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The Bible Geek Podcast 19-027 Nov 20, 2019

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I noticed that Ἰεροσόλυμα (Ierosolyma) was used in Galatians 1:17-18 and 2:1, while in other places Paul seemed to favor Ἰερουσαλὴμ (Ierousalēm), in particular Galatians 4:25-26; Romans 15:19; 15:25-26; and 1 Corinthians 16:3. If there is not a grammatical difference between how they are used, I was wondering what might explain the difference in usage. Jewish tradition describes Solomon working magic with a ring bearing the Star of David . The same symbol occurs in modern occultism, e.g., Crowler. Is there a connection? Might Matthew’s “magoi” in his Nativity story have originally been “Parsees,” denoting Pharisees? Why does Acts seem to show James humiliating Paul? Could you list a couple of earlier scholars--let's say at least mid-20th century or earlier--whose work you think is essential and really holds up despite any more recent scholarship, and also maybe a couple to avoid because their work doesn't? What would you say is the best example of bible prophecy, shows the least amount of foul play? You expressed your changing views on the possibility that Romans would have had reason to invent some version of the Jesus story / Christianity. Romans propagating a nonviolent religion for their troublesome Jewish subjects makes sense to me, but my question is historical: can you think of examples of what seems almost like a state-imposed religion, especially in centuries close to the birth of Christianity? In SGF Brandon's "Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church" he seems to hold that Mark cold not have fabricated Jewish involvement in Jesus’ death on the grounds that it would contradict most people’s beliefs! What gives? Martin Luther seems to distinguish between the “guilt” and “penalty” of sin. What does he mean?

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-026 Oct 27, 2019

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Reading of "The Theology of Preacher". In Mark 16,:2, should we translate "on the first day of the week" or "the first sabbath"? Help identifying [Campbellite] sect? Was Nietzsche'e mad man based on Diogenes? Does "the perfect" in 1 Cor. 13:10 refer to the canon of scripture?

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-025 Oct 16, 2019

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Is there a parallel between how rock groups become “classic” and how Christian writings became canonical? I’d like to hear your considerations on a controversial book I recently came across, "The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit" (and its impact on world history) by Dr. E. Michael Jones. Could you talk a bit about why you believe in Q, and to what degree of certainty you hold those views? Would you say that sometimes a bit of fantasy regarding the afterlife and the spiritual life might be beneficial? Please comment on James R. Edwards, The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition. I’d like you to speculate, from a mythicist point of view, how the gospel gets from Jerusalem to the wider Greek speaking world, from which comes canonical Mark.

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-024 Sep 17, 2019

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Does Luke give Jesus an age of “about 30” because that was the age at which a priest could be ordained, and he wanted to set Jesus up as a priest as in Hebrews? Wouldn’t the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil allow us to distinguish the morality of actions? Especially if God made us in his own image, including his morality? Why should something be good necessarily because it comes from God? It is states that God not only produces good things, but also bad things (“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” Isaiah 54:7). Since Catholics pray to saints as well as Christ and God, why do we consider that to be monotheism? Why does Psalm 40 read completely differently in 2 different Bibles? Various possible uses of the genetic fallacy in religion?

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-023 Sep 07, 2019

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In Matthew 16:15-16 is Jesus being Socratic, testing whether the disciples have figured out he is the Messiah? If Polycarp wrote 2 Timothy and Titus but not 1 Timothy, who did write 1 Timothy—Irenaeus? Would that imply he compiled the 1st editon of the NT canon, too? Do you consider yourself an agnostic or an atheist? And would you please elaborate? Can you talk about the introduction of baptism into Christianity? Are there just 3 major branches of Christianity? What do you think of recent scholarly claims that there were no dying & rising gods? Historically, leaders of radical movements have been matched with counter figureheads, leaders of opposing factions. Jesus in the gospels is not. Might that imply non-historicity? Does the NT envision Christian believers as not having to stand trial before God? You say that Jesus could not have said the line in Matthew 16:24 about anyone wishing to be his disciple has to "take up his cross and follow me" because the hearers wouldn't have been able to make sense of it (as Jesus hadn't been crucified ). But Zealots got crucified, too. Couldn’t it have been a Zealot recruiting slogan?

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-022 Aug 28, 2019

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Producer's Note: There are some audio artifacts in this episode, my apologies. What would have been motivating early church fathers to twist the identity of Simon Magus into a fictional Paul of Tarsus or vice versa? To what extent do you believe that there was a real Paul who had such a valuable reputation that producing such forgeries would be worth the time and effort? Which early church father would you be comfortable saying is the real mccoy? Do you generally like the Anchor Bible commentaries, and are there any particular volumes you'd recommend? The Washington Post recently had a front-page story about Brazilian gang members whose lives are threatened by rival gangs ("One Way Out: Pastors in Brazil Converting Gang Members on YouTube"). A certain popular televangelist, Rev. Arnaldo Barros, offers to publish their conversion to Christianity on social media, in which they confess their sins and renounce their gang affiliation and activity. The converts gain immunity from retribution by rival gangs and their own. What kind of antecedents are there, Biblical or otherwise, for this practice? Given the lack or archeological evidence of the exodus from Egypt, is it possible that later Hebrews created the "bondage in Egypt" story to obfuscate their origins as Hapirus,a class of rebels and slaves? Luke 22:29 has Jesus tell the Twelve "I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." However, the Twelve at that point included Judas. So did Jesus make a mistake, or did he actually intend for the traitor Judas to retain his throne despite handing him over? Is there a connection between Lazarus’ raising from the dead (John 11:38-44), the theory that Lazarus is the beloved disciple in John (based on John 11:3) and the tradition (addressed in John 21:20-23) that the beloved disciple would not die, or not die before the Parousia?

