Yesterday I did an interview with Prof. Robyn Faith Walsh, one of the ten participants in this upcoming special conference on the Apostle Paul: New Investigations on the New Testament(NINT). I found her insights and approach to the texts insightful and fascinating. You won’t want to miss this one! This…
A short audio report of my recent time in Israel with a few pictures–much more to come! https://youtu.be/dgZeFzIWEYk
I made it back last night after a gruelingly rushed trip home. I was scheduled to fly back overnight Monday, as I wanted a full day in the Old City, so I would have arrived Tuesday in the afternoon. After the slaughter of the Druze children on Sunday, several of…
Good morning everyone from the Old City of Jerusalem! In this post I want to encourage you to register for this fabulous upcoming conference sponsored by Bart Ehrman. Some of you might have already signed up, but if you have not, take a look here at the speakers and the…
I don’t know how many of you have heard this verse quoted over the years growing up but the ideas behind it, spread to the world by the apostle Paul–have done untold harm, and led to the anguish and suffering of so many millions. A Single verse of the Bible–Jeremiah…
In Romans 4:3 Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 about the “faith of Abraham,” being “reckoned” as “righteousness,” which is a meaning quite opposite to the original context and literal Hebrew phrasing. And yet, this along with Romans 1:17, are the TWO PILLAR texts of his entire understanding of what he calls…
Paul’s foundational verse for what he calls “my gospel,” is taken directly from a quotation of the Hebrew Prophet Habakkuk–seldom read by hardly anyone. However, he completely reverses its meaning! https://youtu.be/ZCshIENR8xw
Blast from the past…I gave this lecture in 2007 at an academic conference. Don’t miss the Q&A at the end. I refer to many major scholars along the way who were in the room. In these intervening years, although I have further developed these views, by and large I remain…
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…
One always hears that the New Testament condors Slavery as part of Roman life and culture–but in this video you will encounter a big surprise. There is an important twist here–that involves being willing to suffer as well as considering yourself “free” even though you are a slave and are…