Reading the first twelve pages, the introduction to Earl Doherty’s book Jesus: Neither God Nor Man – The Case for a Mythical Jesus has done nothing to ease the concerns I expressed nor change the impression I received in reading the preface, and the first sentence. If this were a scholarly book, the author would be trying to outline the argument that will be offered in the remainder of the book, indicating an awareness of points that will be controversial or... Read more

Larry Hurtado’s review of my book The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context is out in the May 2011 issue of Expository Times (a longer version can be found on his web site, and that version of the review provided the basis for a useful discussion that took place between his blog and this one in November of last year). Apparently right after it is a review of James Dunn’s recent book Did the First Christians Worship Jesus?: The New... Read more

At the blog Diglotting, Kevin Brown has posted this question: Has any mythicist provided a scenario that explains how a mythical figure of Jesus arose? Furthermore, is there a scenario that can explain a mythical Jesus and be more plausible than a scenario that simply posits the existence of a historical Jesus? Presumably everyone already knows what I think, but some of those reading this may wish to pay Diglotting a visit and give their answers to this question. Read more

Commenters here weren’t the only ones to take exception to Arni’s sexual analogy regarding science. Unreasonable Faith mentioned it and asked for responses, and the comments section includes many that I think it is safe to say will be equally controversial/offensive in the appropriate circles. IO9 reports on the possibility that we may at long last have not only parallel branches to our ancestors on the tree of life, but an actual common ancestor of both modern humans and Neanderthals.... Read more

The blog Synoptic Solutions has a detailed account by someone who attended the recent Symposium on the Secret Gospel of Mark held in Toronto. Read more

Steve Caruso posted the news that the incredibly useful online resource, the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, got hacked. I can’t imagine who would do such a thing or why. Read more

I found this amusing (HT Bits of Wisdom): But the truth is, as Socrates once said (or was it Martin Luther King?), “It is much easier to verify the authenticity and source of a quotation today than it ever was before, if only one takes the time to do so.” Read more

Hemant Mehta shared this gem of an illustration of gradual change – what some call “microevolution” amounting in the long run to “macroevolution”: In related news, Arni Zachariassen has a sexy post on religion and science, comparing atheists’ view of science to porn stars having sex, and a religious view of science to marital lovemaking. Click through if you’re old enough. BioLogos has begun a multi-part review of Why Evolution Is True by Jerry Coyne. Debunking Creationism shares thoughts from... Read more

“Nagging works” — Jesus according to Luke 11:5-10 (slightly condensed and paraphrased) Read more

At his blog, Larry Hurtado discusses some of the objections to the application of the term “monotheism” to ancient Judaism and Christianity, and summarizes his suggestions about how to proceed and appropriately qualify and understand the term so that it remains useful. Read more