The Bible Geek Show

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The Bible Geek Podcast 22-005 Apr 11, 2022

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James D.G. Dunn (Unity and Diversity in the New Testament) says that the Ebionite gospel omitted Matthew’s Nativity story because they were adoptionists, implying that their Christology was secondary, not the original. But couldn’t Matthew have added it? Is there any truth to current claims that loads of Muslims are converting to Christianity after experiencing visions of Jesus? How would you critique the liberal church today? Was Philip the disciple an accountant or a math wizard? In John 6:5-7 he makes a lightning-fast calculation of the cost of enough food to feed the huge crowd. And how dare he contradict the Son of God by saying there wasn't enough food to feed the multitude? How can the word ἔλεγεν be variously translated as: “said,” “had said,” “was saying,” “had been saying,” “had already been saying,” etc? Why didn't God kill Job's wife? Was it so that Job's wife could advise him to die? In Mark 10:29,30, Jesus promises 100 mothers in this world to the one who gives up their mother to follow him. Why would someone want 100 mothers? In verse 29 Jesus mentions giving up one's father, but verse 30 omits fathers from the compensation promised in this world. Why? Mark's Jesus doesn't mention giving up one's spouses to follow him, and accordingly doesn't promise a 100-fold return in spouses. Jesus lists parents, siblings and offspring, and a couple of forms of property. This seems to parallel Job. What's the significance of omitting this class of property/family? Are we to believe that the Philistines had the architectural know-how to build a temple that would support 3,000 people on the roof (Judges 16:27)? What are some of the earliest Christian sects who disagreed with the doctrine of the trinity? What arguments did they give?

The Bible Geek Podcast 22-004 Mar 26, 2022

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Can you pontificate a bit on the various schools of thought on dating New Testament literature and the Apostolic Fathers? Is there a translation that you can recommend for a first time Bible reader? Was there a Paul in history; how and why did these writings get attached to his name? Has the Bible itself become an idol? What percentage of Paul’s "authentic" letters would you estimate to be first person fiction? I recently read 1 Enoch, and I have some questions about the angelic beings it features known as the Watchers. It occurred to me that, although I've long known the story of their descent to earth and their fornication with, and corruption of, us mortals, I don't think I've ever heard an explanation of where they got the name Watchers. My first thought was that watching/witnessing, and hence the ability to stand in judgement over those being observed, are functions often associated with deities. So the idea of angelic "watchers" could derive from this association. When we combine this theory with the idea of the stars as God's "heavenly host" - ie. his angel subordinates - could it be that the Watchers refer specifically to those stars which, being close to the Pole star, are always visible at night above the horizon? By never slipping out of view even during the shorter summer nights, these stars could be thought of as especially "wakeful", perpetually watching us throughout the year, and so be marked out as a special class of angel. Why do you think the name of "Watchers" got attached to the story in Genesis 6:1-4, as opposed to just calling them fallen angels, or sticking with Genesis' generic "sons of God", or some other designation? I'd like to know what you think of less popular, or perhaps more heavily editorialized volumes like the New World Translation. Do you think there are places where these convey an author's intended meaning more accurately than the mainstream, accepted versions of the Bible?

The Bible Geek Podcast 22-003 Mar 01, 2022

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The crucifixion story in all four gospels had to have been based on Josephus’ story of rescuing a friend from crucifixion. All four gospels were written after the Josephus “rescue”, so there is not a problem with the dates. But Paul talks about Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection before the Josephus rescue occurred. How did he know about it? Concerning Pau's vision about the "Last Supper", I had for a long time accepted the mythicist argument that this was a vision Paul received from Christ and not something that went back to the historical Jesus, or a tradition of Jesus. But didn't Christians start having visions of Jesus only AFTER his death and resurrection? How would Paul be having a vision of Jesus BEFORE he even dies and resurrects?? 1 Cor 11 says this happened on "the night he was handed over". Could you explain the original language of the Old Testament, the language of the manuscripts, and how the text has evolved? What is your understanding of why the word "jealous" is used to describe God? What is Ephesians 3:18 about? Is the object missing from the sentence? Why are there four dimensions in the Pauline hyperreality? Is Leviathan evil? If a sun god is transformed into a human hero, for example Samson, is this demythologization? And is demythologization the opposite of euhemerism?

