Mary Ann Beavis, Mark, Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2011), 175. In Mark, then, the parable [i.e. of the tenants; Mark 12:1-12] is a sort of Passion prediction in expanded, allegorical form. For the evangelist, any God-given authority that the Jewish leaders may have had has been forfeited by their neglect of their... Continue Reading →
Shaily Patel: Postcolonial Criticism
Shaily Patel, "Excursus: Methods of Ideological Criticism," in Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, sixth edition (OUP, 2016), 192. Postcolonial criticism emphasizes the influence that empires and imperial policies, both ancient and modern, have on the texts, history, and scholarship of the New Testament. Postcolonial interpreters analyze how... Continue Reading →
Michael D. Coogan: Deuteronomy and the Law of the King
Michael D. Coogan, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, third edition (OUP, 2014), 183-184. The "law of the king" [Deuteronomy 17:14-20] seems to have been written with specific kings in mind, especially as they are described in the book of Kings. The extravagant acquisition of horses and gold and an enormous... Continue Reading →
Book Review: ‘The Case for Miracles’ by Lee Strobel, part 5a
In part one of my review of Lee Strobel’s The Case for Miracles I covered chapters 1-3, a section featuring Strobel’s interview of the skeptic Michael Shermer. In part two I covered chapters 4-6 featuring his interview with Craig Keener. In part three I covered chapter 7 which featured an interview Strobel had with Candy Gunther... Continue Reading →
Evangelical Eisegesis: A Dalliance with Daniel #2 – Daniel 9:24-27 – An Interpretation
Part 1 - Daniel vs. HistoryPart 2 - Daniel 9:24-27 - An InterpretationPart 3 - Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar, and Nitocris In this series we are exploring the claim made by pop-apologist SJ Thomason in her post "Did Daniel the Prophet Accurately Predict the Timing of Jesus' Death?"1 that the prophetic utterance of Daniel 9:24-27 predicted Jesus' death in... Continue Reading →
The Weekly Roundup – 12.7.18
"The death of the messiah [in Mark's Gospel], at the hour of the cross, is the advent of the υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, who has come with great power and glory (13:26)." - Danny Yencich On 11.25.18 Twitter users @Shann_Q0 and @paulogia0 had a discussion with pop-apologist SJ Thomason covering a wide-range of topics including Gospel authorship,... Continue Reading →
Bart D. Ehrman: The Significance of John 9:22
Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, sixth edition (OUP, 2016), 187-188. This verse [i.e. John 9:22] is significant from a socio-historical perspective because we know that there was no official policy against accepting Jesus (or anyone else) as messiah during his lifetime. On the other hand, some Jewish... Continue Reading →
Michael D. Coogan: The Problem of Kadesh
Micheal D. Coogan, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, third edition (OUP, 2014), 165-166. Identification of most of the places named [the Priestly portions of Numbers] is very difficult, however; to some extent they are locations that were familiar to P in the mid-first millennium BCE. Moreover, P's itinerary is... Continue Reading →
Musings on Mark: Jesus’ Origin Story in Mark
Every superhero has a back story, a tale about what made them the way they are. My favorite superhero is DC's Batman. What disturbing thing happened to him that made him want to dress up like a bat and beat up bad guys in the middle of the night? As most people know, when Bruce... Continue Reading →
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