Several years ago Dan Wallace mentioned in a debate with Bart Ehrman that a possible first-century papryus of Mark had been found. That papyrus became known as “first century Mark” in the popular arena. Finally, there’s been a definitive update on...
Mark
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...
Update on First Century Mark Papyrus
This just in from Peter Gurry of the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog. Readers will recall we interviewed Peter last year for the Naked Bible Podcast SBL interview series. Thanks for this update, Peter!
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 154: Q & A #20
Our 20th Q & A episode is now live. In Episode 154 of the Naked Bible Podcast, Dr. Michael Heiser takes on an eclectic and theologically rich batch of listener questions. Kicking off with a question about why a bronze serpent healed snake-bitten Israelites in...
Naked Bible 91: Q&A 10
Our 10th Question and Answer episode! Episode 91 – Q&A 10 features Dr. Michael Heiser responding to a wide range of listener-submitted questions on biblical and theological topics. He addresses the meaning behind Jesus’ rebuke of Peter in Mark 8:33, explores the...
Rumored Fragment of the Gospel of Mark in the News
A few days ago it was reported that a fragment of the Gospel of Mark, reportedly dated to the first century, is being studied and prepared for publication. This would be significant, as (to my recollection), the oldest fragment of the NT is P52 (“Papyrus...
Abba Doesn’t Mean ‘Daddy’
Earlier today I saw something come up in my Twitter account that I appreciated. It was a tweet from New Testament professor Will Varner. The link Will provided led me to this online post at the Gospel Coalition site: “Does Abba Mean ‘Daddy’?”...
Naked Bible Episode 026: Advice for Interpreting Parables
In the last podcast episode I continued the series on studying the Bible in light of its various types of literature – its literary genres. I looked at an example related to the New Testament – how the literary features of Greco-Roman phantom tales and “post-mortem...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 025: Greco-Roman Genres of Ghost Stories and Post-Mortem Apparitions and the Gospels
I've blogged before about recent articles about these Greco-Roman genres. In this episode of the podcast I look at two familiar episodes in the life of Jesus: the incident where he walks on the water and his disciples think they are seeing a ghost, and his appearances...
How Do Scholars Know the Occasion and Audience of a Gospel?
I recently came across this short but interesting piece by NT scholar Ben Witherington entitled, “ Latinisms, Western Diction, and the Provenance of Mark’s Gospel .” Despite the jargon-loaded title, certainly not designed to attract any lay...
Bart Ehrman vs. the Son of God in Mark 1:1 – A Response
I’ve posted on Bart Ehrman and his work several times before on this blog (e.g., here and here ). My contention with Bart is that he’s a fundamentalist — someone who is unwilling to process an issue in any other way than the black-and-white,...
Mr. Potatohead Explains the Synoptic Problem
You just have to love this . Thanks due to Mark Goodacre.
University of Chicago Analysis: Archaic Mark is a Forgery
Looks like Stephen Carlson was right.[Carlson has also charged that a text known as “Secret Mark” is a forgery – see here .] From this article: The Divinity School’s Margaret M. Mitchell, together with experts in micro-chemical analysis and medieval...
Jesus as “Ghost” and “Phantom”
Here’s another article to file under contextualizing the Bible with respect to its literary conventions. If you’re like me, you’ve heard Christian apologists say something like “the New Testament resurrection stories are like nothing in the...
The Naked Bible’s Thoughts on Inspiration, Part 2
In this post I want to turn to 2 Peter 1:20-21 and share a few thoughts on how this passage dovetails with my views on 2 Tim 3:16. Here’s the passage (ESV): 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own...