I am very pleased to announce a major development with the blog that will move us forward to new heights as we continue to strive to make scholarship on the Bible and early Christianity available to a wide range of non-scholars, and in doing so (especially!) to raise money for charities dealing with hunger, homelessness, and illiteracy. As many of you know, the blog started in April 2012 with just me and Steven Ray, the technology expert who originally designed and ran the site.  At the time, I thought we’d raise maybe $20,000 a year for our charities.  Now over twelve years later, we have two hard-working employees, Diane Pittman (COO) and Benjamin Porter (CTO), along with ten dedicated volunteers.   We also have thousands of members, and we are raising something like $500,000 / year.  It’s been quite a development.  And still -- till this day (and for all eternity) -- every penny we bring in from all the membership fees (which are completely tax deductible) goes directly to our charities.  We pay our overhead [...]

A post from 2012 that I had completely forgotten! ****************************** A fascinating news item has appeared in the Smithsonian Magazine. At first it may not be obvious how it connects to Christianity in Antiquity. But I think it does. It is about a watch owned by Abraham Lincoln. Here is the link to the full story, with a photo: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Lincolns-Pocket-Watch-Reveals-Long-Hidden-Message.html So the deal is this, as described in the article: On April 13, 1861, Irish immigrant and watchmaker Jonathan Dillon, working for the M.W. Galt and Co. jewelers in Washington, D.C., was repairing President Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch, when he heard of the attack [on Fort Sumter]. Forty-five years later, Dillon told the New York Times what he did that day. "I was in the act of screwing on the dial when Mr. Galt announced the news. I unscrewed the dial, and with a sharp instrument wrote on the metal beneath: ‘The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try.'" Note that [...]

Here again, from years ago, some reflections on the importance of having a first-century manuscript -- even if it DID NOT change much of anything we think or know. ******************** In several posts I have been emphasizing – possibly over-emphasizing – that if a first-century fragment of the Gospel of Mark does ever get published, and if it is in *fact*from the first century (which, I should stress, will be almost *impossible* to demonstrate conclusively), that it is very hard indeed to imagine that it will be any kind of game-changer, that it will tell us something different from what we already think.  The reason I have been emphasizing this is because the evangelical Christian scholars who are making the headlines with their declarations about the discovery will almost certainly, once it is published, if it ever gets published, claim that it is evidence for their view that we can know what the original text says.  See!  We have a FIRST-CENTURY MANUSCRIPT!!! So, consider these posts of mine as a kind of prophylaxis [...]

I will continue here with select reposts of the first-century copy of Mark fiasco, in light of my recent interview in the topic and my now renewed interest in the issues involved.  (See the previous posts if you're not aware of the claims from 12 years ago that one had been discovered.) I personally think that there are no shenanigans going on when Dan Wallace tells us that a fragment of the Gospel of Mark has been found and that it can, with reasonable certainty, be dated to the late first century.  I’m not saying that I know he is right.  Far from it.  In fact, one of the most disconcerting things about this claim is that they are not making the papyrus available so real experts can study it and let us know what it really is and to what period it can be dated.   But let’s suppose that once it is published – now the date is no longer 2012, as originally stated, or 2015 as stated last week, but 2017 or later, [...]

No time to wait!  If you haven't signed up for the course on Jesus' Parables, you should maybe reflect a bit on Matthew 25:1-13. Well, not exactly.  If you don't come live, you can purchase the course as a recording.  But if you do come live you'll get the recording for life, and why not hear it in the flesh?  I'm tellin' you, this'll be a good one.  Amy-Jill Levine?!  On the Parables of Jesus?!?  How good can it get? Here's my original announcement from last month. ******************** I'm really excited about this one.  We will be presenting a new remote course on the Parables of Jesus, consisting of four lectures by Amy-Jill Levine.   Amy-Jill is one of the top scholars on the historical Jesus and the Gospels on the planet, and is an unusually interesting and dynamic lecturer.  If you heard her at the New Insights into the New Testament last year, or taken a Great Courses/Wondrium course with her, you'll know what I mean.  She is unusually sharp, witty, clear, engaged, challenging, and [...]

The first blog dinner I announced (happening tomorrow, Friday July 12) was oversubscribed, and so I'll be doing a second -- this time on my home-away-from-home turf, Wimbledon Village, on Thursday July 18.    Seats are limited. Want one of them? I'll again limit the table to 8, me and the perfect number 7.    For those who come there are no obligations other than: Being a blog member Showing up Talking Paying for whatever you ingest.  Whatever you exgest is free. If you're interested, do NOT reply here as a comment.  Send me an email at [email protected]. Hope you can come!    

I am in London for a few weeks and would like to do a Blog Dinner with active blog members on Friday,  July 12, 2024.   Possibly a pint in advance.  It'll be somewhere in central London, but location and time TBD. You interested?  I'll limit the table to 8, me and the perfect number 7.   If more people want to come than we can accomodate, I may do a second one a week later, possibly on my home-turf in Wimbledon.   For those who come there are no obligations other than: Being a blog member Showing up Talking Paying for whatever you ingest.  Whatever you exgest is free. If you're interested, do NOT reply here as a comment.  Send me an email at [email protected]. Hope it happens!    

What happens when a modern physician starts asking difficult questions of familiar biblical stories?  Here is one answer:  an intriguing post covering a topic that will not have occurred to most of us.  Let's think about how a Virgin Birth works when (now, unlike antiquity) we have a pretty good idea of how Births work in general.  If God made Mary pregnant through the spirit, what does that have to say about the nature of Jesus' at the biological level and, well, the chromosomes of God? This Platinum guest post is delivered to us courtesy of Platinum member Doug Wadeson.  As I've mentioned, Platinum members can publish posts for other Platinum members, and they then vote on one to go to the blog at large.  Doug won *twice* recently, so here's the second one. I have to admit, HERE is something I never thought of before! But I don't know, does it sound controversial to you? ****************************** Does God Have Chromosomes? Dr. Ehrman has many posts discussing the technical difficulties of the two birth stories [...]

There is nothing better than a guest blog post that flat-out disagrees with me!  And here we have one.  Is it plausible that Jesus could have had large crowds gathering together to hear his preaching in rural Galilee?  I say: Not really.   Platinum blog member Doug Wadeson says: Oh yes! As you may know, blog members on the Platinum Tier are allowed to write posts for other Platinum members.  (Nice perk!  If you're not a platinum member: take a look at it and see if you're interested.  Just click JOIN [even if you belong already] and scroll to Platinum Tier and see).  Every few weeks other Platinum members vote on which recent Platinum post should be posted on the blog at large.  Doug's won the prize.   Here's his post.  What do you think?   ****************************** On those few occasions when I have challenged something Dr. Ehrman has said he can usually shoot me down pretty quickly based on his range and depth of knowledge.  But I am going to try again. Dr. Ehrman has suggested [...]

Here is the second of three posts on my first book-length study -- my dissertation on a particular aspect of how we can determine what the original words of the New Testament were and how they came to be changed over time.  The dissertation was directed by Bruce Metzger, and it dealt more directly with the rather technical issue of the Gospel quotations of the fourth-century church father Didymus the Blind. When I first started thinking about how to write up this second post, I remembered one of my clearest pieces of advice that I ever gave to myself, many years ago now, based, already then, on substantial experience.  Never , ever, EVER ask a graduate student what s/he is writing the dissertation on.  They invariably will tell you, and it will take a half hour, and your eyes will glaze over in 30 seconds.  So just don’t do it.  With that principle in mind, I think I had better not go into all the ins and outs of the dissertation.  I’ll just go into some [...]