The episode of Noah’s drunkenness in Genesis 9 has long befuddled interpreters. One of Noah’s sons, Ham, commits some heinous crime against his father. Oddly, though, Ham is not the one cursed by his father. Instead, Ham’s son Canaan bears the wrath of Noah. This...
sexuality
Gender Insanity and a Witless Rabbi
Someone sent me this editorial today from the NYT: “Is God Transgender?” The article is by a rabbi who (intentionally? ignorantly?) thinks that metaphor and the “inconsistencies” of grammatical gender in the Hebrew Bible mean that God is either transgender...
Naked Bible 86: The Head Covering of 1 Corinthians 11:13-15
This episode begins a series of topical episodes following the end of our series on Leviticus. The topic for this episode is the controversial head covering reference in 1 Cor. 11:13-15. The discussion summarizes the material discussed in a scholarly journal article...
Naked Bible 46: Q&A 2
Our second Question and Answer episode! Here are the papers referenced in the show: Why use the Septuagint? ANE Pagan Divination Practices Belial-Mastema-Satan-Devil-DNTB LordsDayDLNT Transcript 46 Q&A2 Q&A Summary and Timestamps Here are the main listener...
The Humanity of Jesus: Could Jesus Have Been Married?
I’m sure by now readers have heard the recent announcement that Dr. Karen King of Harvard has announced (in Rome at a conference) that she is in possession of a small fragment of a Coptic manuscript that has Jesus addressing his wife (the line reads:...
Focus on Fornication
I’ll admit up front that I never thought I’d post on this subject, but it was brought to mind recently by a request I had via email to comment on the meaning of “fornication” (Greek: porneia). The question was put in the context of how some...