The “evil eye” was a widespread superstition in the ancient world, one that continues on into the present day. The belief that one could cause someone harm merely by looking at them, or cast a spell over them by the same means, shows up in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamian,...
Galatians
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 102 – “All Israel” to be Saved?
The episode is now live. The focus is the meaning of "all Israel" in Rom 11:25-26. It's not as easy as you think. Naked Bible Podcast Episode 102 dives deep into one of Paul’s most debated phrases: “All Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26). In this thoughtful and...
Naked Bible 94: The Sin of the Watchers and Galatians 3-4
Biblical scholars know that Paul subordinates the Law to Christ (Gal 3:1-18). He writes about how the Law could not result in the fruition of the promises given to Abraham (and, by extension, to all nations; Gen 12:1-3). Paul then asks “Why then was the law given?” He...
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...
Thoughts on ETS / SBL / AAR 2014
Well, I’m finally home from San Diego. Lots I could talk about. This year’s meeting was as hectic as always (pretty much 9-9 every day), but was one of the better ones for me in recent memory. First there was the hotel — not the one for ETS (for...
Things the Prophecy Profiteers Don’t Tell You: Just What is the Promised Land?
Readers may recall my series way back when on “Why an obsession with eschatology is a waste of time.”[1. And for newbies, please note the word “obsession” in that statement.] In that lengthy series, I noted (somewhere) that one of the major...
New Perspective on Paul: A Recent Reading Group Post
Well, the Naked Bible Reading Group on the NPP has started up. I gave everyone a week to read Kent Yinger’s short book on it (The New Perspective on Paul: An Introduction), and posting has begun. What follows is my most recent post. I thought it might be useful...
End Times Questions for Left-Behinders, Part 2: How Everyone Cheats on Eschatology
Thanks to Debra for provoking this post earlier than I had thought! 🙂 ANY view of eschatology is about the presuppositions that are brought TO the text. NONE of the views are self-evident (“I just look at my Bible and there it is–Amen!”...