A while back I asked blog members to forward to me information about publications they have … published.  Twice I’ve given a half dozen, and here are some more: a couple of articles and a couple of books.  They all look fascinating to me, and two of them are by research scholars / professors of the New Testament that I know.  Maybe one of the others is as well, that I don’t know!  In any case, read through their self-descriptions, and if you’re so moved, check out the publications themselves!

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Steve

  1.  Very Short Article
  2. Another side of New Testament Jesus
  3. wintertao
  4. Twitter.com/wintertao
  5. New Testament Jesus did and said many wonderful things. We are taught them as kids and everyone knows them. But on close objective reading the NT also contains another side of Jesus.

I’ve worked on this off and on for over 10 years and have posted it many different places including a much earlier revision here on the blog in the members message board where I received valuable feedback. It’s been critiqued by several PhD’s including the ex Pastor of a large Texas church, Tim Sledge.

It tends to annoy two groups of people:

Fundamentalists

Mythicists (for my defense of historical Jesus at the end)

 

It’s the pinned tweet at my Twitter account

 

@wintertao

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Julius-Kei Kato

  1. Article Title: What Amy Tan’s ‘The Bonesetter’s Daughter’ Can Teach Us about the Relevance of Biblical Studies
  2. Available at: https://aatfweb.org/2019/11/16/what-amy-tans-the-bonesetters-daughter-can-teach-us-about-the-relevance-of-biblical-studies/
  3. I teach biblical studies to undergraduates at Western University in London, Ontario where, I’ve noticed, many students increasingly self-identify as SBNR (Spiritual but not Religious), “Done” (I’m “done” with religion) or “None” (no religious affiliation). This article proposes a concrete way to approach biblical studies that, hopefully, would make the field more relevant to this not-so-interested-in-religion crowd. Using a novel from Asian North American literature (Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter), it suggests that biblical studies can become more interesting if imagined as a quest for one’s spiritual ancestry based on the fact that the Bible is at the heart of the Christian tradition that, in turn, has been a crucial influence on the West.
  4. Extra Information: I am presently writing a book tentatively titled: Why We Still Need to Read the Bible in a Secular Age: Getting to Know Our Spiritual Ancestry in the New Testament. I’m supposed to submit the manuscript by the end of this year to the publisher (proposal already accepted by Wipf & Stock). This article on the relevance of biblical studies is material that is to be included in the introduction of the book.

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Allen David Mitchell

  1. Historical fiction–“God’s Brother: The Other Brother of Jesus”.
  2. Available on Amazon : God’s Brother: The Other Brother of Jesus by Allen David Mitchell

paperback

SBN-13: 978-1537282671

also on Kindle

ISBN-10: 1537282670

 

  1.  The protagonist Eli was a first century Jew who witnessed the destruction of the Temple and the razing of Jerusalem. He was on the front lines of the clash with emerging Christianity. Follow Eli in this Metaphysical, Adventure Romance as he makes a spiritual pilgrimage in pursuit of meaning during this turbulent era. Eli meets a brother of Jesus and learns firsthand from him secrets about Jesus.

 

4.KIRKUS REVIEW

A historical novel set in the first century about a young Jewish man’s encounter with Jesus Christ’s teachings.
Eli was raised in a traditionally Jewish household, and his family suffered at the hands of Roman persecution. His father, Galal, died during a rebellion; now, his mother frets about Eli’s fascination with Jesus, whose teachings she considers rank blasphemy. Eli, however, is skeptically drawn to the teachings, initially; he’s impressed by the devotion of Jesus’ martyrs but also concerned about the ways that his sayings deviate from the Torah and suspicious about alleged miracles. But when Eli takes a lonely pilgrimage and has spiritual visions, aided by psychedelics, he decides that he wants to learn more about Christianity. After he witnesses the horror of the destruction of the Second Temple during the Roman siege of Jerusalem, he meets Joses, the brother of James and Jesus. Joses becomes something of a mentor to Eli and awakens him to the truly revolutionary core of Jesus’ ministry, which singularly focuses on love, and the inclusiveness that such an emphasis demands. The story also tracks Eli’s spiritual transformation through his romantic travails; he pines for a beautiful woman, Aylah, who lives outside the faith, but their union is opposed by both his mother and her violent brother, Hakim. Eli emerges as a complex character, neither a skeptic nor a fanatical true believer: “Eli considered himself more a seeker than an agnostic. He knew he didn’t know the truth, and he didn’t claim to know or feel the need for certainty.” Also, within the drama, the author sketches an unconventional interpretation of Jesus’ chief message, shorn of excess doctrinal and institutional baggage, which presents his teachings as more radical than often suggested.
A gripping tale of spiritual discovery coupled with astute religious history.
()Kirkus Reviews()

Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744 [email protected]

 

 

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Stevan L. Davies,

  1. Book. Faith Seeking Belief: A Philosophical Case for the Viability of Christian Agnosticism, by Bryan N. Smith
  2. Available on Amazon in this link.
  3. This book presents an academic treatise in analytic philosophy of religion which seeks to wrestle with the relationship between faith, belief, and skepticism in the Christian life – and, in particular, whether skepticism or non-belief is inherently incompatible with faith. Ultimately arguing that authentic faith can be, and in fact often times is, expressed even in the absence of belief, I conclude that Christian agnosticism is a plausibly viable option which may not only provide significant benefits for both apologetics and evangelism, but may also offer much-needed encouragement and hope for seekers and believers who find themselves plagued with doubts. In doing so, I aim to present a timely and thought-provoking perspective on the issue which may pique the interest of contemporary philosophers, theologians, and laypersons alike.
  4. As one who often finds myself stuck between the worlds of conservative evangelicalism, on the one hand, and agnosticism on the other, my book is in many respects a philosophical reflection on many of my own personal struggles in trying to bridge the gap between the two and make room for some gray in a world that often seems to only see in terms of black and white. My hope is that it will help others who may experience similar tensions, while perhaps also being food for thought for those who may live without such tensions but have an interest in the issue (whatever their convictions).