"Did Jesus plan to start a new religion, then? No." - Matthew Thiessen
Did Jesus Plan to Start a New Religion? Matthew Thiessen’s Answer
Jesus in Our Own Image
On the temptation to make Jesus in our own image and likeness.
Two Recent Pieces at TheTorah.com
Links to two recent pieces that appeared on TheTorah.com.
Joel Marcus: What is Mark’s “Abomination of Desolation”?
Joel Marcus, Mark 8-16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 890-891. The abomination of desolation [in Mark 13:14] is probably related to a desecration that preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. The occurrence that best fits the bill is the occupation of the Temple by the Zealots near... Continue Reading →
Martinus C. de Boer: Angels and Demons
Martinus C. de Boer, Paul, Theologian of God’s Apocalypse: Essays on Paul and Apocalyptic (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020), 22. The story of [the] angelic fall is found or alluded to in much of the literature (1 En. 6-19; 64:1-2; 69:4-5; 86:1-6; 106:13-17; Jub. 4:15, 22; 5:1-8; 10:4-5; T. Reub. 5:6-7; T. Naph. 3:5; CD 2:17-3:1; 2... Continue Reading →
Two Reviews of Paula Fredriksen’s ‘When Christians Were Jews’
Earlier this year I read with great delight Paula Fredriksen’s When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation (Yale University Press, 2018). Without going into great detail, Fredriksen’s work attempts to situate the early Jesus movement in its original Jewish context, specifically as an apocalyptic sect within Judaism. It wasn’t until the end of the first century and... Continue Reading →
Mark Nanos: Paul’s Beliefs and Judaism
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 →
Matthias Henze on Second Temple Literature and Messianism
I recently listened to the May 18th episode of The Bible for Normal People which featured an interview with Matthias Henze (PhD, Harvard University) on the subjects of Second Temple Judaism and the concept of the Messiah. This period of Jewish history is, unfortunately, often ignored by conservative readers of the Bible. And because the lens through which they view the... Continue Reading →
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