Ronald V. Huggins

When looking at the arguments of Robert M. Price, I am almost always left feeling that he is rubbing the evidential fur the wrong way. In a debate with Bart Ehrman, Robert M. Price begins his opening salvo (36 minutes) by attempting to refute the following statement from page 96 of Bart Ehman’s 2012 book, Did Jesus Exist : “The idea that Jesus did not exist is a modern notion. It has no ancient precedents.” Price's quotations included one from the second-century, anti-Christian philosopher Celsus that he puts forward as denying Jesus existence: “It is clear to me that the writings of the Christians are a lie, and that your fables have not been well enough constructed to conceal this monstrous fiction.”* But Price's quotation doesn't do justice to Celsus' position, or if it does then we must argue that Celsus not only denied that Jesus existed, but that also he held that this non-existent Jesus added insult to injury by lying about having been born of a v...

Willem Christiaan Van Manen W. C. van Manen, "A Wave of Hyper Criticism," Expository Times 9.5 (Feb 1898): 205-211 ;   9.6 (Mar 1898): 257-259 ; 9.7 (Apr 1898): 314-319 . W. C. van Manen Encyclopedia Biblica Articles " Paul ,"columns 3:3603-3638 (sec. 1-3, 33-51) " Old-Christian Literature ," 3:3471-3495. " Rome (Church) ," 4:4145-4157. " Epistle to the Romans ," 4:4127-4145 " Philippi ," 3:3701-3703. " Epistle to the Philippians I (Paul's) ," 3:3703-3710. " Epistle to the Philippians II (Polycarp's) ," 3:3711-3713. (Not Polycarp). " Epistle to Philemon " 3:3693-3697. " Shepherd of Hermas ," 4:4456-4458. Another source Price is enamored with is: David Trobisch, " Who Published the New Testament ," Free Inquiry 28.1 (Dec 2007-Jan 2008): 30-33. "I will conclude these considerations with a bold statement: The New Testament was publis...

I n every generation there are a few writers who say that Jesus went to India, or that he married Mary Magdalene, or Mary, or Martha, or all three, or that he survived the crucifixion and live to a ripe old age somewhere, or that he simply never existed. Most often the proponents of these views aren't scholars, or at least not New Testament scholars.  Quite often they explain that those of us who are New Testament scholars, who have got doctorates in that field,  actually face an impediment to right understanding due to the inevitable prejudices imposed upon us by our educations, prejudices from which they declare themselves free by virtue of the fact that they have not studied, leaving them at liberty, as they assure us, to "follow truth, wherever it leads." Its an old story and an old formula.  In addition most generations also toss up a writer or two who make such claims  despite  actually having doctorates, even sometimes doctorates in the field of Ne...

Russell M. Nelson I get what the Mormon president is trying to do. He wants to use a name that communicates what he believes Mormons are really about. And I do not begrudge him his desire. Yet one of the difficulties he and other Mormons run into when they decide they are going to change their name is that they don't seem to be able to do it without trying to make others use language that involves affirming their truth claims. Consider this statement from their Style Guide which they present on a page referred to as "The Official Resource for New Media, Opinion Leaders and the Public": The term "Mormonism" is inaccurate and should not be used. When describing the combination of doctrine, culture and lifestyle unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the term "the restored gospel of Jesus Christ" is accurate and preferred." The claim that they represent "the restored gospel of Jesus Christ," may...

St. Augustine thought the Gospel of Mark was an abridgment of the Gospel of Matthew ( De consensu evangelistarum 1.2.4). Actually the reverse is true. Even though Matthew is much longer than Mark, he abridges what Mark has incident by incident (as does Luke). A good example of this is seen in the story of Jesus's healing of the epileptic boy, where, paralleling the 116 words used in Mark 9:20b-26 to tell the story, he has only 11 words (Mt 17:18=Mk 9:25-26) and Luke only 8 (9:42b = Mk 25). Reading Mark this morning I was particularly glad that we have the fuller version of the story in which Mark alone preserves the conversation between Jesus and the boy's father, which has served as a wonderful encouragement to Christians down the centuries: Mark 9:21-27 "Jesus asked the father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And he said, 'From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anyt...

In Mark 9:2 it says that Jesus "took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them." Some in the early Church believed that this took place on Mount Tabor, and that identification has been widely accepted by many in the Eastern and Western Churches. A difficulty with identifying Tabor with the mount of transfiguration that we learn from Josephus is the fact that in Jesus' day it had a village on it, which had been there for some time ( Ant. 13.396), and which Josephus fortified ( Life 188). Nevertheless the town was besieged and overthrown by the Romans during the Jewish War ( Jewish War 4.54). As such it was not a very good place for Jesus and his disciples to go to be, as Mark says, "all alone".

DeWayne Johnnson Monsanto has lost the case ! My major issue with Monsanto has tended more in the direction of the food-sovereignty question.  If it is true, as reported, that almost half of the world's largest economies are international corporations, what are the small-economy countries to do to resist the will of mega-companies like Monsanto?  What I don't want is for companies like Monsanto to be able to do to nations what Harvey Weinstein does to actresses.  Monsanto’s PR often presents its as the Savior of the world, but what if your country doesn’t want to be "saved" by Monsanto?  And what about those poor countries, some of whom have very corrupt governments, do want to get ahead and Monanto gives them an offer they "can't refuse"? But even when one tries to search out how different countries feel about Monsanto, as likely as not the first place one will be directed to when doing an internet search is a page of PR spin provided by...Mo...

