A Virtual File Cabinet for Our Studies of Christian Origins & Hebraic Faith
This a very long post initially built on 3/14/2025 to assemble info about the J and P accounts of the parting of the Reed Sea stories in Exodus. I learned about that scholarly insight from watching this Youtube video lecture. In addition and separate from the material below, but directly related to this subject, is […]
Continue ReadingHis Yale Divinity School page is here. A significant part of this lecture is his evaluation of the two Genesis Creation stories. Using the Bible as a prop or reading it. Discussing the sacrifice of the firstborn or first fruits. Talked about the festival of unleavened bread.
Continue ReadingPrompt to Perplexity.ai: Provide a listing of all geographical inconsistencies in the four Gospels. Critical scholars have identified numerous geographical inconsistencies across the four Gospels, revealing varying levels of familiarity with Palestinian geography and editorial choices. Below is a comprehensive breakdown: Mark’s Geographical Inconsistencies Matthew’s Adjustments and Errors Luke’s Regional Misplacements John’s Narrative Dislocations Comparative […]
Continue ReadingThe extracts below are from John Kloppenborg’s paper, “Jesus, Fishermen and Tax Collectors.” See the PDF in his directory in DropBox. He stresses that there are few records or indicators of how the fishing industry operated in Palestine although there are good records along the Nile. He combined how it operated there with what is known […]
Continue ReadingThere were people around that could kill Cain for killing Abel. How could that be? And why did Jehovah protect a murderer? Genesis 4:13-16 — Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall […]
Continue ReadingThis post provides links to scholars’ positions regarding the author of John using the 3 synoptics. Video by Mark Goodacre before his book The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: John’s Knowledge of Matthew, Mark, and Luke was published. Based on my transcript of Goodacre’s video, ChatGPT was asked to summarize it using the prompts and they resulted […]
Continue ReadingAt BAS LIbrary – Why Did the Israelites Make a Golden Calf? by John Drummond, April 09, 2025 Extract – Another possible reason for choosing a calf to represent Israel’s God might not have anything to do with Egyptian religion at all. Across the ancient Near East, cultures represented deities standing atop bovines. Often the depicted […]
Continue ReadingBulleted paragraphs below contain extracts from the very good article here by Lawrence H. Schiffman. Continued in Part 3 here.
Continue ReadingThe paragraphs below are the intro to the BAR article The Samaritan Schism, Schisms in Jewish History: Part 2 by Lawrence H. Schiffman March 01, 2025. There is considerable scholarly controversy regarding the date of the Samaritan schism. Although some seek to identify the origins of the Samaritans in the Hellenistic period, their beginnings should be […]
Continue ReadingFrom ChatGPT on 3/3/2025 [For more on the theater and Sepphoris, see Antipas—The Herod Jesus Knew by Morten Hørning Jensen] There is no direct scholarly consensus that Jesus explicitly referenced Roman theater in his parables or sayings. However, some critical biblical scholars suggest that certain words and themes in Jesus’ teachings might reflect knowledge of Greco-Roman theatrical […]
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