Our 6th Question and Answer episode! papers referenced in the show:MAGIC-DPL-ArnoldMagical Papyri-DNTB-Arnold Transcript 70 QA6 Question Timestamps & Topics Timestamp Topic 00:00 Introduction 01:58 Genesis 6: Why would fallen sons of God be punished for having...
early church
Naked Bible 54: Acts 18 & 19
Acts 18-19 introduce three people that become part of Paul’s ministry and the storyline of his missionary journeys: Aquila, Priscilla, and Apollos. This episode discusses some of the language in Luke’s description of how the testimonies of people who embraced Jesus...
Early Christian Martyrdom Resources
I'm cranky today after reading Huff Post article about the reconstruction of the Roman machine that lifted wild animals into the Colosseum. It's all about how the animals should be pitied. I get that, but what the piece is really about is pushing the debunking myth...
Naked Bible 51: Acts 15
Acts 15 Acts 15 is the account of the Jerusalem council, the meeting of the leadership of the church in Jerusalem, along with Paul and Barnabas, to discuss the matter of Gentile acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some Jewish believers were of the opinion that...
Naked Bible 48: Acts 11 & 12
Acts 11 & 12 This episode continues with the expansion of the early church. In the wake of Cornelius’ conversion, early Christians (who are mostly converted Jews or converted Jewish proselytes) are learning that the gospel is meant for Gentiles as well. This...
Naked Bible 42: Acts 4 & 5
Acts 4-5 – SUMMARY Acts 4-5 picks up threads discussed in previous podcasts: the “name theology” of biblical theology re-imagined in Jesus, the use of the OT by NT writers to make subtle theological assertions, and the “having all things in common” theme. We’ll...
Naked Bible 39: Acts 2:42-47
Acts 2:42-47 This passage has been used by scholars and lay folks alike to justify socialism, communism, or some sort of politically utopian society that has the veneer of socialism or communism. This isn’t the case at all. Jesus couldn’t have been clearer when he...
The Divine Council and Early Christian Writers
Readers familiar with me and my work know that I think our theology needs to derive from the text, not tradition. This applies pointedly to the Old Testament -- the three-quarters of our Bible upon which our New Testament theology ought to be erected to have any hope...
Paul, Israel, and the “Israel of God”
Anyone who has read my series on why the *obsession* with eschatology is a waste of time will recall that one of the big issues is what "Israel" means in the epistles -- and especially Paul's works. This issue is central to any view of eschatology. One perspective...
Review of Candida Moss’s Book, The Myth of Persecution
A book of this nature is a bit tangential to what I normally do on this blog, but this book has gotten a lot of recent attention. In fact, it's own history is a good object lesson. When Moss's book was published months ago, the popular media picked up on it right away...
Biblical Theology, Poverty, and Social Justice: Part 10
In this installment of our series, we want to consider a passage in Acts 2 that is often brought into the discussion of a biblical view of social justice: Acts 2:42-47. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of...
Patristic Citations of the New Testament Text
The Evangelical Textual Criticism blog recently drew attention to some useful resources and strategies for detecting and researching citations of the Greek NT in the Greek church fathers. Have a look!
Society of Biblical Literature Papers Available Online
This link from the Ancient World Online (AWOL) will take you to a few dozen SBL seminar papers that have been made available for free. These were all SBL conference papers. Some that I downloaded: Michael Pietsch, University of Hamburg Prophetess of Doom:...
James Tabor’s Essay on Early Christianity’s View of Resurrection: A Review
I have to this point confined my thoughts on the "Jesus Family Tomb" (Talpiot A) and the more recent adjacent tomb (Talpiot B) to my PaleoBabble blog, but my thoughts on James Tabor's recent blog post entitled, "Why People are Confused about the Earliest Christian...
Apostolic Fathers Greek-English Interlinear
Just wanted to give everyone a heads up on another cool new resource from Logos! This interlinear of the early church fathers (Greek text and English translation in a searchable interlinear) just went on pre-pub ($29.95 for a limited time). You can read all about it...