I’ve added to the sidebar a gadget with the most recent comments that have been left, so that visitors can see where conversations are ongoing. Let me know if this feature is useful! I’ve also added some daily astronomy pictures, just because… Read more

Yesterday in my Sunday School class, we moved beyond our discussion of the varied portraits of Jesus found in the Gospels to begin to answer the question posed in Mark’s Gospel, “Who do you say that I am?” Being so used to discussing the views of others, it was interesting and helpful to have to give me own personal answer to the question. Ultimately, what I kept coming back to as central was Jesus as crucified Messiah. Historians may debate... Read more

“It simply was not possible physically for ancient historians with their work methods to dissect in memory contradictory variants into separate elements in order to produce a single, more logical version.” — Jocelyn Penny Small, Wax Tablets of the Mind: Cognitive Studies of Memory and Literacy in Classical Antiquity (New York: Routledge, 1997) p.185. Read more

While it is being said that NT Wrong (the blog, not the person behind it) is dead, we have also heard glad tidings of a web site’s resurrection. Early Christian Writings, one of the most useful online resources for the study of early Christian sources, has returned to life. So too has Early Jewish Writings. Hallelujah! Many thanks to Peter Kirby, who maintains these sites. Their value is great, and it is too bad that the internet is not designed... Read more

Mike Leaptrott has a simply wonderful short reflection on his blog entitled “Jesus in CGI“. He considers the miracles and other such facets of the Gospels as “special effects” and considers how they (like modern CGI effects) have the potential to make the “movie” more or less enjoyable. Here’s a taste: Current flavors of fundamentalism rely heavily on a kind of CGI interpretation of God that fills in the gaps where human actors could not possibly succeed. By fixating on... Read more

Recently I finally got around to watching the movie Appleseed and its sequel Appleseed: Ex Machina. You can watch the trailer for Appleseed here and the trailer for Ex Machina here. Like many works of Japanese anime, these movies explore the integration of human and machine, as well as other technologies such as cloning. Both movies are trying to explore religious and philosophical themes, and yet the evidence of the superficiality of the filmmakers’ knowledge in these areas is evident... Read more

The Nation (HT PaleoJudaica) has a piece about Guy Stroumsa’s book publishing Morton Smith’s correspondence with Gershom Scholem, which may shed light on the question of whether Smith forged the Secret Gospel of Mark. Pomomusings is up to chapter 3 in Jack Rogers’ Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality. Religion Dispatches discusses “Sex and the Seminary” (no, it isn’t a new TV show). Gumby the Cat has the perfect pie-chart on persecution and Pac Man. Michael Bird has a post on... Read more

Hat tip to Mark Goodacre for sharing this video clip (originally from Kelvington.com) of the U.S.S. Enterprise encountering the Tardis. Read more

There is an interesting parallel between the situation of those arguing for the inerrancy of the Bible and that of “mythicists”, i.e. those who argue that Jesus was originally thought of as a heavenly figure, one who was later then turned into an allegedly historical figure. The case for inerrancy has to be able to demonstrate that every single factual claim made in the Bible is without error. The case for errancy, by contrast, has only to demonstrate conclusively that... Read more

I recall reading somewhere not long ago in my studies of oral tradition (which has touched on folksong, epic, and the Parry-Lord school) that those who composed such works would often withdraw to compose their works, and then would return and send out troubadors or other performers. I couldn’t help but think of the way Jesus is depicted in some parts of the New Testament, as withdrawing to isolated places, and then returning and sending out his students (= disciples).... Read more