https://x.com/i/status/1959571073432752416 https://x.com/i/status/1959571073432752416 If the link does not work for you here is the transcript: We have not seen anything so shocking as this in our lifetimes . . . . What is happening right now is utter criminality. . . . This is a Genocide Pre| Vridar
On the "Academic Discussion" section of the earlywritings forum where I first typed my recent posts I was pleased to hear from a regular critic of mine there, Andrew Criddle. You can find his complete response to my arguments here. For now I will only repost the responses I made to specific points:| Vridar
Russell Gmirkin did not argue that ALL of the books of the Jewish Bible originated in the Hellenistic era. When I began to post on the earlywritings forum that "Why the Hellenistic era for ALL "Old Testament" books should be taken seriously" I was attempting to set out why it is both possible and pl| Vridar
Before continuing with the scholarship that questions the traditional view that many of the Old Testament books were stitched together from much older texts, let's lay out on the table a very broad overview of the thesis of a Dutch scholar, Jan-Wim Wesselius (I love his homepage photo and caption),| Vridar
To follow on from my Part 2a comment ….. The biblical works have traditionally been understood as the product of an evolution over centuries, usually said to be from the ninth or eighth to the third centuries, under the influence of Mesopotamian, Hittite, Syrian, Ugaritic, Egyptian cultures. There is a serious problem with that view, … Continue reading "Defending Russell Gmirkin’s Hellenistic Dating of the Old Testament – Part 7"| Vridar
Why the Hellenistic era .... Part 2a In this post I will explain "my personal reason" for strongly suspecting a Hellenistic origin of the biblical literature -- though I am sure I have come across the same ideas throughout different books and articles over the years. It follows on from #5 in the pr| Vridar
The headline looks decisive. But proceed with caution. I have not yet read in any scholarly publication that the silver scrolls, originally dated by their discoverer, Gabriel Barkay, circa 650 BCE, are evidence that any part of the Bible was known so early. What the inscriptions indicate is that a c| Vridar
I am posting here on my blog what I had posted in the "Academic Discussion" of the EarlyWritings Biblical Criticism & History Forum and I hope soon to post specific criticisms or responses that were made in that space. I am collating both those criticisms and my own responses as far as I can fin| Vridar
When we read the Bible we assume that its references to God or Lord all mean the same idea: the deity of Judeo-Christian belief. So when we (non-scholars) read that the Bible's references to the God of the Patriarchs were originally names of various local deities it can be a difficult pill to swallo| Vridar
Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science| Vridar
By the way, I have informed Stephen Goranson that he is welcome to respond here to my resposting of his criticisms of Russell Gmirkin — despite my earlier prohibition on his posts to this blog. For this series alone I have lifted my relegation of SG’s comments to spam. In Part 4 I pointed to … Continue reading "Defending Russell Gmirkin’s Hellenistic Dating of the Old Testament – Part 5"| Vridar
Stephen Goranson has been a regular critic of Russell Gmirkin. Stephen posted the following points (in the earlywritings forum) that he claimed gave reasonable grounds for dating the entire Hebrew Bible (he referred to the "TaNaK") before Hellenistic era: There are reasons to consider some TaNaK te| Vridar
Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science| Vridar
I've addressed the Documentary Hypothesis several times before (see a list of post beginning here). The DH is the basis through which the Hebrew Bible is understood to have begun its development as early as the days of David and Solomon, and in the time of the Babylonian Captivity and through to the| Vridar
In response to the post that I copied here, one consistent critic of Russell Gmirkin's thesis in particular (and of the Hellenistic era hypothesis for the creation of the Hebrew Bible more generally) posted the following response: Elephantine is the site of a Persian era garrison settlement of| Vridar
Continuing from Review 2 . . . Thomas C. Schmidt asserts that Josephus portrayed the followers of Jesus in a negative light by writing that they “received truisms with pleasure” (according to Schmidt’s translation). I have demonstrated in the previous post that Schmidt’s “truisms” is a mistr| Vridar
Continuing from Review 1 . . . Who am I to discuss the meaning of an ancient Greek word? This is something new for me so I must justify this foray. Up until this year I only had a self-taught level of understanding of koine Greek (the Greek of the New Testament) and would never have had the confide| Vridar
Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science| Vridar
Since I don't expect to have much time to write new posts again before the end of the year, I will from time to time copy what I once posted on another forum in defence of Russell Gmirkin's thesis dating the Old Testament books to the Hellenistic era. The orthodox view is that biblical books abou| Vridar
By now many of you will have learned of Russell Gmirkin's sudden passing. I am still trying to process the shock. I was privileged to have had frequent communications with him in the past few years and he was on my short list of people I had hoped to meet in person. His website: https://russellgmirk| Vridar
Continued from Review 3 . . . And when it is pointed out that, after all, we are talking about texts written in Koine Greek (and so the language ability is pretty important), and that . . . requires a lot of study, all this if one wishes to make some kind of soundly-based judgement . . . (Hurtado| Vridar
Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science| Vridar
Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science| Vridar
Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science| Vridar
Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science| Vridar
Many readers by now will have heard of a new book, freely available, arguing that the first century Jewish historian Josephus really did write a passage about Jesus. The book has been discussed on public forums, blogs, youtube channels, other websites, etc. If you happen not to have heard about it,| Vridar
