The End of an Era: Queen Elizabeth II Has Died, Charles Becomes King

Last updated on: September 8, 2022 at 3:58 pm By James F. McGrath

I heard the news of the death of the longest reigning monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II, as I had been thinking about my upcoming trip to England, and reminiscing on the many years I spent their previously as a student. During my undergraduate days I was in close connection with conservative Evangelicals (although the vast majority of British conservative Evangelicals, with some exceptions to be sure, are nowhere near as extreme as their counterparts in the United States).... Read more

In the Footsteps of John the Baptist 7: Qumran and the Judean Wilderness

Last updated on: August 31, 2022 at 10:14 am By James F. McGrath

Qumran was the first major stop on this trip that I had been to on every single visit to the Holy Land. Even so, driving a rental car rather than either participating in a tour or leading a group of students meant that I could do things that I had not done before, such as hiking. I did not venture as far as it is possible to go, but am glad I explored the hiking trail at least somewhat. The... Read more

Lost Gospels and Lost Doctor Who Episodes

Last updated on: August 27, 2022 at 10:21 am By James F. McGrath

I thought I should write a blog post comparing lost Gospels to lost Doctor Who episodes after reading the recent post by Philip Jenkins on The Anxious Bench. Both involve things that are known to have existed yet of which we do not have extant copies. We sometimes have snippets of them. (We do have the full audio of the lost Doctor Who episodes, which makes our knowledge of them far superior to our knowledge of works like the Gospel... Read more

Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Network Meeting November 2022 #CFP

Last updated on: August 23, 2022 at 9:45 am By James F. McGrath

I am sharing the following announcement that Geoff Smith shared on Facebook: We are pleased to announce that the next meeting of the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Network will be held at Colorado College in Colorado Springs on November 16–18, just prior to the 2022 AAR/SBL Annual Meeting in Denver. We invite proposals for papers on any Nag Hammadi- or Gnostic-related text/topic. We are especially interested in papers that consider representations of Peter, apostolic authority, early Christianity in Rome, and/or consider... Read more

John the Baptist as a Mandaean Priest according to AI

Last updated on: August 20, 2022 at 5:08 am By James F. McGrath

I wasn’t sure whether this should be in this post or my recent post about artificial intelligence and the book AI 2041, one of my posts about my trip to the Holy Land focused on John the Baptist, or separate. In the end I made it separate. I worked with two different kinds of AI platforms – one that produces text based on a prompt, the other two ones that produce images based on a text prompt – to see... Read more

Revisiting Mythicism

Last updated on: August 14, 2022 at 3:20 pm By James F. McGrath

It has been fascinating to revisit the topic of mythicism on the MythVision YouTube channel and discover that the conviction of diehard believers in the teachings of various mythicists continue to maintain their faith within the online communities that reinforce their identity. Here’s the video: If you take a look at the comments under the YouTube video you’ll see what discussion looks like among mythicists. Many of the points made in the video are ignored or failed to register. Some... Read more

In the Footsteps of John the Baptist 6: Ein Kerem and the Birthplace and Wilderness of John

Last updated on: August 14, 2022 at 2:33 pm By James F. McGrath

More highlights from my trip to the Holy Land. I drove to Ein Kerem, which was a village in Jesus’ time but today is a neighborhood in the modern city of Jerusalem. There is a tradition that identifies it as the birthplace of John the Baptist. Based on a second century source (which I will say more about in a guest post on Bart Ehrman’s blog soon) I think there is another possibility that deserves to be considered, one that... Read more

Gospel Nudity

Last updated on: August 5, 2022 at 2:03 pm By James F. McGrath

I’m worried that this post will be flagged on social media because of the title. It is not at all explicit in its content, although it does indeed mention people being naked. Two different people, although they may be connected. The reason I am blogging about this is to see what others think. As you probably know, I am writing a book that introduces the key information and terminology for New Testament studies to a general audience. In essence it... Read more

AI 2041 Panel at #SBLAAR22 (and a Conversation with #BlenderBot about Religion)

Last updated on: August 7, 2022 at 6:08 am By James F. McGrath

One of my appearances on the program of the American Academy of Religion conference in Denver in November is on a panel discussing the book AI 2041. The concept is one that immediately grabbed me: a book co-authored by a sci-fi author and a scientist, a collection of short stories and essays, the former depicting scenarios that the latter discusses. Speculative fiction and speculative nonfiction working hand in hand. I do not yet know how we are going to divvy... Read more

Bratislava Conference 2022 – Receptions of Paul during the First Two Centuries: Exploration of the Jewish Matrix of Early Christianity

Last updated on: August 3, 2022 at 11:08 am By James F. McGrath

I thought I should share this information about an upcoming online conference since there does not seem to be much info about it online and given the topic and presenters I know that my biblical studies colleagues who focus on Paul more than I do will want to attend. Bratislava Conference 2022: September, 19–22 Receptions of Paul during the First Two Centuries: Exploration of the Jewish Matrix of Early Christianity Location: Comenius University Bratislava, Evangelical (Lutheran) Theological Faculty (The conference... Read more