The Bible Geek Podcast 22-002 Feb 08, 2022

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Why do people continue to set dates for the Rapture when they’ve all fallen through? Perhaps the Bible mentions 2 different arks of the covenant, the wings of the cherubim atop one of them forming a triangle through which sun shone, like the Eye of Horus. Do we lack various heretical texts simply because people stopped copying them? Are snakes symbols of wisdom because they appear to be merely a head/brain with a series of cabooses attached? What role did Shakespeare play in translation or with the translators of the KJV? Would Paul actually have been following the Jewish Law by persecuting the early Christians if they had had a high Christology?

The Bible Geek Podcast 22-001 Jan 11, 2022

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Did early Christians associate the trumpets of Rosh Hashanah, the New Year festival, with the Last Trumpet of the Rapture? What do you think about that last seventh chapter of the book: "Jesus for Sceptics" where a list of hardcore atheists is given, who under numerous and solid evidence changed their attitude and became hardcore Christians? Do you know of any (good) books about Polycarp? Assassin's Creed Valhalla, a role-playing game, portrays Gnostic doctrine as still current in the Middle Ages. Of course it is fiction, but is it plausible? What do you think of the claim that publishers are cheapening the experience of studying the Good Book by promoting “Bible consumerism?” Does grappling with the inconsistencies, inaccuracies, anachronisms, and atrocities in the Bible wound faith, or is it a good exercise? Some Jews claim that the Septuagint was destroyed in the fire of the Alexandrian library. Do you know why they claim this, despite evidence of other copies existing? Why are the Septuagint and Masoretic texts so different? Am I correct that modern Biblical scholarship hasn't been as interested in the apocryphal portions of the Old Testament? If so, why is this?

The Bible Geek Podcast 21-020 Dec 09, 2021

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In a Gospel about, and supposedly written by, Nicodemus why would it not state that he assisted with the burial? I was wondering what examples we have of textual reconstructions, created through the methods of textual criticism, that match subsequent discoveries of texts. What do you make of the bizarre episode in Exodus 4:24-26? Was Peter as stupid or illiterate as we are told? Do we have examples of Christians and Jews taunting Arabs for having been given no prophets, revelations, etc.? Was Joseph really a woman as some rabbis and Kabbalists suggested? Re the idea that the Paul character diverged from a Simon Magus type character into the more Petrine character found in Acts, I think of Solomon Grundy and the Hulk, or Kara (Supergirl) and Carol (Captain Marvel) Danvers, who seem to have begun as divergent characters with coincidental similarities, and then converged and diverged again over time according to the theological needs of their editors. Are there better examples of this in literature or the Bible? What do we really know about the status of women in the “New Testament times”.

The Bible Geek Podcast 21-019 Dec 04, 2021

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In which gnostic work can one find the myth of the sacrifice of the primal man of light, whose shattered divine sparks give life to the whole creation? What was the role of women in early Christian formation such as the Johannine gospel being written by female hands? Have you seen the documentary showing the possible basis for the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3 Wasn’t Mark in error calling Herod Antipas “Basileus” (king) instead of tetrarch? If Adam and Eve do not know what sin, death, or disobedience are, do they have any chance of survival? There is no way for them to learn about these except by trial and error. If procreation and eternal life were both available to the gods, wouldn't the gods have ended up with standing room only, even if there were only two humans? If a piece of toast says "I am the body of the grain, eat it." and an actual person says "this bread is my body, eat it." Do both statements contain equal parts metaphor and literalism? The toast is metaphorically speaking, but it literally is the body of the grain. The person is literally speaking, but the bread is metaphorically their body. Is there any tradition in ancient cultures, biblical or otherwise, where Adam attempts to procreate with every species of animal until god realizes that a woman is required? The Priestly creation story presupposes an endless expanse of water. Is it a consistent view, between the priestly creation and flood stories, that the flood reverted the world to the state that existed before creation? According to the Torah, ingesting blood is on par with murder and idolatry as an affront to God. The priests are in charge of slaughtering sacrificial animals and performing rituals with blood. One would expect accidents to happen, and blood to sometimes splash where it shouldn't. Why aren't there any instructions on what to do if blood accidentally splashes into the mouth? I would expect a continuum of remedies for various degrees of accident: 1. blood went onto the lips, but not inside the mouth. 2. blood went inside the mouth but was not swallowed. 3. blood was swallowed, but the error was immediately detected, and a forced vomiting was induced. What about nose bleeds? What about wounds inside the mouth or in the gastrointestinal system? What about war? Would involuntarily ingesting your own blood also be an abomination? There is a translation that uses the different names of God

