Ronald V. Huggins

Podcast: What Does Sandra Tanner have to Say About Biblical Forgeries I've been enjoying listening to this part of the interview between Rick C. Bennett and Sandra Tanner. Since my own area includes Gospels and Patristics, I thought I would chime in with few comments and corrections.  For the most part my comments follow the sequence of the discussion, and probably doesn't make much sense if you have'n't listened to the discussion. (1) The context of Paul’s warning against people preaching other Gospels (Galatians 1) had to do, as becomes clear as one reads on in Galatians, with forcing Gentiles who converted to Christianity to become Jews first, through circumcision and what not. I have never encountered a New Testament scholar who would make the case that Paul was referring to Gnostic Gospels. I can’t say for certain that there is no scholar who does not make that case, but it would certainly be an idiosyncratic one. (2) When what might be called proto-Gnost...

My friend Daniel Bradley posted something on Facebook Today reminding us that today (July 14) is Woody Guthrie's birthday. This got me to thinking and remembering. And to commenting on his post, which I repeat here. Have you been to his museum? I was a huge fan of Woody when I was a kid hitch-hiking around with my guitar. Learned to play all the songs I could including Tom Joad with all the verses. Woody had a special connection with the Pacific Northwest, where I grew up due to his once being hired by the Bonneville Power Administration to write songs ins support of their dam-building efforts (See his song "The Grand Coulee Dam.") His song "Roll on Columbia Roll On," has a line "Other great rivers add power to you, Yakima, Snake and the Klickitat too." Well, much of my youth was lived in that stood on two of those rivers. Read Bound for Glory and idealized the life described there.  I idealized sitting around with a bunch of old...