Jim Linville is appealing once again for submissions for this month’s carnival, as well as votes for the theme. Below is my vote for the theme… Read more

Apparently the memo that has been getting much attention, and which is posted on the FBI web site, is a memo related to a hoax from half a century ago. The really good hoaxes are presumably the ones with that sort of durability, and so kudos to the hoaxers, but special thanks to an anonymous commenter (shall we call him or her “X”?) and Steve Douglas for drawing attention to these details of the story. Read more

I am sure I am not alone in repeatedly encountering people who are confident that they understand the Bible, when all they do is read the Bible, with no assistance from scholarly commentaries or other such publications. It occurred to me today that the oddity of this position is highlighted by the fact that most of the scholars who were involved of the production of English translations of the Bible have also written commentaries and other articles and books seeking... Read more

Dan McClellan links to an article which cites Steve Caruso’s treatment of the “alphabet soup” of characters on the lead plates. Dan also posted the next installment in his review of Jimmy Dunn’s Did the First Christians Worship Jesus?: The New Testament Evidence. Jim West shared a piece by Joe Zias about the lead plates and the motives behind those and other similar forgeries. zias(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s... Read more

David Ker of Lingamish and “Bad Boy Bible Study” fame has turned some of his blogging into a book, called The Bible Wasn’t Written To You. You can read it online, or download it in a number of different formats. It is developed from things he blogged about, and so the content may be familiar – but if you’re familiar with his blog, you’ll also know that it will be amusing, satirical, interesting and thought-provoking. Read more

At the suggestion of a regular commenter, I am going to try to save time in the future with commenters who ask the same questions, make the same claims, or otherwise behave in bot-like fashion. This post will contain in as brief form as possible points to make in response to mythicist claims. I presume that there is no need to restate the claims and “arguments” here – in fact, it will be more fun and more interesting to simply... Read more

Photo courtesy of TripAdvisor I received the news just a few days ago that I have funding for a scouting trip to Israel for this summer. I’ll most likely go during June, prior to the international SBL meeting in London. If you’ll be in Israel this summer in the second half of June, let me know. Recommendations are still welcome for specific hotels that it would be good to stay at with students (the purpose of my trip is to prepare... Read more

I received an e-mail about an upcoming documentary, and was pleasantly surprised (after some dismay towards the media due to the lead books fiasco) to find that it includes interviews from some excellent scholars and other interesting individuals. It is called Jesus: The Cold Case. Below is the second of several trailers available on YouTube. Read more

Via Steve Douglas and Thom Stark on Facebook, I learned that the FBI has released a document supposedly related to the Roswell incident. It purports to be a memo from Guy Hottel to the director of the FBI, indicating that an investigator for the Air Force provided information as to there having been small humanoids in the wreckage of flying saucers that were recovered at Roswell. It is worth noting that the actual source of the information is blacked out. But for the FBI to release a... Read more

Three links to counterbalance the frivolity of the last one with some serious content. First, Steve Caruso offers a chart of the characters on the lead plates, and lists numerous strikes against their authenticity. Next, Jerry Coyne links to a web site that lets you calculate evolutionary relationships in terms of genetic difference and the distance in time to our last common ancestor. Finally, via Remnant of Giants, The Bible’s Buried Secrets on DocumentaryStorm for free. Read more