Tag Archives: Bible

Four Hundred Fifty Antisemitic Verses In The Gospels And Book of Acts

Posted on May 7, 2014 by

Acclaimed Holocaust historian, Daniel Goldhagen, in his most recent book, The Devil That Never Dies: The Rise and Threat of Global Antisemitism (Little, Brown & Co. 2013), claims the following about the New Testament: The Christian bible contains four hundred … Continue reading →

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Matthew Arnold on the Bible as Literature

Posted on January 19, 2010 by

How did Matthew Arnold, in the light of the nineteenth century discoveries in science and the Higher Criticism, read the Bible? Answer: As literature and poetry. This from the excellent 1967 The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Volume 1, 168): [I]n Literature and Dogma (London, … Continue reading →

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Mental Health Break

Posted on August 4, 2009 by
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Robert Wright on Osiris, Jesus, Dives, and Lazarus

Posted on July 22, 2009 by

Robert Wright on the Egyptian god Osiris and the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke: Osiris bears a certain resemblance to Jesus as Christians would later come to conceive him; Osiris inhabited the afterworld and judged the … Continue reading →

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Mental Health Break

Posted on July 15, 2009 by

Samson’s lament:

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“In three days, live!”: A Book Review of Israel Knohl’s “Messiahs and Resurrection in ‘The Gabriel Revelation'” (Continuum 2009)

Posted on July 3, 2009 by

Israel Knohl’s book, Messiahs and Resurrection in The Gabriel Revelation, is an important event for students of Christian origins, for it is the first book-length treatment, by a prominent biblical scholar, of an unusually important archaeological artifact: A recently discovered … Continue reading →

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My Favorite Bible Verse?

Posted on June 16, 2009 by

Maybe Micah 6:8 in the King James Version. It has the quality of an elegant mathematical formula, a reduction of religion to elements that I, as an agnostic, can absorb and endorse: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is … Continue reading →

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Sonia Sotomayor and “Activist Judges”: Whether You’re Reading the Bible or Reading the Constitution, It’s All About the Framing, Baby!

Posted on June 2, 2009 by

Can the framers of the Constitution, and the framers of our religious texts, be themselves framed? Berkeley linguist George Lakoff explains why a phrase like “activist judge” exploits a naive notion of what it means to interpret a text (like the American Constitution). And … Continue reading →

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Scandal? When American Evangelical Christians Distribute the New Testament to Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, are They Doing Something Wrong?

Posted on May 5, 2009 by

The following video clip from Al Jazeera is being touted as damning evidence that Evangelicals are abusing their positions, and violating their military missions, distributing copies of the New Testament to Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan: I’m an agnostic, but … Continue reading →

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“Problems with Elisha and the Two She Bears”: A YouTube Video by Santi Tafarella

Posted on April 3, 2009 by
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NOVA’s “Must See” Documentary on Contemporary Biblical Archeology

Posted on February 4, 2009 by

At the PBS website, the NOVA documentary, The Bible’s Buried Secrets, has become available on DVD. The program, through interviews with some of the most well-known biblical archeologists in the world, surveys the grand scope of the biblical narrative, from … Continue reading →

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“We’re a nation not just where you are free to believe or not to believe; we’re a nation founded for Him”: Rick Warren, Kathryn Jean Lopez, and the Theocratic Temptation

Posted on January 27, 2009 by

Kathryn Jean Lopez, of the National Catholic Register, offers a theocratic spin to the meaning of America (and Obama’s inauguration prayer): Rick Warren reminded us why all eyes were on the Capitol steps that Tuesday afternoon: “in His name.” We’re a … Continue reading →

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No Bible Used at Obama’s Second Oath-Taking

Posted on January 22, 2009 by

I read in the NY Times this morning that Justice Roberts had administered to President Obama the oath of office one more time (to correct the flubbed wording on Inauguration Day). But I also noticed that, rather deep in the article, … Continue reading →

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Today’s Question

Posted on January 15, 2009 by

If God created the universe, who created God?

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Camille Paglia on the Bible and Jesus

Posted on January 14, 2009 by

At Salon.com today, Camille Paglia is asked by one of her readers what she thinks of the Bible, and the prophecies in the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible) that were supposedly “fulfilled” by Jesus in the New Testament. Here’s what she … Continue reading →

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Biblical Scholar, Israel Knohl, is Coming Out with a Book on the Hazon Gabriel Discovery

Posted on January 13, 2009 by

The book, Messiahs and Resurrection in the Gabriel Revelation, discussing the implications of the recent discovery of an early 1st century BCE tablet that speaks of a Jesus-like resurrected Messiah BEFORE Jesus, is written by a prominent Israeli biblical scholar, Israel Knohl, and when it … Continue reading →

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What is an Etiological Narrative? And Might Confusion About Its Nature Be the Source for Fundamentalist Religion?

Posted on November 20, 2008 by

An etiological narrative is a story that purports to explain (in mythic, religious, or literary terms) the origin of something. It is, in other words, an imaginitive story triggered by a question about how (or why) something came to be in the … Continue reading →

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NOVA’s “The Bible’s Buried Secrets” is a Must See Documentary for Those Interested in Learning About Contemporary Archeology’s Take on the Bible

Posted on November 19, 2008 by

I just watched, on PBS, the premier of NOVA’s documentary, The Bible’s Buried Secrets, and I highly recommend it. The program, through interviews with some of the most well-known biblical archeologists in the world, surveys the grand scope of the … Continue reading →

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Back to the Iron Age and Elijah v. The Priests of Baal?: McCain-Palin Rally Prayer Makes the Presidential Campaign a Battle over the Competing Reputations of the Gods

Posted on October 13, 2008 by
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Antisemitism and Thomas Muthee: Sarah Palin’s Exorcist, Thomas Muthee, Not Only Sees Witches in Medieval Terms, He Also Sees Jews in Medieval Terms

Posted on September 25, 2008 by

Andrew Sullivan directs our attention to the 1 minute 20 second point of the video below. It is there that Thomas Muthee talks about the need for Christians to enter the world of banking and big business in greater numbers, supplanting unbelievers and “Israelis” … Continue reading →

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