Many scholars have responded to James Tabor’s report (and new book) on the so-called “Patio Tomb” at Talpiot, which he and Simcha Jacobovici claim to be the grave of early (as in first-century) Christian disciples, complete with a “sign of Jonah” (which looks like a poorly-cut nefesh to me, especially since it was vertically oriented; Eric [...] Read more »
“Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin”?
A couple weeks ago, Joel Willits posted a critique of the oft-used cliché “love the sinner, hate the sin,” arguing: This slogan is one of the most unbiblical ideas I’ve ever heard that get’s touted as if it were actually a verse in the Bible. However, the verses in the Bible, here Romans 5:1-11, actually [...] Read more »
Does Bible Reading Make People More Liberal?
Christianity Today has posted a new article, Survey: Frequent Bible Reading Can Turn You Liberal,which details the surprising survey results pertaining to attitudes about consumption, social justice, terrorism, etc. The article suggests that consistent Bible reading pushes people leftward on some issues. For example: Some of the most interesting findings relate to moral attitudes. How [...] Read more »
Teaching the Synoptic Problem after the Synoptic Gospels
I had the opportunity to teach a five-week course of “Introduction to New Testament Literature” at UNC-Chapel Hill this summer, and I took the opportunity to reexamine and revamp a few aspects of how I’ve taught that course (or have seen others teach it) in the past. In addition to a lot of fine-tuning and [...] Read more »
The New Perspective on Paul, Ethnocentrism, and Judaism
I know I’m a bit late to the party here (teaching a summer course and doing home renovations have had me busy), but Timothy Gombis’ “The Paul We Think We Know” in Christianity Today is worth the read. Gombis does an excellent job highlighting the differences between the popular Evangelical/Protestant images of Paul and the [...] Read more »