Posted on June 17, 2024
by John MacDonald
ABSTRACT: This is Part B of a three-part literary application and defense of Robyn Faith Walsh’s recent (2021) hypothesis that the Gospels are not, as is usually thought, the product of literate spokespersons conveying the oral tradition of their community, but rather are birthed out of networks of elite Greco-Roman-Jewish writers in dialogue with one another, not downtrodden illiterate peasants. For example, what if the empty tomb narrative did not originate in the oral tradition of a Christian community, but in empty tomb apotheosis narratives that the author had read from ancient novels like that of Chariton? As a literary test of a hypothesis, I ask what predictions we can make of the kinds of concepts that we should find in the New Testament on Walsh’s literary elite education model, compared to what we should find if the oral tradition model is correct. I show that Walsh’s approach is certainly plausible and makes good sense of the evidence, such as pervasive intertextual haggadic midrash (Jewish ... Read Article
Posted on June 14, 2024
by John MacDonald
... Read Article
Posted on June 13, 2024
by John MacDonald
Supreme Court rejects challenge to abortion pill mifepristone, allowing drug to stay on the market.
CNN—The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to regulating the abortion pill mifepristone with a ruling that will continue to allow the pills to be mailed to patients without an in-person doctor’s visit.
The ruling is a significant setback for the anti-abortion movement in what was the first major Supreme Court case on reproductive rights since the court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
See full article here. ... Read Article
Posted on June 12, 2024
by John MacDonald
MAGA pastor/Trump cultist Mark Burns has advanced to a runoff in South Carolina, putting him one step closer to Congress. Burns has promised that if elected, he'll work to see that those who promote LGBTQ rights are held "accountable for treason." See the Right Wing Watch article HERE ... Read Article
Posted on June 11, 2024
by John MacDonald
James McGrath published his major trade book on John the Baptist today:
The scholarly version comes in October:
John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptizer ... Read Article
Posted on June 10, 2024
by John MacDonald
Justice Samuel Alito spoke candidly about the ideological battle between the left and the right — discussing the difficulty of living “peacefully” with ideological opponents in the face of “fundamental” differences that “can’t be compromised.” He endorsed what his interlocutor described as a necessary fight to “return our country to a place of godliness.” And Alito offered a blunt assessment of how America’s polarization will ultimately be resolved: “One side or the other is going to win.”
See RS article here. ... Read Article
Posted on June 8, 2024
by John MacDonald
If you haven't checked them out yet, do take a look at Freethinker Podcast and the Internet Infidels Discussion Board
Here is a great sample podcast where our Vice President Edouard Tahmizian Interviews renowned Biblical Studies scholars Prof Dennis R MacDonald and Prof Robyn Faith Walsh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avol8ce6L9g ... Read Article
Posted on June 4, 2024
by Bradley Bowen
Many people believe that religion makes people morally good, happy, and mentally healthy, but I'm not so sure.
Obviously, there are some very good, very happy, and mentally healthy atheists and non-religious people, and there are also some very bad, very miserable, and seriously mentally ill religious people. The same can be said of Christians in particular: there are some very bad, very miserable, and seriously mentally ill Christians.
Religion does NOT guarantee moral goodness, happiness, and mental health, and Christianity does NOT guarantee them either. Nevertheless, many would claim that religion in general, or Christianity in particular, makes a significant difference in the lives of many people, helping them to be morally good, happy, and mentally healthy.
I don't think so. I doubt this common belief. In any case, there is quite a bit of evidence that points in a different direction.
I think it is helpful to look at religion and Christianity in terms of both TIME and SPACE, to dete ... Read Article
Posted on June 2, 2024
by John MacDonald
Saint John the Baptist, a 1540 painting by Titian
Prof James McGrath's new books in John the Baptist are coming out soon and he has done 3 guest posts about them on Bart Ehrman's blog.
But did Jesus know John the Baptist? Certainly, John baptizing Jesus and Jesus claiming John was greater than he was hardly seems to be something the early Christians would have invented out of whole cloth. Or is there more to be said here? I will be addressing this issue and many others in my second Robyn Faith Walsh reader response - coming soon! ... Read Article
Posted on May 30, 2024
by John MacDonald
... Read Article
Posted on May 26, 2024
by John MacDonald
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4e2Ot46SJM&t ... Read Article
Posted on May 17, 2024
by John MacDonald
So, I have a new essay out - part 1 of three on Robyn Faith Walsh. Check it out: Gospels, Classics, and the Erasure of the Community: A Critical Review Testing the Hypothesis of Robyn Faith Walsh’s The Origins of Early Christian Literature, Part A
Part A: Jesus in the Light of Greco-Roman Philosophy and Highly Sophisticated Engagement with the Old Testament ... Read Article
Posted on May 15, 2024
by Bradley Bowen
A DILEMMA IMPLIES THERE ARE ONLY TWO KINDS OF SKEPTICAL THEORIES
When Christian apologists discuss skeptical theories about the alleged resurrection of Jesus, they often think in terms of an old dilemma between the disciples of Jesus being either DECEIVED or DECEIVERS.
According to Christian apologists, Jesus' eleven remaining disciples (the twelve minus Judas Iscariot) all proclaimed that Jesus had physically risen from the dead after he had died on the cross. So, if Jesus had NOT physically risen from the dead, then either the eleven disciples had been DECEIVED into sincerely but mistakenly believing that Jesus had risen from the dead OR the eleven disciples were DECEIVERS who did not believe that Jesus had actually risen from the dead but who lied to others and falsely claimed to have seen the risen Jesus.
This dilemma between being DECEIVED or being DECEIVERS indicates that skeptical theories about the alleged resurrection of Jesus can all be divided into these two categories.
One common ske ... Read Article
Posted on May 14, 2024
by John MacDonald
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12bU6BFsStU
Sufficiently advanced aliens would be able to capture vast quantities of energy from their star using a massive structure called a Dyson sphere. Such a device would give off an infrared heat signature - and astronomers have just spotted 60 stars that seem to match. See the article HERE. ... Read Article
Posted on May 12, 2024
by John MacDonald
The argument seems to be they should be allowed to have the jets because they really enjoy using them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWt5PJhCmmg ... Read Article