The Bible and Culture

 Off on vacation to the good ole Carolina beaches, but I'm leavin you with my main man from Chapel Hill J.T. with his son Ben Taylor. This is from a gig in Raleigh.  I was fortunate enough to live in Chapel Hill when the Taylor family was still around, mostly Livingston and the younger siblings as James had signed with Apple for his first album back in 1967.  But he was in and out of town regularly, and we were fortunately enough to see him regularly sometimes in small venues like Cat's … [Read more...]

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is one of the very finest art museums in the world, and not merely in the U.S. Amongst its many treasures are works by American artists (including American Impressionists) whom we hardly know, or don't know at all. William Rimmer is one such artist who, while born in England, moved to the U.S. and had a remarkably varied career. He was a doctor, as well as an artist amongst many things he attempted.I especially love this painting of a man who thinks he … [Read more...]

Here's a nice story by Larry Hurtado about a recent trip to Dublin to see the Chester Beatty papyri.... some of our earliest fragments of NT manuscripts. Dublin: Papyri by larry hurtadoYesterday, accompanied by my new colleague, Dr. Matt Novenson, and 11 of our PhD students, I went to Dublin to visit again the Chester Beatty Library and give a little workshop focused on their fabulous collection of biblical papyri. Out on a 8.10 a.m. flight there and back in Edinburgh by 9 p.m. (ca. … [Read more...]

… [Read more...]

Q. In both the past and the present, people have often drawn parallels between Jesus and Apollonius of Tyana, a real person who lived some 50 years after Jesus' day, and had a biography written about him by Philostratus which considerably post-dates our canonical Gospels. As you point out, even when we compare these two historical figures, or, for example compare Jesus to some of the lives of the Caesars, we have no stories in pagan literature about a virgin who becomes pregnant without sex … [Read more...]

Q. On p. 180 you say that because the pericope about the woman caught in adultery is likely not an original part of the Gospel of John, that therefore it probably didn't happen. Really? Why does that follow? Weren't there many other things Jesus actually said and did that don't make the cut of being included in this or that Gospel? Aren't canonicity and historicity two separate issues?A. Yes, good point. At that stage of my argument I was using a kind of short hand. The story of … [Read more...]

Q. Two of the real linch pins in your argument that Jesus existed is the evidence from Paul that he knew both the brother of Jesus and Peter, the most important early disciple of Jesus, and secondly, the omnipresent evidence that the earliest Christians all admitted that Jesus whom they followed had been crucified. Why is this evidence so telling, and the attempts by mythicists to dismiss so unconvincing?A. I dealt a bit with the evidence from Paul in an earlier answer. The … [Read more...]

Q. Much weight is often placed on the testimony of Josephus about Jesus and his brother. You argue in the book that at least in an edited form, the Josephus evidence is quite important first century evidence in establishing the existence of Jesus, and presumably also establishing something of when he lived and what he did. Do you see Josephus as a generally reliable historian or put another way a more objective witness since he was not a follower of Jesus?A. Josephus is an important … [Read more...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GsZ0qKX8uWE#!Here's another tease for you to whet your appetite. My crack spies (all Orcs they are) tell me that Peter Jackson is only days away from finishing up the Hobbit. Can't Wait. … [Read more...]