Back in June, the tag team of Josh Bowen and Megan Lewis (i.e. Digital Hammurabi) interviewed Hebrew Bible scholar Joel Baden on the subject of the authorship of the Torah. For a long time, it was assumed that Moses stood behind the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy, but with the rise of critical scholarship this... Continue Reading →
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 →
Mark D. Nanos, Reading Paul within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, vol. 1 (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), 24-25. There is no reason to believe that Paul opposed circumcision of children born to Jewish parents, and good reason to suppose that he did not. And there is no reason to suppose that he... Continue Reading →
Martinus C. de Boer, Paul, Theologian of God's Apocalypse: Essays on Paul and Apocalyptic (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020), 2-3. Paul's understanding of Christ and his saving work is permeated from beginning to end (from Christ's resurrection to his Parousia) by the categories and the perspectives of apocalyptic eschatology. Indeed, Paul goes further since he... Continue Reading →
“Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving.”- Ephesians 5:4 (NRSV) “At least liberal scholars have some type of accreditation to validate what they say. You don’t have shit….”- YouTube personality Praise I Am That I Am Back in mid-June I posted to my website a review of The... Continue Reading →
On the 24th, Jim Majors will be debating Michael Jones on the question, “Was Jesus buried in a tomb?” For many, the answer will seem to be a no-brainer: of course, he was buried in a tomb! Where else would he have been buried? Moreover, the canonical Gospels all agree on this very point and... Continue Reading →
Mark D. Nanos, Reading Paul within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, vol. 1 (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), 17. Is it not precisely within Judaism where Paul as well as of the other Jewish and Judean believers in Jesus Christ understood themselves to find him? Did not Paul persecute (i.e., seek to discipline)... Continue Reading →
Over at Boston's University's page for Paula Fredriksen, readers can find not only a list of the accomplished scholar's numerous books and articles she has written over the years, but even complete articles available for download in PDF format! I have gleaned so much from reading Fredriksen, especially regarding the apostle Paul. I hope this... Continue Reading →
In 2017, noted scholar of the Hebrew Bible Richard Elliot Friedman published a book with HarperCollins entitled The Exodus: How It Happened and Why It Matters. Using the tools of source criticism, Friedman posits that what really happened is not that there was no exodus from Egypt but rather that it involved a group that... Continue Reading →
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