Over on his blog, NT scholar Bart Ehrman addresses the question, “What if we had the ‘original’ Gospels?” Apologists seemingly believe that if we had an original copy of Mark or Matthew that it would give what they wrote some degree of credibility. In essence, they do think we have the original reading of these texts, albeit... Continue Reading →
There are many ways of reading the story of the Wayward Son (Luke 15:11-32). In the context of the other two parables Jesus offers, it is fundamentally a story about the joyous response to one who repents and turns to God: “[T]here is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner... Continue Reading →
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 →
In the Spring/Summer 2018 edition of the Harvard Divinity Bulletin there is an interesting piece by Jade Sylvan, an MDiv student at Harvard Divinity School, discussing what the Gospels share in common with the modern literary genre of fan fiction. They write, As a divinity school student new to biblical scholarship, I’ve found it interesting... Continue Reading →
Acknowledgment: I stole the title for this post (i.e. "SJ's Biblical Blunders") from @CounterApologia in a conversation he and I had on Thomason's piece. It was too good not to use! INTRODUCTION I’ve been busy with a major project that will hopefully be out either by the end of this year or the beginning of... Continue Reading →
The first season of Amateur Exegesis is in the books and available on iTunes, Google Play, and other podcast platforms. But I realized that it had no presence on YouTube and so I uploaded all ten episodes onto my channel for your listening pleasure. The entire first season is right at three hours and therefore... Continue Reading →
The inaugural episode of my new podcast Amateur Exegesis has arrived!
"When Jesus calls Herod Antipas a 'fox' (Luke 13:32), most modern European readers will automatically think this means he considered Herod to be particularly clever or craft....The same association would naturally have occurred to a Greek reader in the 1st century. In Greek literature, the fox is proverbially a crafty animal. In Jewish literature, however,... Continue Reading →
For other posts in this series, please visit the series' page. The Christian Defenders' second reason for believing that the Bible is true is that the Bible contains "embarrassing details." They begin, If I were to create a religious book I would make sure its theology, details, and people were flawless. I wouldn’t leave questions... Continue Reading →
A podcast exploring the most read and least understood anthology the world has ever known.
Amateur Exegete
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