The Bible Geek Podcast 21-018 Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

How does Adoptionism fit into the evolution of historic Christology? My question is about the range of meanings that adelphoi can take. Can it mean ‘brothers in Christ’ which could be understood as ‘believers’ (regardless of gender)? There are various examples of Matthew ‘cleaning up’ Markan originals to beef up the Jesus character into a much more divine figure. So why did Matthew leave in ‘my god my god why have you forsaken me?’ Is there ANY decent critical scholarship that argues FOR the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals? Might the “Doubting Thomas” episode be an attempt to rebut the resurrection doctrine as taught by Thomas Christians? Have you ever heard if the origins of Saint Patrick's Day can be traced back to ancient Christians who co-opted Pagan holidays? What are your thoughts on the James Moffatt Bible? What do we really know about "the twelve"? Do you happen to know the history of hand gestures incorporated into prayer, and what role they play?

The Bible Geek Podcast 21-017 Oct 08, 2021

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In Acts 1:13-14 “certain women” are mentioned alongside the disciples. Who were they? Was it intentional that Mark has a stand-in appear inside Jesus’s tomb instead of Jesus himself? Also, that Mark had the stand-in notify a group of women first about Jesus’s resurrection? What is your understanding of Ezekiel's vision of the temple and the restoration of the pure worship? The Gabriel Revelation Stone, discovered at the Dead Sea in the early 2000, is said to depict the angel commanding the slain Messiah Simon of Peraea to rise on the 3rd day? Is that true? Is there a so-called musical source in the Tanakh? Is there an English translation of the old testament that uses the original names El, Elyon, Yahweh, and El Shaddai instead of substituting Lord, God, Almighty, or Adonai? In 1 Corinthians 11:25 Jesus says, “In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”' What does 'this' refer to here? And when he says "as often as you drink it" What is “it' in this context? Can you explain which components of Christianity originated from Judaism and which originated from Greek thinking?

The Bible Geek Podcast 21-016 Sep 25, 2021

Show notes

Assuming that Luke and Matthew we copying large parts of Mark, and that books were extraordinarily rare, what kind of people were Luke and Matthew? Were they respected scribes? Low level bishops of some sort? For those who consider the Bible inerrant or infallible, what does this mean in the context of Proverbs and Song of Songs? What does it mean for Psalms? If Thomas, Didymus, or equivalents mean twin, and that was a common way of referring to a twin, what was the other sibling in the pair called? Biblical authors use superlatives in every single verse. When biblical authors use expressions that could be translated to English as "forever" or "eternal", what's a good way to interpret these? What is your view of the key role played by the Bible in the early Judeo-Christian foundation and later development of post-contact North American institutions? Is it possible that a historical “Paul” actually wrote all 14-15 letters, over a span of several years, and neglected to read his older writings to ensure they were consistent with his previous writings, or simply changed his mind about what he’d written in the previous epistles. Occasionally you mention having been fortunate enough to meet various great biblical scholars over the course of your career. Would you be willing to describe one or two of those meetings/correspondences/friendships that meant the most or was most intellectually valuable to you?

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