Final Program for the ARAM Conference on the Mandaeans

Last updated on: July 2, 2013 at 8:39 am By James F. McGrath

I received the final version of the program for the upcoming conference on the Mandaeans at the Oriental Institute in Oxford. Here it is: MONDAY, JULY 08, 2013 (Venue: The Oriental Institute, Pusey Lane) Chairperson:Rifaat Ebied (Sydney University) 09:00-10:00 Charles G. Häberl (The State University of New Jersey) “Dating the language of the Mandaean Book of John.” 10:00-11:00 James F. McGrath (Butler University-USA): “Polemic, Redaction, and History in the Mandaean Book of John: The Case of the Lightworld Visitor(s) to... Read more

The Old is New Again

Last updated on: July 2, 2013 at 7:49 am By James F. McGrath

By John Atkinson Read more

Professing Themselves to be Wise…They Failed to Notice the Context of Paul’s Words Before Quoting Them

Last updated on: July 1, 2013 at 11:09 pm By James F. McGrath

I recently mentioned the words from Romans, “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” because I did actually have someone quote those words at me on Facebook. There are a lot of ironies in that, as I noted. But perhaps the biggest is that Romans 1:22 is part of a passage in which Paul imitates what Jews say about Gentiles, so that he can then go on to condemn those who adopt the stance he imitates. Nearly 2,000 years... Read more

Professing Themselves to be Wise

Last updated on: July 1, 2013 at 7:11 pm By James F. McGrath

Why is it that those who have never studied a topic, and yet are confident they know everything they need to and have no need to learn anything, seem to be the most likely to quote Paul’s words in Romans 1:22, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” and do so thinking it applies to the person they are talking to and not to themselves? It is such a sad irony, when people manage to plunder the Bible for... Read more

Diet Gospels?

Last updated on: July 1, 2013 at 2:59 pm By James F. McGrath

Jim West posted the above photo featuring personalized Coke bottles available in the UK. I knew that Jim had really gone off the rails lately, but I had not realized quite how badly. Matthew and John as (according to the label colors) diet Gospels? Hmph! Read more

Bob Cornwall, Worshiping With Charles Darwin

Last updated on: July 1, 2013 at 1:24 pm By James F. McGrath

Bob Cornwall‘s new book, Worshiping With Charles Darwin, offers a compelling account of one Christian and clergymember’s attempt to not let go of either science or faith. Explaining why he thinks Darwin could have sat quite happily alongside him in church (however much he may have had doubts or changed his mind about many point of Christian doctrine), and why he finds pseudoscience like young-earth creationism an unsatisfactory approach, and the voices from opposite poles of atheism and young-earth creationism... Read more

Simplified Blogging

Last updated on: July 1, 2013 at 12:28 pm By James F. McGrath

By John Atkinson. HT Open Parachute Read more

Breaking News: I May Be Neither Incompetent Nor Dishonest!

Last updated on: July 1, 2013 at 11:27 am By James F. McGrath

Tom Verenna posted a response to some of Neil Godfrey’s name-calling. It includes the following: Now whether or not James McGrath is missing something, or he is not reading Brodie sympathetically, or he is merely interpreting Brodie differently, is obviously an important part of a discussion. But this does not ipso facto implicate James as ‘incompetent’ (he isn’t) or ‘dishonest’ (simply because he disagrees with something). James holds advanced degrees which he could not have earned had he been incompetent... Read more

June 2013 Biblical Studies Carnival

Last updated on: July 1, 2013 at 10:48 am By James F. McGrath

The June 2013 Biblical Studies Carnival has been posted at Blog of the Twelve. In addition, see the monthly round-up of posts about the letter to the Hebrews at Polumeros kai Polutropos. Be aware as well that the Biblioblog Top 50 is back, and is giving the #1 biblioblog of the month status not merely on the basis of number of visits, but other considerations. And so this month the #1 biblioblog is…Larry Hurtado’s! Phil Long points out that there... Read more

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