When the Jewish authorities asked Jesus in the Gospel of Mark if he the Messiah, the Son of the Beloved One, he answers "I am" ( Ego eimi ) (Mark 14:62). Historical Jesus scholar Marcus Borg, sought to soften this by translating Jesus' answer as question: "Am I?"* The context itself, however, with Jesus' answer being regarded as a straightforward admission of "guilt," the High Priest's response of rending his garments, Jesus being immediately declared worthy of the death penalty, and so on, effectively rules out the possibility of Borg's being correct. Had Jesus really only said "Am I?" What should have followed would have been the High Priest's saying something like "Well, you tell us." Yet when we come to Matthew, who most scholars believe used Mark as one of his sources, we find that he has Jesus answering not with "I am" ( Ego eimi ), but with "Thou hast said." [s u eipas ]. So the question...

A debate on the historical reliability of the New Testament accounts of the resurrection that took place between Professors Craig A. Evans and Bart D. Ehrman on 1 April 2010 in the chapel of the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. Professor Ehrman likened the transmission of the early Christian tradition to a child’s game of telephone. Here is what said: What happens when stories circulate by word of mouth, not for just a day of two, but for years? Well, your kids probably played the telephone game when they were little at a birthday party. One child tells a story to the next child, who tells it to the next child, who tells it to the next child and you go around the circle, and by the time it comes back to the first child it is a different story. If it weren’t a different story it would be a very dumb game to play on your birthday. Stories change when they circulate. What happens if you don’t simply tell the story in the same living room with all...

Luke the Evangelist at the Kalvarienberg Church in Graz, Austria The “We” Sections In the book of Acts we have what is referred to as the “We” Sections. These are points within the narrative where the narrator moves from describing events in the third person, to doing so using the first-person plural, i.e., “We went here, there, did this, that," and so on.    It is a reasonable assumption to suppose that perhaps these "We" passages represent Luke’s incorporation of someone’s travel diary, or perhaps his own, into his narrative.   Whoever “We” is, they first appear during Paul’s 2nd Missionary Journey, joining him at Troas in Asia and accompanying him as far as Philippi in Macedonia (Acts 16:10-17), where “We” appears to remain while Paul and Silas finish out the 2nd Missionary Journey.      Then, during Paul's 3rd Missionary Journey when Paul passes through Philippi again, “We” rejoins the party and travels with him to Jerusalem (Acts 20:5...

Justin Martyr was active as a Christian writer and philosopher from at least the 130s AD to around 165, when he received the martyr’s crown. Justin preferred way of referring to the Gospels were as the “memoirs” ( apomnēmoneumata ) of the Apostles.  He uses the term 15 times in his writings ( 1st Apology 66:3; 67:3; Dialogue with Trypho 100:4; 101:3; 102:5; 103:6,8; 104:1; 105:1,5,6; 106:1,3,4; 107:1) When he uses the term we know that Justin has in mind multiple written texts called Gospels. This is clear from 1st Apology 66:3 where he reveals that the "memoirs," the apomnēmoneumata ,  “are called Gospels.” That there were at least four of these Gospels is implied in Dialogue with Trypho 103:8 where Justin refers to them as having been “drawn up by His apostles and those who followed them.” The implication of the last point was stressed by New Testament scholar Graham M. Stanton in his article, “The Fourfold Gospel,” New Testament Studies 43 (1997): 330. ...

TEKTŌN IN HOMER: In the Iliad Tekton is a character, the son of Harmon, “ whose hands were skilled to fashion all manner of curious work.” ( Iliad 5:59-60). STILL FOR THE MOST PART THE FOCUS OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TERM TEKTŌN AND WORKING WITH WOOD IS PRESENT: "He sat down upon the ashen threshold within the doorway, leaning against a post of cypress wood, which of old a tektōn had skilfully planed, and made straight to the line" ( Odyssey 17:337-341) "...the gable-rafters of a high house, which some famous tektōn joineth together" ( Iliad 23.712) AND YET SINCE SHIPS ARE MADE OF WOOD HOMER'S WORD FOR "SHIPBUILDER" IS TEKTŌN : "And he fell as an oak falls, or a poplar, or a tall pine that among the mountains tektones fell with whetted axes to be a ship's timber” ( Iliad 13.390-91 AND 16:439-84). "For the Cyclopes have at hand no ships...nor are there tektones in their land who might build them well-benched ships"...

Matthew the Evangelist from the Chiesa dei SS. Giuseppe e Pantaleone, Spilimbergo, Italy (Photo: Saarah Loeker) The Gospel of Matthew is known for its distinctively Jewish focus and flavor. We see this coming through very strongly in Matthew 23 as a whole, where we also find some material that is of particular interest because Matthew alone has it. So for example it is Matthew alone who preserves the saying: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." (23:2-3) Again it is only Matthew that has Jesus's rejection of the sort of religious caste system implied by calling certain people "Rabbi" or "Father". He starts by pointing out how the Jewish leaders love to be called Rabbi, but and then goes on to say concerning those who would be his disciples: “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for yo...

"Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” (Matthew 17:26-27) This little gem of a miracle story appears only in the Gospel of Matthew. It's important in part because it helps us see beyond the common but inadequate definition of miracles as suspensions or interruptions of "natural law," of the l aw of cause and effect, which assumes that the universe is a closed system into which God must, somehow, break into from outside in order to act in the world. This notion of natural law stands in contrast to the view of Scripture. We see this for example in the Book of Hebrews which describes rather a process in which Jesus "sustains all things by his powerful word" (Hebrews 1:3), and in Ephesians 4:6 which portrays God as being "over all and through all and in all." In this little story in M...