The title of this post probably makes it clear that by “signs and wonders” I’m sort of picking off various topics that have something to do with sign gifts. Yes, it’s a bit random in terms of approach, but I’m setting the stage for future blogging. It will make sense...
early church
Review of Mike’s Angels Book by Gospel Coalition
Readers will likely find this review of my new book (Angels: What the Bible Really Says About God's Heavenly Host) by Justin Dillehay of interest. I'm grateful that Justin took the time to review the book, and that the Gospel Coalition found it worth inclusion on...
The “Book of Og”
I recently got an email requesting that I comment on something called "The Book of Og." I'm not sure what is being claimed about this book. You can be sure, though, that this book is NOT a book that goes back to the biblical period (i.e., the OT time period when Og...
Christians, Christmas, and Such
The latest episode of the Naked Bible Podcast just uploaded. The topic is on whether Christians should consider Christmas a pagan holiday. I hope you'll give it a listen. I broke down the topic into two areas: the traditional date of Christmas (December 25) and what...
Christmas a Pagan Celebration? What You Know May Not Be So
Hat tip to Stephen Huebscher for this one! Here's a link to an interesting short essay on this topic. The author argues (with some justification) that rather than Christians adapting a pagan holiday to their sacred calendar, pagans co-opted December 25 from...
New Book: The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity
This book looks like an excellent reference for anyone interested in the study of the biblical canon: The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity: Texts and Analysis. A brief discussion of the book by one of its authors can be found here. The book will ship in...
Heavenly Worship in Second Temple Judaism, Early Christianity, and Gnostic Sects: Part 4
Part 4 of a series by guest blogger, Stephen Huebscher ------- C. CONCEPTIONS OF HEAVENLY WORSHIP IN GNOSTIC GROUPS This post deals with groups that are known as “Gnostics” from the Greek word gnosis = “knowledge.” They developed the century after Christianity. They...
Heavenly Worship in Second Temple Judaism, Early Christianity, and Gnostic Sects: Part 3
Guest blogger, Stephen Huebscher This is the third of five posts in this series. B. CONCEPTIONS OF HEAVENLY WORSHIP IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY Early Christian conceptions of heavenly worship drew heavily on the OT and, not surprisingly, show a similarity, though with some...
Heavenly Worship in Second Temple Judaism, Early Christianity, and Gnostic Sects: Part 1
By guest blogger, Stephen L. Huebscher This series was originally written as an academic paper for presentation at a conference. At the time, we were doing research on the divine council for what ended up in Mike’s book The Unseen Realm. I had told Mike I was...
Catholic Skeptic Candida Moss at it Again
Someone just sent me this short article from the Daily Beast by church historian Candida Moss: "Nero, the Execution of Peter and Paul, and the Biggest Fake News in Early Christian History." Basically, it's about how Christians really weren't persecuted by Nero as part...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 163: Other Gods and Other Religions with Gerald McDermott
Gerald R. McDermott (PhD, University of Iowa) is Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. Before joining Beeson, he was the Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion at Roanoke College. He is also associate pastor at Christ the King...
The (Pseudo) “Doctrine” of Fallen Angel Salvation: Research Sources
Just a brief follow-up on the subject of whether fallen angels can be redeemed. One of the curious points to me in this matter has been how some refer to the idea of angelic salvation as a "doctrine." That word conveys the impression (intentionally, I presume) that...
The Unseen Realm and the Mission of the Cross (the Church): A Common but Significant Question
This may be controversial in terms of the illustration I'll use, but I find the illustration has explanatory power. I think our real problem isn't how darkness has adapted, but how believers have changed (i.e., their thinking). I'll try and explain. I just posted this...
What is the Meaning of BAPTIZEIN?
Follow the link below to what, in my experience, is the most lengthy scholarly treatment of the relevant primary sources for the meaning of baptizein ("baptize") available. The article just appeared online for free, though it was published in 2011: Eckhard Schnabel,...
Naked Bible 93: The Book of Enoch in the Early Church
The book we know as 1 Enoch was well known to early Christians. Its importance produced an understandable question among some influential early Christian writers and, one may presume, Christians in general: Should 1 Enoch be considered inspired and thus “Scripture” in...