient Near Eastern creation myths, Genesis 1 included, did not conceive of… Continue Reading “Steven DiMattei: Creation ‘Ex Nihilo’ a Foreign Concept”
Michael D. Coogan: ANE Parallels to Genesis 12-50
Michael D. Coogan, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, third edition (OUP, 2014), 83. Many elements of the plot of Genesis 12-50 are found in other ancient literatures. Among these, one of the most significant is the epic of Kirta (also… Continue Reading “Michael D. Coogan: ANE Parallels to Genesis 12-50”
The Amateur Exegete 