Marcion by Sebastian Moll. Recommended by Tabor
This is a long post where the majority of the sources are by Dr. James Tabor and follow the first by Dr. Sebastian Moll. Talking Points about Marcion from the material below:
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Elaine Pagels’ book Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
From Claude.ai on 10/9/2026. Prompt: Research Elaine Pagels’ book Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, detailing her core arguments on creedal orthodoxy versus early Christian diversity, her analysis of the Gospel of Thomas, and how she contrasts institutional church history with personal spiritual seeking, compiled into a comprehensive summary report The Comprehensive Report follows […]
Continue ReadingThomas & The Tradition of Seven Churches
This post contains Claude.ai summary of a scholar’s paper about Apostle Thomas and the tradition of his starting of seven churches. Here’s a summary of that chapter: “The Tradition of Seven Churches” — James Puliurumpil Argument and framing Puliurumpil treats the “tradition of seven churches” as one of the key pieces of evidence for St. […]
Continue ReadingSt. Thomas and India: Recent Research
This post contains Claude.ai’s summary of St. Thomas and India: Recent Research. The paper is a scholarly anthology (Fortress Press, 2020, 293 pp.), edited by K.S. Mathew, Joseph Chacko Chennattuserry, and Antony Bungalowparambil, collecting eleven papers presented at an international seminar. The PDF file is in the Terry Traster directory as I downloaded it from […]
Continue ReadingMary’s Role in Relation to Ages and Events – Part 3
This is the third post in my interest in the ages of the disciples and their apparant youth. This post is the last of a long ChatGPT conversation on 8/7/2026. The conversation digs into the age ranges of the 12 disciples and others. That first post led to the second related to how James must […]
Continue ReadingOrigins of “Gnostic” thought
7/2/2026 – From BSA/Bible Nerds here. OP – Origins of “Gnostic” thought? – Avery Barron Jun 12 – Out of raw curiosity I’m wondering if scholars have a picture of why [the suite of cosmological and theological concepts we tend to call] Gnosticism emerged, respectively in contrast to the cosmo/theology of the contemporary orthodoxy. I’ve […]
Continue ReadingThe Gospels that Didn’t Make the Cut
There are 17 apocryphal gospels, rejected as unworthy of becoming canon, that didn’t make the cut. BAS editors have carefully compiled a special collection of articles from Biblical Archaeology Review and Bible Review that explore the questions posed here. You’ll want to read all of the articles included in this collection: The Gospels that Didn’t Make the Cut—. Why should […]
Continue ReadingThe Conversion of Constantine
This post contains a 1000-word summary by Claude.ai of a lecture and Q&A by Bart Ehrman at the BSA here. The lecture and Q&A was a little more than hour and is IMHO a very good overview of the events from Constantine’s origins to his death. The 9,000-word transcript is in his directory in Dropbox.
Continue ReadingMachaerus Excavations and Surveys
This post is an intro to a very good article at BAS titled Machaerus: Where Salome Danced and John the Baptist Was Beheaded by Győző Vörös. A PDF copy is in his directory in Dropbox. [Pronunciation with my amateurish phonics: mac-ear-us.] Other elated articles are: Győző Vörös, who has a Ph.D. in architecture, has directed the Machaerus […]
Continue ReadingHebrew Matthew
Below is the ChatGPT summary from the transcript (in his directory in Dropbox) of Dr. James Tabor’s lecture 8 from his course titled Christianity Before Paul: Rediscovering the Jewish Movement of Jesus on MVP in January 2026. Tabor says that Howard’s revised edition responds well to his critics in a large appendix. Overview and focus of […]
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