Most readers of the New Testament Gospels focus on the well-known stories of Easter morning and the discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb with his subsequent “appearances” as a flesh and blood recusitated corpse to his followers–eating and proclaiming he is alive. However, sorting through all our sources together on what…
Someone just posted a comment on my article dealing with the forged ending of the Gospel of Mark, which most scholars take as a late addition to Mark’s otherwise masterful literary work. The traditional ending, now found in the King James Version, is one of three bogus endings, each of…
Late last night I uploaded a 12 minute video on Youtube and has had 12K views in less than 24 hours! It was nothing out of the ordinary, but the title says it all–and I think people just have not thought much about this. What do we know about Jesus’…
Over the decades I have heard dozens of interviews with John Crossan, listened to his lectures, read his books, and spent time together in Jerusalem in 2007 with him and his wife Sarah, in endless conversation, visiting some of the “off the beaten tourist paths” places with Shimon Gibson. He…
The “Last Days of Jesus,” that final week of his life, marked by billions of Christians from Palm Sunday to Easter, with contemplation, mourning, and celebration–is often called “Holy Week” in the “great” churches. It is narrated by Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John in the New Testament, along with fragments…
This lecture lays out what I believe is the earliest archaeological evidence related to the followers of Jesus. The standard view of many historians–though not all–is that we have nothing from the early Christians until the late 2nd or early 3rd centuries. Here I deal only with materials that are…
Over the years I have been amazed at how many of my academic colleagues, who do not find the arguments convincing that the East Talpiot “Jesus” family tomb can likely be identified with that of Jesus of Nazareth, are nonetheless quite sure that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is…
One of my most popular posts over the years has is titled “Why People are Confused about the Earliest View of Resurrection of the Dead.” It has had over 10,000 views since I posted it in 2015. By resurrection I mean both that of Jesus, as reported in various documents…
One of the more intriguing of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a fragment now titled “Messianic Apocalypse” (4Q521). This text contains three rather striking features that are of particular significance for comparing the apocalyptic beliefs and expectations of the Qumran community with the emerging early Christian movement. First, the text…
Most people who read the New Testament read it “backwards.” By that I mean they begin with the four Gospels–Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John–move through Acts, and finally get to the letters of Paul and the rest. What many fail to realize is that the seven letters of Paul (1…