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It was Einstein, no less, who said, ‘either everything is a miracle, or nothing is a miracle’. I understand this sentiment, but of course to most people, if you use the word ‘miracle’ you’re talking about something that is not by any means an everyday occurrence. The dictionary has defined the term variously (e.g. ‘an event which violates the laws of nature’, ‘an event that is inexplicable in scientific terms’ and so on). The word miracle is for the most... Read more

Q6a.BEN: One factor that I would say your analysis overlooks in dealing with 1 Tim. 2.8-15 is that Paul is correcting existing problems— the men are grumbling, the women are over-dressing and interfering with whoever is (presumably Timothy) the person Paul left behind as leader and teacher of these new converts. The problem is an abuse of the privilege of teaching, when in fact the women in question first need to be quiet and listen and learn, and be in... Read more

The Top 10 Help people hate each other: Divorce Lawyer (Scott Adams’ favorite) Stand on a field and get yelled at for hours: Baseball Umpire Talk in other people’s sleep: College Professor Call people who know what they’re doing and ask them what they’re doing: Incident Manager Show people how beautiful the Earth would be without them: Mountain Landscape Photographer/Climber Make people feel bad about their work: Quality Assurance Tester Repeatedly fix what you repeatedly break: IT Director Clean up... Read more

Scott Adams is a very talented cartoonist who gives us Dilbert day after day. He has a pleasant wacky and wry sense of humor. And now he has offered us— Name that Job Performer! This email will give you the long list, and we’ll save the top ten for tomorrow. Read things that don’t matter, then write papers saying they do matter, for points that don’t matter, in order to get a job doing something totally unrelated: Student Take numbers... Read more

My Baylor friend Prof. Philip Jenkins has some good thoughts about the OT….. and I reprint his post here….. Numbering the Old Testament: 22, 24 , 39, or more? March 21, 2016 by Philip Jenkins 0 Comments Over the past couple of years my work has often brought me back to the writings of Josephus, and I just wanted to describe one Biblical-related problem that arises there. I claim little originality in what I am writing here, but am rather... Read more

Q5.BEN: I found your analysis of 1 Tim. 2.8-15 fascinating, and you may well be right that some high status Gentile women in the church were expecting, right off the bat, to be able to play the same roles in the church they had played, or knew were played by women, in the cult of Artemis. The critique of their apparel may well suggest that they were imitating the clothing protocols of women in the cult of Artemis, right down... Read more

Q4.BEN: The Ephesos of the mid-first century A.D. was a thriving place, and religiously pluralistic in character, though certainly the Temple of Artemis dominated the religious landscape. I quite agree that major temples like that of Artemis which had been following the same protocols for centuries in regard to who could become priests or curetes, or not, tended to follow the rule that noble birth was a requirement to aspiring to such an office. But of course this was not... Read more

It’s out! The revised standard version of my NT Theology and Ethics is now available through Amazon etc. This is the simplified more lay friendly version also suitable for college students as well. See what you think….. BW3 Read more

There is no writer about ancient Rome during the NT period who is more fun to read than Lindsey Davis. Unfortunately, she chose to retire her very best character Marcus Didius Falco, who, truth be told, was getting a little long in the tooth, as they say. He has been succeeded by his adopted daughter Flavia Alba as sleuth extraordinaire, and has not appeared ‘on stage’, which is to say, in the actual narrative of the Alba novels, which are... Read more