My lates blog post in The Times of Israel. Whatever you might have thought you had figured out about Pentecost, the Festival of Weeks, or in Hebrew Shavuot–this post will likely complicate things a bit. However, the past point might be the most important in the entire post. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-shifting-meanings-of-shavuot-pentecost/
In this video I situate my work on the “Quest for the Historical Mary–Mother of Jesus,” in the broader shift in the Hellenistic world, in which a “Great Reversal” took place. Humans began to look to the heavenly world above as their true Home, whereas the earth was seen as…
https://youtu.be/E3A_R96EKwg Today is Nisan the first on the Hebrew Calendar–the biblical New Year in the Spring based on Exodus 12:1. Nice time–in the Northern Hemisphere at least, for resolutions and New Beginnings as Spring begins. I recorded this video in late March 2025 when I was in Jerusalem on Nisan…
Have you ever noticed that the language Jesus uses of finding “rest for your souls” is based on Jeremiah 6:16, check it out. Seems like Jesus had his nose in Jeremiah 6-8 in a focused and central way, especially in his final confrontation with his enemies. Notice the phrase in…
Being “washed in the blood of the lamb” has become a more appealing cultural image to our minds than “washed in the blood of the hairy goat,” but it seems that neither image, in connection to the removal or “atonement” of sins, is related to the Day of Atonement or…
I have been thinking lately about the essential differences between Judaism and Christianity, or more properly, the kind of religion reflected in the Hebrew Bible and that of the Greek New Testament. I have long ago given up the idea of any formal affiliations with the major contemporary manifestations of…
Here are some personal reflections on the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, and the New Testament. Do they represent, at their core, the same basic faith in the Creator God, the ethical Way, and the eschatological Future of humankind? I find them a rather troubled coupling. The Christians were wise…
I hope you enjoy this short video I recently did with Youtube host Jeramiah Giehl, @PullingTheThreadPodcast, I talk about my new book, Restoring Abrahamic Faith, 4th edition, which explores the ancient Hebrew faith, not as a religion, but an unique understanding of human place and potential as custodians of the…
This is an edited portion of an informal talk I recently gave to my Research Group…see below for link. Based on my newly published book, Restoring Abrahamic Faith, I begin to explore the emerging sense of what “God” meant in texts of the Hebrew Bible. https://youtu.be/q6dViVn3jfI You can find the…
In this edited interview with Aaron Abkke and Kameron Waters on Youtube (@AaronAbke ) I take off my “academic” hat for a bit, without discarding it, and talk about a narrative and conceptual “essence” of what I call Abrahamic Faith as reflected in the Hebrew Bible. Whatever your views I…