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…
I just happened to see on the Society of Biblical Literature web site that Jimmy Dunn has died. We were academic “friends” and he reviewed my book Paul and Jesus, for Biblical Archaeology Review in 2013. You can read his review and my response here on the blog. We sharply disagreed, but I…
Last week I posted an article I published some years ago dealing with Paul’s idea of “Apotheosis,” or “Divinization,” i.e. “becoming Divine.” Several readers wrote me that the extensive use of Greek in that published article, made it difficult for them to follow. I apologize for not noticing that. It…
Nietzsche said the Christian decision to make the world ugly and evil has made the world ugly and evil. Of course the Christians were only mimickers and mirrors of the neo-Platonism and Gnostic perspectives that became so influential in late Antiquity. Quite a contrast to the Hebrew Bible. Demons, Satan…
Those who have read my book, Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity might recall that in the Introduction I survey what I consider to be Paul’s “Six Major Ideas,” several of which are underemphasized, or even overlooked, in many standard treatments of Paul. One of those, which I explore in…
A few weeks ago I posted an article I had published back in the year 2000, on “Salvation” in the Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements, edited by Richard Lances. Here is another dealing with Millennialism in the Ancient World–by that I mean the ancient Near East/Mediterranean world. I tried my…
Bart Ehrman has a very interesting post up on his blog (July 3) titled “Do Matthew and Paul Agree on the Matter Most Important to them Both?” I highly recommend both the post and the blog. ((The blog requires a membership fee, which is rare among us Bible Bloggers, but…
First a bit of personal background. I began my study of New Testament (Koiné) Greek at the tender age of 17 as a young college freshman at what was then called Abilene Christian College (today Abilene Christian University), one of the flagship schools of the Churches of Christ. My family,…
In this informal round-table discussion with 1950s Davidian spokesperson Dudley Goff, Dr. James D. Tabor (UNC Charlotte), and Dr. Philip Arnold (Reunion Institute, Houston, TX) explore the origins of the Millerites, the Seventh Day Adventists, and the early Davidian movement led by Victor Houfeff, that flourished from 1935-1959 outside Waco,…
Many years ago I when I was studying the history of religions I was taught to ask about the various religions of “salvation” that so thickly filled the Hellenistic-Roman world (400 BCE-300 CE) to pose the following probing questions of any text or system of religious thinking about humanity and…
