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Gold members Q&A for June
Dear Gold Members, It’s that time again. Time for the Gold Q&A for June — a perk of your membership! Do you have any questions you’d like to ask, on anything related to the blog? Ask away, and I’ll do my best to answer. To get your question on the list: zap a note to Diane at [email protected] DEADLINE for your question. Midnight (your time) on Saturday, June 25. I will record the Q&A that weekend, and it will be available, if all goes to plan, by Thursday, June 30. Fire away! Bart
June 22, 2022
The Birth of (the Messiah?) John the Baptist? Anniversary Guest Post by James F. McGrath
I continue now with a post that was produced for us by a fellow scholar in celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the blog. James McGrath has made several intriguing posts for us, and this one is particularly interesting. Is it possible that stories about Jesus — especially in the birth narratives were *originally* told about the future messiah, John the Baptist?? That the followers of Jesus took accounts originally told of John and edited them so that they now refer to Jesus? Very intriguing! Here’s James’s post. ******************* The Birth of John the Baptist: Detecting a Source from John’s Followers Behind Three Early Christian Gospels James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature, Butler University, Indianapolis Anyone who has read my previous guest posts here, or who has read academic publications by Bart and myself, will know we share a great many interests in common: the historical Jesus, the development of Christology, extracanonical texts, and many more. As I have begun to turn my attention to my next major […]
August 18, 2022
Critical Scholarship from a Sophisticated Faith Perspective. Blog Anniversary Guest Post by Judy Yates Siker
This incredibly thoughtful guest contribution by Judy Yates Siker is part of an ongoing series I’m posting in honor of the tenth anniversary of the blog. All the guest posts in the series are by serious scholars who have provided us with us with guest posts before, over the years; one of the striking features of these posts, as a group, is just now different they are in perspective and insight. I’ve known Judy well for thirty-three yeas, since she entered the UNC PhD program in New Testament Studies (in the field of Ancient Mediterranean Religions) 1989. While doing her degree and then afterwards Judy taught at an intriguing range of schools to very different groups of students: Meredith College; American Baptist Seminary of the West, Loyola Marymount University, and San Francisco Theological Seminary — where she eventually became Vice President. All these years Judy has long been one of my closest and dearest friends. She is an ordained Presbyterian minister, active in church ministry now that she’s retired from teaching, and living in Raleigh […]
August 13, 2022
Does God Create People to Roast in Hell? Anniversary Guest Post by Jason Staples
I am publishing a series of guest posts that have been generously contributed to the blog in honor of our ten-year anniversary. Each post is written by a recognized expert in our field who has previously made guest posts for us. This one comes from Jason Staples, my erstwhile PhD student who now teaches at North Carolina State and whose (long!) dissertation has turned into TWO separate monographs, the first already published by Cambridge University Press (The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism), and the other now forthcoming from Cambridge (focusing on Paul). Here, after some much-appreciated kind words, Jason deals with an unusually important and little-understood topic, of ultimate relevance to us all! ****************************** Thanks to multiple best-selling books, Bart is one of the few widely recognized names in the field of biblical studies, and when people learn I did my training under his guidance, I invariably get asked, “so, what was that like?” Many of the more conservative-leaning Christians are surprised when I tell them the truth: it would be difficult to […]
July 30, 2022
Reading Genesis—Are You Lost in Translation? Anniversary Guest Post by James Tabor
Several scholar-friends and colleagues graciously have written guest posts for the blog to celebrate our tenth anniversary. I am posting one a week and we will gather all of them together down the line to make them available as a group. This week’s contribution comes from James Tabor, retired Professor of Christian Origins and Bible from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (a scholar many of you will know) who has written a large number of popular books, along with serious scholarship, and most recently his own fresh translation of the book of Genesis. This post is especially interesting: James deals with problems of translating the Hebrew Bible that I bet you don’t even realize are problems. ****************************** What is the best-known verse in the Bible—one that millions could quote immediately by heart? Christians might say John 3:16—after all, one even sees placards and signs reading “John 3:16” at sporting stadiums! But I think the very first verse of the Bible—Genesis 1:1—most likely would win the universal familiarity content: In the beginning God created the […]
August 6, 2022
Why Christians and Conservatives Should Accept Evolution: Blog Anniversary Guest Post by Michael Shermer (part 1)
I have been publishing guest posts in celebration of the blog’s tenth anniversary, and am pleased to conclude the series now with two posts by Michael Shermer, whom many of you will know from his writings and media appearances discussing (especially) religion and science. Michael was a one-time committed fundamentalist turned outspoken skeptic. Here is the first of his two-parter, on an issue of particular cultural and religious importance. US public acceptance of evolution is growing but is still low compared to other countries. Why? Religion and politics. Here’s why that need not be. As a career-long student of the century-long evolution-creationism debate I was encouraged to read the results of a new study on “Public Acceptance and Rejection of Evolution in the United States, 1985-2020” by Jon Miller, Eugenie Scott, Mark Ackerman, and Belén Laspra, published in the journal Public Understanding of Science. “Using data from a series of national surveys collected over the last 35 years, we find that the level of public acceptance of evolution has increased in the last decade after […]
