In view of the recent post on the antediluvian genealogies, I thought some readers might be interested in mathematical attempts to decipher them. Here is a summary of the numbers in the genealogies in Genesis 5, excerpted from the Word Biblical Commentary (vol 1) by...
Genesis
Denis Lamoureux on Biblical Genealogies
Over at the Patheos blog, Pete Enns has been posting about this short video series by Denis Lamoureux. You'll recall that Dr. Lamoureux was one of the contributors to the 4 Views on the historical Adam book. His position was "no historical Adam." He's an evolutionary...
Camels in the Bible on Hump Day
It's Wednesday and, wouldn't you know it, someone sent me a link to the following article: "Will Camel Discovery Break the Bible's Back?" In case you're not up on the problem of camels for the Bible (shame on you), here's an excerpt: ". . . a scientific report [has]...
Comments on the Four Views of the Historical Adam Reviews
As promised, I want to post a few thoughts on Nijay Gupta's posted reviews of the four views book on the Historical Adam. These comments presume you have read the reviews (here and here). On Lamoureaux's view ("Evolutionary creation and no historical Adam"): 1. I...
Inerrancy, Adam and ETS
It's been two weeks since I attended the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (held this year in Baltimore). The theme this year was inerrancy. I know it's a tired subject for many, but it's still quite current within ETS, due in no small part to...
Ancient Astronaut Nonsense as an Interpretive Filter for the Bible
Jason Colavito has once again directed the attention of his readers to how people in Christian churches have begun to tout the ancient astronaut paradigm as a tool for understanding the Bible. His post draws on the thoughts of a Lutheran pastor over at the well-known...
Critical Edition of the Gilgamesh Epic Available Online
This is a steal, folks - especially if you can work in Akkadian. But even if not, Andrew George's magisterial work on the Gilgamesh Epic is a must. It's the most current scholarship on the original cuneiform text. The file features tablet transcriptions,...
Genesis 1:1-3 – Does Hebrew Grammar Matter for Understanding the Hebrew Scriptures?
Stupid question? To anyone thinking clearly it is. There are, naturally, exceptions. It's just unfortunate that you can find them in Christian ministries. Readers may recall that I have posted several items about the grammar and syntax of Genesis 1:1-3. One such post...
Historical Adam and Genetic Adam and Eve: Update
In light of the discussion on this blog some time ago about recent research in human genetics and the historical Adam, I thought readers might find two recent items on "genetic Adam and Eve" of interest. "Genetic" Adam and Eve Could Have Been Contemporaries?...
Brief Nephilim Note
I've added an archive page devoted to the nephilim discussion to try and arrange those items. It includes comment material. Editor's note: content copied here for ease of access. In March 2013 I posted a response to some criticisms of my understanding of the word...
My Thoughts on Nephilim: Answering a Criticism
Some readers have drawn my attention to this recent criticism of my understanding of the morphology of the word nephilim. I left some comments on that blog site, but thought it would be worth a post here. I'll try to be brief (stop laughing). First, it is true that...
Why Sodom and Gomorrah are Not Located at Tall al-Hamman
Todd Bolen at the Bible Places blog begins his post on this issue this way: "The proposal that Sodom has been found on the northeastern side of the Dead Sea has been around for a decade or so, but with the publication of an article by Steven Collins this month it...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 033: Word Studies, Part 2
Episode 33 continues our series on Bible study at the word level. Last time we talked about word usage as it pertains to usage by a single biblical author within the scope of that author's writings. Our launching point then was the lemma behind "unmarried" in 1 Cor...
Ancient Aliens Debunked: 3-Hour Documentary Now Online for Free
Readers may recall a few months ago when I announced I'd be interviewed for this documentary. That happened in August. Well, I'm happy to announce that the documentary is finished and online. It's just over three hours, and free to the public. I haven't had time to...
Interpreting Genesis 1: Who’s the Literalist Now?
I appreciated this post from James McGrath, whose short essay was stimulated by Robin Parry's post, to whom James directs his readers. The issue is how "literal creationists" are actually only selective literalists (or, as I would call them, "inconsistent...