In my previous post on JEDP I said this post would be my last on that topic. In the intervening days I told someone in the comments page that I would add a post to the topic the best example I can think of for changes made in OT law between Exodus and Deuteronomy....
Text Criticism & Canon
The OT Cited in the NT: A First Look at Amos 9:11-12
Amos 9:11-12 will be our next passage. I am only giving you the reference here because I want you to read it and answer in your own mind the following questions after you do so. As an Israelite contemporary to the time of Amos, when you read Amos 9:11-12 ... 1. What...
Mosaic Authorship of the Torah: Problems with the Documentary Hypothesis (JEDP), Part 3
I'm thinking this will be my next-to-last post on JEDP. The topic has not generated much discussion, so I'm going to move on. Can't say I'm surprised. I'm not all that interested in composition of the Pentateuch myself. Toward the end I'll sketch what I think. In...
Amos 9 and Acts 15
This case is a fascinating one, as I am sure you all know now. Opinion on the questions I posted varied in the comments: 1. What would you assume the "booth" or "tabernacle" of David is, referred to in v. 11? * some saw a structure here; others saw David's dynasty or...
Ancient Origins Writer Inserts Asherah into the Biblical Text
I received an email today asking this question: "Mike - is this a good rendition? I read where an early rendition of Deuteronomy 33.2-3, when Asherah’s influence had not yet been fully subordinated reads: 'YHWH came from Sinai and shone forth.... at his right hand his...
Matthew, The Didache, and Q
I decided to post something on this topic because someone recently sent me a post promoting (?) a particular view of "Q" and Matthean authorship that appeared at divinecouncil.org. That is not my website. Briefly, the website was promoting the work of New Testament...
Genesis 1:2 and the Verb HAYAH
Here is a [download] link to a short (13:00 or so) video I made searching for the structure of Genesis 1:2 and its verb, hayah ("to be") The video was prompted by a comment to an earlier post I made about the "gap theory." That theory of interpreting Genesis 1:1-3 in...
The Law of Moses: Does it Read Like Moses Wrote It?
[Note: In the last post I presumed this post would be about the New Testament; I'm putting that off just a bit. For the first two posts on this topic, see here and here.] In my last post concerning the authorship of the Pentateuch, I listed two observations that led...
The Law of Moses: A Brief Survey of the Scriptural Use of the Phrase
In the wake of my earlier post on the Law of Moses, where Milgrom's essay puts forth the issue of disagreements within the contents of the Torah and introduces the idea of later appliaction or adaptation of the Torah, I thought it would be good to survey where the...
The Law of Moses – Whatever That Means
Our first topic of the year is one that I have been asked about, directly or obliquely, a number of times in comments and correspondence: Did Moses write every word (or most of) the Pentateuch (Torah) or are the critics correct that the Pentateuch is essentially a...
Bad Day for Vatican Conspiracists: 80,000 Manuscripts to Be Digitized
Just when you were almost convinced that the Vatican wasn't asleep at the switch in its herculean effort to keep its ancient manuscripts secret. Bummer. You can read about the initiative here. Oh, wait . . . I'll bet that all these years they've been busy pulling...
Hobbins on the Canon, Part 3: An Excerpt
I may post more from John Hobbins' third installment later. I'll keep it here to this one extended excerpt. I think you'll find what John is angling toward interesting: Sooner or later the pluriformity of the tradition that eventually came to be included in a variety...
Bart Ehrman’s “Forged” Book About New Testament Pseudonymity: Extended Review by Ben Witherington
Hat tip to Shaun , who directed me to the fact that Ben Witherington blogged on each chapter of Bart's book back when it came out, some years ago. The first of the series is here. I post this even though it's well after the fact because I get a lot of questions about...
Assessing Bart Ehrman’s Logic on the Unreliability of New Testament Textual Transmission
Peter Gurry of the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog has a concise, clear-headed response to some of the ways Bart Ehrman defends the thesis that the textual transmission of the Greek New Testament wasn't very reliable: "Evaluating Ehrman’s Comparative Argument for...
Peter Gurry of Evangelical Textual Criticism Blog Reviews “Fragments of Truth” Film
I recommend reading Peter's even-handed review of "Fragments of Truth," created by Faithlife Films. I've posted the trailer before, but here it is again. The visual quality is very high and, as Peter notes, it's filled with many scholars whose expertise in New...