Like Neil, I've found it almost impossible to write anything right now. When I try to write about something "important," I feel unable to move. On the other hand, when I consider writing something "normal" (like a series on translating Mark, which I've been planning), it feels frivolous. We are i| Vridar
And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come and see!” And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures saying, “A measure of wheat for a penny,| Vridar
We come now to the red horse and its rider. The first thing W [=Thomas Witulski] brings to his readers' notice is the different manner in which this second horse is depicted: And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth co| Vridar
I came across the following passage when looking into the question of whether a certain letter said to be by a famous ancient Roman woman was a forgery. It reminded me questions that have arisen among those debating whether a passage in Josephus is a partial or complete forgery (e.g. the Testimonium| Vridar
Others have translated several of Hermann Detering's works into English and these are available on Radikalkritik. I have translated a number of additional works of his but copyright prohibits me from making some of them public. Some works that are otherwise only available in German on HD's Radika| Vridar
Why did a transnational revolt, with the Jews at its centre, erupt in 116, capable of seriously challenging the Roman empire, which at that very moment had reached the phase of its greatest expansion? . . . What events, in 115 and then 116 CE, first led to Greek-Jewish clashes in Mediterranean citi| Vridar
How we would love to know more about the times between the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE and the crushing of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE. That period is surely a decisive one for how both Christianity and Judaism developed into what they are today. Some have suggested that this period saw the actua| Vridar
(Continuing the series outlining key points of Thomas Witulski's case for a contemporary interpretation of the Book of Revelation: the two witnesses being Bar Kochba and Eleazar.) Back to Josephus. Year 70 CE. The siege of Jerusalem. Josephus writes that he had pleaded with his countrymen to give| Vridar
Over 6 pages Thomas Witulski discusses the evidence for the dates of the Bar Kochba war and over 120 pages the evidence for its causes. I will distill that down to a few key points and conclusions. Dates: It is probable that the Bar Kokhba rebellion broke out openly in the spring or summer of 132| Vridar
Nina Livesey's [NL] fourth chapter of The Letters of Paul in their Roman Literary Context makes the case for Paul's letters being composed around the middle of the second century CE. NL refers to the earlier work of the Dutch Radical Willem Christiaan van Manen [you can read the cited section on| Vridar
Fictional or literary letters - our interest here - grew in popularity from approximately 100 BCE - 250 CE, a period marked by the presence of sophists, rhetors, and professional teachers. (NL 138) Seneca was Nero's tutor up to the time he became emperor. Seneca also wrote plays and letters. The le| Vridar
Continuing reading Nina Livesey's [NL] The Letters of Paul in their Roman Literary Context, we now come to the question of the stark differences between the Paul of the letters against the Paul of the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts Paul is submissive to the Jerusalem authorities and sympathetic to la| Vridar
Previous posts in this series: Jesus Mythicism and Historical Knowledge, Part 1: Historical Facts and Probability Jesus Mythicism and Historical Knowledge, Part 2: Certainty and Uncertainty in History Jesus Mythicism and Historical Knowledge, Part 3: Prediction and History * For| Vridar
Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science| Vridar
In discussing how researchers create narratives to portray historical events or write biographies, Benedict Anderson, author of the highly acclaimed Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, drew a contrast with the Gospel of Matthew. These narratives . . . are set| Vridar
These past few weeks I've been trying to untangle my way through the data strands that seem to relate to Christian origins and early development (again) and I find myself coming back to the chimerical figure of Paul (again). When I reach this point, as I have done so many times before, I tend to| Vridar
Paul's letter to the Galatians has "always" been understood to have been as certainly "Pauline" as his letters to the Romans and Corinthians. Other New Testament epistles (e.g. Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy) have fared less well in the authenticity stakes along with reasons explaining why someone other| Vridar
Second Thoughts Revising the "Simonian Origin for Christianity" hypothesis Revising the Series “A Simonian Origin for Christianity”, Part 1 Revising the Series “A Simonian Origin for Christianity”, Part 2 Revising the Series “A Simonian Origin for Christianity”, Part 3 Revising the Series “A Si| Vridar
A book that concludes to assign the Epistle to the Galatians and the other main Pauline epistles to the second century requires, more than any other, a few words of introduction. Not that I believe that any preliminary remarks can remove the impression of bewilderment that such an undertaking must i| Vridar
14th March 2019: New post covering the professional side of my life as a librarian: On Being a Librarian ... Since I wrote the following spiel -- in late February 2012 to be more precise -- Tim Widowfield has joined me as a regular co-contributor to this blog. The closest piece to a little "bio" o| Vridar
The influential French theologian who was excommunicated by the Pope for his views, Alfred Loisy, concluded that there were two different "Pauls" authoring the main letters attributed to him. The reason Paul's letters are generally considered "hard to understand" is because they intertwine two incom| Vridar
I have copied here a translation from an 1886 publication of ... ... two researchers from different fields of knowledge .... A. Pierson is the theologian ..., whose work has made him known as an astute and fearless critic .... S. A. Naber, on the other hand, is a philologist and thus offers a guara| Vridar
The previous post presented a historical Dutch language criticism of Galatians and here I offer a sceptical analysis from France. I have selected from Henri Turmel's discussion those paragraphs that address Galatians 1-2, -- as per my earlier explanation. In my coming post on J.C. O'Neill's detailed| Vridar
