I am using the term “Luke” here advisedly, for the author of the two-volume New Testament work of Luke-Acts. See “Who Wrote the Gospel of Luke?” by Mikel C. Parsons for who the author might have been and what might be said for the tradition view of a companion of…
We are living in the last days, on this LAST GREAT day of Gregorian Year 2023! We had a really wonderful ZOOM meeting yesterday with a mixture of students from both my on-line courses–Mark as well “Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls.” The meeting was recorded and will become part…
The story of Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross of Jesus as related in the gospel of Mark is quite remarkable for both its brevity and its content. It is conveyed in s single verse in Mark 15:21 as Jesus is being led away by the Romans to be crucified.…
Caution: This presentation is 1.5 hours and is for serious students of the historical Jesus–which I believe my Blog readers and subscribers are. In this age of TikTok, Shorts, YT videos that are never supposed to be longer than 12 minutes, it will find its rightful place. It is not…
This is the introduction to an exciting NEW SERIES on my Youtube Channel I am short-titling “Jesus Archaeology.” The idea is to highlight the ways in which scientifically conducted archaeology in the Holy Land has contributed to our historical understanding of the “Jesus Movement” or the rise of early Christianity.…
In this finale to my 25-part series on Bible Prophecy I explore the three major interpretations of “Bible Prophecy Belief” in our own time–Preterist, Continuous Historical, and Futurist–weighing them in the balance and finding them wanting. I discuss the terms: literal, symbolic, poetic, spiritual, and actual as well as the…
Jacob Neusner was one of the best-known scholars of Jewish studies in the 20th century. He reckoned that the three most influential Jews of all time were Moses, Jeremiah, and Yohanan ben Zakkai. Odds are you’ve heard of Moses and Jeremiah. Moses was the great lawgiver. Jeremiah was the great…
Anyone up for a fairly in-depth hour and a half discussion of the John the Baptizer/Jesus/James movement and it possible relationship to the group that the historical Josephus, and other classical writers such as Pliny and Strabo, called the “Essenes”? We are not sure of the origins of this Greek…
In this video I begin to explore various kinds of “Preterist” interpretations of Bible Prophecy, particularly those Christian views that claim EVERYTHING, including the Return of Jesus and resurrection of the dead, took place in the summer of the year 70 AD, with the destruction of the Jewish Temple and…
In this overview video I offer a summary of the major futurist interpretation of Bible Prophecy today–that of the evangelical Christians, most of whom follow the “Dispensationalist” views of John Darby. Remember Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth? These views are really mushrooming in the last month, as the…