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-021 Aug 10, 2019

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1 Samuel 5:9, in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, features a strange half verse following the description of the Philistines of Gath being smitten with hemorrhoids: “And while they were carrying [the Ark of the Covenant] about, the hand of the Lord came upon every city with an exceeding great slaughter: and he smote the men of every city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. And the Gethites consulted together, and made themselves seats of skins.” Where could Jerome have found such a reading? Why do Protestant and Catholics celebrate Easter a week earlier than Orthodox and Coptic Christians? When is the earliest known celebration of Easter? If I was going to pick one edition of the New Testament to read, which one would you recommend? Maybe one with informative footnotes to set things in context. I'm wondering how connected Yahweh and Jesus are to their physical bodies. I'm wondering if the spirit of Jesus is henceforth permanently connected to his body. By what means does Jesus connect with humans on earth from that point on because his body is in heaven? Does Dr. Robert Eisenman think that Jesus Christ did not exist as a historical figure? Does Dr. Robert Eisenman think that New Testament is historically unreliable? What was the point of including the story of the magi visiting Jesus at his birth? If Matthew is the most Jewish gospel, what do a bunch of Persians have to do with the birth of the Messiah?

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-020 Jul 25, 2019

Show notes

1 Samuel 5:9, in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, features a strange half verse following the description of the Philistines of Gath being smitten with hemorrhoids: “And while they were carrying [the Ark of the Covenant] about, the hand of the Lord came upon every city with an exceeding great slaughter: and he smote the men of every city, both small and great, and they had hemorrhoids in their secret parts. And the Gethites consulted together, and made themselves seats of skins.” Where could Jerome have found such a reading? Why do Protestant and Catholics celebrate Easter a week earlier than Orthodox and Coptic Christians? When is the earliest known celebration of Easter? If I was going to pick one edition of the New Testament to read, which one would you recommend? Maybe one with informative footnotes to set things in context. I'm wondering how connected Yahweh and Jesus are to their physical bodies. I'm wondering if the spirit of Jesus is henceforth permanently connected to his body. By what means does Jesus connect with humans on earth from that point on because his body is in heaven? Does Dr. Robert Eisenman think that Jesus Christ did not exist as a historical figure? Does Dr. Robert Eisenman think that New Testament is historically unreliable? What was the point of including the story of the magi visiting Jesus at his birth? If Matthew is the most Jewish gospel, what do a bunch of Persians have to do with the birth of the Messiah?

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-019 Jul 21, 2019

Show notes

I remember once hearing that even though they don’t believe in cremation, Catholics burn what they believe to be the leftover body and blood of Christ on a weekly bases, effectively cremating Jesus over and over again. How do Catholics make sense of burning the body of Jesus in bread form? I was told that a great many Christian sub sects all believe in what was laid out in the Nicene Creed and therefore despite their differences are "close enough" when it comes rapture time, and that the Vatican agreed. My Catholic friends have since told me otherwise. Which is true? Do you see any hints in the Bible suggesting that Israelite religion originated in Totemism? There are two mutually inconsistent tales of the nativity of Jesus, one placing him in Bethlehem, the other in Nazareth. If Jesus were a fiction, why didn't they come up with a standard nativity story? I would like to know what you think most likely was the original story of the passion in the canonical Gospels. Was Jesus just another dying and rising god? Was it an escape from death and direct abduction to heaven like Hercules, Romulus, Empedocles, etc. not to mention some old testament figures who escaped death? Or a Simonian myth in which Jesus performs a magic switch by turning himself into Simon of Cyrene's likeness and thus he ends up crucified instead of Jesus? What do you make of the recent meeting between the Mormon President and the Pope? Why do you suspect the Gospel of Judas is a modern forgery? When Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven won’t come with signs but will be sudden could he be referring to the moment of an un expected death? What do you think of Joan Taylor’s idea that the Essenes were great doctors a well as cronies of Herod?

The Bible Geek Podcast 19-018 Jul 01, 2019

Show notes

Matthew 12:42 has Jesus say, "The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here." This seems extremely odd from any kind of Christian perspective. Is God calling character witnesses at judgment? How exactly is the Queen of Sheba relevant? What qualifies her to provide any input: she is presumably a pagan, even if she recognized Solomon's wisdom some thousand years earlier? And what is it she's supposed to do? She rises from the dead, scans the crowd comprising "this generation"--apparently judgment is being handled by generation for administrative efficiency--and confirms that, yep, anyone who didn't recognize Jesus as superior to Solomon should indeed go to hell? How do you translate Mark 14: 33-34? What would you require as substantial proof that an historical Jesus existed? In Hyam Maccoby's "The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity" he says that Jesus and his followers were Pharisees. Eisenman says they were Zealot-Essenes. Whom you side with? Would Maccoby have had all the same information Eisenman had to reach his late-1990s conclusion of Zealot-Essenism when he (Maccoby) reached his mid-1980s claim of Pharisaism?

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