This is an informal lecture I gave in the monthly Zoom meeting I hold with students in my “Quest for the Historical Paul” course. The course is on-line, you work at your own pace, and as with all of my on-line courses, I meet with the students via Zoom to…
Take a trip with me today on the “Biblical Time Machine,” piloted by producer David Roos and the brilliant Prof. Helen Bond. One of my favorite podcasts! Be sure and visit, browse the episodes, you will be hooked! https://www.biblicaltimemachine.com From Helen and Dave: Every good churchgoer knows that after we…
I learned this single CORE idea from Jonathan Z. Smith, the greatest historian of religion of our time, during the first week of the first class I had from him at the University of Chicago called simply “Hellenistic Religion.” It remains the case that very few in my academic field…
I know some of you–perhaps many of you–have followed the work of Dr. Robert L. Kuhn on his TV and now Youtube programs “Closer to Truth.” If you have not visited the web site lately, it has been marvelously redesigned and Robert is ever at work with new horizons…see closertotruth.com. The…
Millions for centuries–and into our own time, read Genesis 2 and the creation of Adam from the dust as referring only to his body–but then he receives the “breath of life” from God and becomes a living soul–special and above the animals, who are only beasts who perish. Here is…
In this ongoing short series on the Top Seven Fateful texts of the N.T. I select another from the apostle Paul–which taken out of context downplays this present world as passing, almost an illusion or shadow, in favor of a future Heavenly World to come. I call this the “Bad…
I loved this relaxed conversation with John Pinna, one of the hosts of the podcast “Crossing Faiths” (https://www.crossingfaiths.com). Check out his podcast and subscribe, the range and topics are fascinating. The Qur’an never mentions the apostle Paul, although John the Baptizer, Mary mother of Jesus, and Jesus himself are referenced many…
I have continued my series on Youtube dealing with ideas of Death and Afterlife in the Ancient Western world. The level of interest is a total surprise for me. The first episode alone, on “Ancient Hebrew Views,” has over 200,000 views! In this tenth segment of the series I try…
When I was a freshman in college at Abilene Christian University in the mid-1960s I decided early on to focus on the Bible and early Christianity–basically New Testament Studies. I had returned from a trip to the Holy Land the previous summer, and I was fired up with the idea–at…
In this segment in my series “Death and Afterlife in the Ancient Western World,” I explore the ancient Greek ideas from Homer to Plato. What we find a great REVOLUTION–a literal “Overturning of the World,” in which death becomes life, and life death! I pinpoint the earliest archaeological tomb evidence…