Third Temple Movements

Last updated on: May 9, 2014 at 3:54 pm By William Hamblin

The Hamblin-Peterson column from Deseret News. Read more

What is Scripture?

Last updated on: May 9, 2014 at 9:21 pm By William Hamblin

Over on his blog David Bokovoy continues to explain why he thinks scripture should be de-historicized. There he advocates the following understanding of the nature and purpose of scripture (bold face added). Rather than approach a scriptural text as a record of the way God has literally interacted with a human being, one might read the record as a tool that assists readers to feel connected to divinity by considering what other people (meaning the text’s original author) have felt... Read more

Maya Royal Art

Last updated on: May 9, 2014 at 3:11 pm By William Hamblin

My photos from the Palenque museum here. Read more

Palenque Enthronement

Last updated on: May 7, 2014 at 11:40 am By William Hamblin

Enthronement scene of the king of Palenque. For high res version, click here: Read more

Jesus’ Wife Controversy

Last updated on: May 7, 2014 at 1:09 pm By William Hamblin

Larry Hurtado summarizes and links to new information on the Jesus’ Wife fragment. It is looking more and more like a forgery. Read more

Temple of the Cross, Palenque

Last updated on: April 30, 2014 at 7:56 pm By William Hamblin

Palenque Temple of the Sun

Last updated on: April 29, 2014 at 7:57 pm By William Hamblin

The Temple of the Sun at Palenque contains one of the best preserved inner temple shrines in Maya architecture. The link has several pictures of this holy of holies. Read more

DH 31: Inconsistency 2

Last updated on: April 28, 2014 at 7:53 pm By William Hamblin

Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that every perceived inconsistency claimed by modern biblical scholars in the Pentateuch is an authentic inconsistency rather than a misperceived inconsistency. The question then arises, why do such inconsistencies exist? The first thing we should note is that inconsistencies among sources is much more common in premodern texts than in modern texts. This is in part due to scribal errors in transmission. Printed books from a single edition are always exactly the same. ... Read more

Temple of the Cross

Last updated on: April 28, 2014 at 3:48 pm By William Hamblin

Panoramic photo of the Temple of the Cross plaza in Palenque. Read more

DH 30: Historicity Redux

Last updated on: April 28, 2014 at 6:14 pm By William Hamblin

David Bokovoy has written a response to Jeff Bradshaw’s review of Authoring the Old Testament. Although David seems rather averse to answering direct questions about his scholarship, his response to Jeff raises a few issues in my mind. 1. I certainly agree with David that ancient texts cannot prove historicity, as I discussed in “DH 20: Historicity 2.” Ancient texts can only tell us what ancient people believed about Abraham and Moses. However David has ignored the flip side of the equation. Literary theory and... Read more