September 3, 2022
Why Even Conservative Christians Should Accept Evolution: Blog Anniversary Guest Post by Michael Shermer (part 2)
For several months now I have been posting Guest Posts that were generoulsly provided by others in honor of the blog’s tenth anniversary. These posts have been wide-ranging in their content and the intriguing , each pbased on the posters’ unique backgrounds and expertise. This now is the final one in the series, the second of two posts by Michael Shermer, to continue what he was saying in his post of Sept. 3. This one is particularly significant. Why is it in conservative Christians’ (and everyone else’s) own best interest to accept evolution as a reality of the past? He makes some compelling points. Read and see! ************************* To counter the doubts I mentioned in my previous post, I argue that, in fact, Christians and conservatives should accept the theory of evolution for at least eight reasons (again, for brevity, truncated here): Evolution happened. The theory describing how evolution happened is one of the most well-founded in all of science. Christians and conservatives embrace the value of truth-seeking as much as non-Christians and liberals do, […]
September 8, 2022
How Evangelical Apologists Are Changing Their Arguments: Anniversary Guest Post: Kurt Jaros
I continue here with my string of guest posts written by scholars in honor of the blog’s tenth anniversary. Here is a post from Kurt Jaros, an evangelical Christian theologian and apologist, in which he explains how apologetics — the intellectual defense of the claims of the Christian faith — has grown and changed over the years, to represent something different today from, well, when I was involved with it in my younger days. I imagine the post will elicit a response! Kurt will be happy to address your comments. ****************************** The Growing Landscape of Christian Apologetics When did Jesus cleanse the Temple? In the Synoptics, this event occurs toward the end of his ministry (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19: 45-46), and serves as a catalyst for his enemies to have him arrested (Matthew 21:15, 23, & 45, Mark 11:18, Luke 19:47-48). In the Gospel of John, the event occurs early on in Jesus’s ministry (John 2:14). One common approach to answering the question is to harmonize the two descriptions into a fuller, […]
August 25, 2022
July Gold Q&A
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July 13, 2022
Rescheduled (and RE-scheduled!) Platinum Webinar July 19
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Tags: Platinum
I’m Doing a Speaking Event in Waynesville Next Week!
Interested in coming to hear me give a talk/book reading? It’s next Tuesday, August 23, in Waynesville NC. All proceeds go to the local Indie, Blue Ridge Books, a terrific bookstore that managed to survive the crisis. I hope you can come!
August 19, 2022
Did Jesus Believe in Hell? My Interview With Kevin Grant
I am pleased to post here an interview that I had with Platinum blog member Kevin Grant, who has recently published a book Did Jesus Believe in Hell? You can get the book here: Did Jesus Believe in Hell?: New Words on Old Beliefs: Grant, Kevin: 9781737082026: Amazon.com: Books. As you will see, it has received very high rankings on Amazon. Kevin and I see eye-to-eye on most of the critical points, and we flesh them out here in the interview. His book strives to reach a different audience from mine, people who would not be inclined to read one of my books but would be open to hearing the views of someone they take to be sympathetic with their religious convictions but who wants to provide them with assurance from the Bible itself that they do not need to stand in fear of eternal torment. We cover all that and much more in this interview. I hope you enjoy it! And feel free to comment.
December 30, 2022
January 2023 Gold & Platinum History of the Devil Bonus Lecture
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February 1, 2023
Jesus’ Resurrection: A Challenging Hypothetical. Guest Post by Ryan Fleming
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Tags: Platinum
February 13, 2023
January 2023 Gold Q&A (Video)
This post is accessible by Gold and Platinum Members only. If you feel left out, please consider clicking the “Upgrade!” button above to migrate to this membership level. Platinum members increasingly enjoy special benefits while every penny collected aids families and children in desperate need. Username Password Remember Me Forgot Password
February 1, 2023
Vote for your favorite Platinum Post
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Tags: Platinum
March 1, 2023
REVELATION, A Novel. Excerpts from Blog Guest Poster Gary McCarragher
Last week I published a guest post by blog member Gary McCarragher, who has just published Revelation: A Novel, about a professor of New Testament studies at a certain university in the South. Gary and I had consulted on his work, and how it has seen the light of published day! We received a lot of good response from his post, and I asked him if he’d be interested in excerpting a bit of the novel for blog readers. He agreed, and has given us the first two chapters. As indicated below, you can purchase the book in a variety of places; I just checked and found it here: Revelation: A Novel – Kindle edition by McCarragher, Gary . Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. Thanks to Gary! ****************************** REVELATION, A Novel, published January, 2023 Editorial and proofreading services: Cath Lauria, Gina Sartirana Interior layout and cover design: Howard Johnson Photo Credits: Front Cover Image: Abstract self portrait, by Christian Beirle González; Image #100005105, Getty Images. Author Photo: by Terry Sbani, Woodside’s Photography […]
March 26, 2023
February Gold Q&A (video)
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March 11, 2023
March Gold Q&A
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March 14, 2023
First-Quarter 2023 Platinum Webinar
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March 16, 2023