In preparing a conference paper related to the Mandaean Book of John, I have been doing some reading in the Ginza Rba (Great Treasure) looking for related texts. In reading Robert Haardt’s translation of 3.589.8-3.590.34, I was struck by just how many echoes there are of other texts – and by what those texts are. At the start of the passage, the Soul is depicted as saying, “Naked I was brought into the world, and empty was I taken out... Read more
Here’s a song written with the aim of using rhyme to help you remember key points about theologians and religion scholars of the 20th century. Of course, such aims often prove harder to fulfill than one had hoped. Enjoy the silliness! I expect that those who’ve studied religion or been to seminary will get the humor. What others will make of it, I have no idea. If you enjoyed this song, and probably even if you didn’t, you should also... Read more
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Thanks to Jeremy Myers for the inspiration to make the above image! Read more
Neil Godfrey's latest rant includes a quote from George Orwell, and describes the fact that I will be addressing mythicism and religious freedom in a conference paper as “Orwellian.” And once again, there is no evidence of awareness of Poe's Law, as a mythicist writes things that seem like a ridiculous parody, something that no one could really believe, and yet it is real and not satire. Click through, read the post, see what is going on. Look carefully at... Read more
We really have no way of telling the difference between God revealing God's self through means which produce literature that looks like other religious literature, and people producing religious literature that expresses their beliefs. But given the difficult theological and moral issues that arise from taking the first stance, the second seems more attractive. Why make it harder for ourselves to disagree with ancient authors when they seem from our perspective to have been wrong, when we might be wrong... Read more
I am grateful to Michael Heiser for making me aware of Ben Stanhope's blog, “Remythologized,” and more specifically his post about a visit to the Creation “Museum.” It includes a discussion of Ken Ham's attempt to treat the seraphs of the Bible, winged serpentine beings, as pterosaurs or something similar. Read the entire post. From its subtitle, “27 Million Dollars of Bad Exegesis,” to its conclusion noting that the museum features a claim that the AiG website lists among the... Read more
I shared this a cappella humorous tribute to John Williams a couple of years ago, but it is worth bringing out and sharing again from time to time. I was reminded of it by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on Facebook, which is currently performing a series of concerts featuring John Williams’ music. Read more
Hemant Mehta has shared some photos from the unveiling of an atheist monument in front of a Florida courthouse. It was set up in response to the failure of the court to remove a ten commandments monument from that site. What I think is most interesting is that, in addition to quotes from a famous atheist, it also includes quotations from two Deists (see the recent discussion of Deism here), and a list of the punishments in ancient Israelite laws... Read more
In a recent blog post, Larry Hurtado noted Morton Smith's observation that Christology never turns up as an issue between Paul and the more conservative Jewish Christian groups that he interacted with directly and indirectly, centered in Jerusalem. And so this seems to confirm that Paul did not take a Jewish Messianic figure and turn him into something else for a Gentile audience. How does this relate to our overall interpretation of Paul's Christilogical statements, such as those from Philippians... Read more
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