Dirty Little Secret

Many of Paul’s readers had been subjected to brutality and humiliation; they would agree that those who do such things deserve death.

Peace in an Age of Brutality

The first century was an age of brutality.

Was Jesus a Feminist?

Ben Witherington III will present a lecture on the topic, “Was Jesus the First Feminist?” Thursday evening, 7:30, at Kansas State University in the Alumni Center.
He will also be speaking on the topic, “An Eschatological Vision of Worship” Friday at 7:30 PM in Jollife Hall on the campus of Manhattan Christian College as part [...]

End of an Era in Sheffield?

Sheffield University is threatening to end the undergraduate biblical studies program that F.F. Bruce helped to establish.

Hermeneutics for the Crazy

Religious teachers should think of the implications of their words.

I’m Hooked

The Omega Course, a novel in progress.

Announcing the IBF

New Institute of Biblical Forgeries

Coming Soon–The Scrolls Online

View the great Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Hot Fun in the Summer Time

If you are looking for a summertime learning experience, Biblical Archaeology Review posts a list of more than thirty archaeology sites that are looking for volunteers.  At some sites, you can volunteer for as little as a week, at others you can spend the whole summer.
If you’d like to see and make history, check out [...]

Old Seal from Jerusalem

This seal was discovered the day before Halloween, 2008, in Jerusalem. It is dated to the seventh century BC, in the time of Manasseh or Josiah, kings of Judea. If archaeology interests you, you can learn more at the Israel Antiquities Authority site.
The seal is a reverse image, because it is meant to [...]

Is Compromise Possible?

I am stuck between two generations. Many people of my father’s generation cannot comprehend why anyone would approve of homosexual relationships–and many of my kids’ generation cannot fathom why anyone could possible be opposed to two people loving each other just because they happen to be of the same sex.
The Film “Trembling Before G-D” is [...]

Ostracized

Usually Joe is the first to send me new archaeology finds, but this time my daughter Heidi beat him by a few minutes.  They both sent me a report that yesterday archaeologists in Israel reported finding the oldest Hebrew inscription to date, in the valley of Elah where David met Goliath.  (Click on the tab [...]

Four Rules for Interpreting the Bible

Here are four rules for interpreting the Bible that I teach my students, along with the acronyms that help them remember them.
1.  Do No Harm (DNH).  This is the first rule of any profession, and the Bible itself warns against twisting its words in a way that causes harm.  Judaism taught this principle, based on [...]

Codex Sinaiticus

Last month in London, in the British Library, I had a glimpse of one of the oldest and most important copies of the Bible, Codex Sinaiticus.  It was acquired by the British in 1930.
This week the manuscript goes online.

This Website will go live on July 24, 2008
Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books [...]

Dobson and Obama

It used to be common for ministers to neglect their wives (ministers used to be mostly men in most denominations) and children while they were out doing “the Lord’s work.” James Dobson taught a generation of evangelical men that attending to the need of their wives and children was the Lord’s work, their first [...]

Enn and Out

I can’t imagine a greater contrast than the behavior of Westminster Theological Seminary and the attitude of F. F. Bruce (whose autobiography I recently reviewed). F.F. Bruce guided the evangelical community away from anti-intellectualism and showed the value of historical research in the Bible. He showed that a historical-critical approach to the Bible [...]

More on F.F. Bruce

I’ve almost finished the autobiography of F. F. Bruce, In Retrospect: remembrance of Things Past. The book was published in 1980, I have seen it before, but it took a trip to Scotland to get me to read it. I should have come to Scotland sooner!
Professor Bruce describe how he switched from being [...]

F. F. Bruce

F.F.Bruce
I am about 17 miles from Elgin (hard ‘g’ as in again), the hometown of the world famous biblical scholar F. F. Bruce.
I am tempted to write an epic poem about “Frederick the Bruce.”
If my grasp of Gaelic and Doric advances at a miraculous pace, and if the Muse of history visits me–I just might [...]

Idolatry 1

I want to begin a series of posts on the topic of idolatry. The fact that idolatry is considered a sin in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity–maybe in some forms of other religions too–raises several interesting questions.
First, I want to point out what monotheism and the rejection of idolatry does not mean, at least in [...]

What is Fundamentalism?

I recently had a discussion with another blogger on the definition of fundamentalism, and it got me wondering, what really is fundamentalism?
Early in the twentieth century there was a movement to re-interpret all the traditional doctrines of the Christian faith to bring them in line with the modern world. This movement was called “modernism.” [...]