I watched The Bible’s Buried Secrets last night, and my only real complaint is that the so-called “buried secrets” are in fact exposed in mainstream books and articles on Biblical scholarship, and some of it has been common knowledge to anyone who has attended an academic course on the Bible in past century or so. So the big question is how do we deal with the flow of information problem? A key issue is that pastors are in many denominations... Read more

Here’s the latest scam to make it past my spam filter. Here’s some advice to anyone who came here wondering if an e-mail like this one is legitimate: no one will hold a lottery for which no one pays for ticket and contact you via an impersonal e-mail to tell you that you’ve won. Please be realistic. Here’s the text of the e-mail (which was sent from [email protected]): Dear Winner Your email was selected as a winner. You have won... Read more

In the Acts of Paul, Paul is presented as stating: “Caesar, it is not for a little space that I live unto my king; and if thou behead me, this will I do: I will arise and show myself unto thee that I am not dead but live unto my Lord Jesus Christ, who cometh to judge the world. ” Subsequently in the narrative, Paul is beheaded, and we’re told that “when the executioner (speculator) struck off his head, milk... Read more

Those who participated in the Dharma Initiative recruitment tests received an e-mail informing them that that Dharma Initiative has been sold…to the producers of the TV series LOST! It is fascinating the way recent movies and TV play with the boundaries between factual and fictional worlds. IGN has a nice interview with the producers about the past and future of LOST. Galactica Sitrep and SF Signal share a trailer for Star Trek IX. For the full sized and full quality... Read more

I’ve had some discussions lately here and elsewhere about whether the historical figure of Jesus existed. There is a parallel issue of whether Muhammad was a real historical individual, and that subject recently made the news once again. Read more

A new review of The Burial of Jesus has been posted on Amazon.com. It is by J. A. Kidwell, who is planning to post a longer review on his blog in the near future. Read more

“Urgent Business Proposal” was the title of a scam e-mail that made it through my spam filter today. I haven’t posted one of these for a while, and so I thought I’d warn the gullible out there: if this person really was contacting you about business, he’d address you by name. The “Good day,” as an opener is a dead giveaway. But the truth is that no one you don’t know will ever contact you offering you a multi-million dollar... Read more

The teaching attributed to Jesus in the Gospels about divorce is not unique. The Dead Sea Scrolls not only make a similar point about marriage, but even root the argument in the same text from Genesis (see Mark 10:1-12). This would be an esy case in which to suppose that perhaps a general, circulating idea was attributed to Jesus, whether intentionally or by error. One ought to consider, however, the indication that Jesus’ disciples were less than thrilled about this... Read more

In thy sight all hands are thieving, all lips have lied. Water is in the jordan. In thine eyes, Knowledge of Life, no person is clean: we are slaves who are all sin, and thou a lord who art all mercy. When thou art with us, who shall conquer us and if thou justifiest us who will convict us? – (Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, #35) Read more