Joel Marcus, Mark 8-16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 930. While it is probable...that some members of the Jewish hierarchy pressed Pilate to put Jesus to death (Mark 15:1, 3, 11), and while a revolutionary ringleader may have been released at about the same time that... Continue Reading →
Wayne T. Pitard, "Before Israel: Syria-Palestine in the Bronze Age," in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Michael D. Coogan, editor (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 27. There are many reasons to be skeptical of [the Patriarchal] narratives as historically accurate accounts of the lives of Israel's progenitors. Indications within the narratives suggest that... Continue Reading →
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!
A podcast exploring the most read and least understood anthology the world has ever known.
Amateur Exegete
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