In Isaiah 22:15, the prophet chastises several officials of Hezekiah for their opulence. One such individual was Shebna (or Shebnayahu with the theophoric yahu attached). Well in 1870 a tomb from preexilic Judah was discovered, but was not translated until 1953. It was a tomb for "Shebna, the servant of the King, who is over the house" and is almost certainly the Shebna from Isaiah 22. More recently some seals from the same period have come to light and Biblical Archaeology Review has a good article on tracking down Shebna.
This is just another instance where the Bible accurately recorded of very minor detail.
If it gets the minor details correct, what about the major ones?
Check out the BAR article here.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
New Randy Harris Book
Monday, April 27, 2009
This is offensive.....
Follow the link.
http://sev.prnewswire.com/art/20090424/NY0498524042009-1.html
This painting is pretty offensive to me.
http://sev.prnewswire.com/art/20090424/NY0498524042009-1.html
This painting is pretty offensive to me.
Friday, April 24, 2009
If it was a snake.....
I follow several movie sites and one of them has an editor that i frequently read. He is an avowed atheist and comes from a Catholic background. Below are his thoughts on the Last Temptation of Christ.
"When people talk about their favorite Martin Scorsese movie they're probably talking about something along the lines of Goodfellas or Taxi Driver. When it's me talking about that subject, it might very likely be The Last Temptation of Christ that I'm discussing. I've written about this movie a lot in my time at CHUD, simply because I find it one of the most moving motion pictures of all time. It's the kind of movie I could see basing a faith on; Scorsese's depiction of Christ (based, of course, on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis) is a harrowingly human take on the messiah, and one that I can understand. I never understood a Jesus who got nailed to that cross without a serious second thought, a Jesus who was so sure of his own divinity (and so filled with the divine in his day to day life) that this was an irritation instead of a terror. To me the Jesus I learned about in Catechism was Superman while Scorsese's Christ was Peter Parker as a teenaged Spider-Man - filled with doubt, filled with fear, but doing the right thing anyway, no matter how much he'd rather be doing something more comfortable and safer. Of course a lot of other people do not agree with this. They want their Jesus to be Superman - perfect, unknowable, without flaw. And they get pretty worked up about this particular difference of opinion, and when The Last Temptation of Christ came out they made their difference of opinion known loudly, and in at least one case, violently.Thomas R. Lindlof's Hollywood Under Siege: Martin Scorsese, The Religious Right, and the Culture Wars is a must-own book that tracks not only the tortured route Temptation took to the screen (Scorsese tried to get it made for years; at one point he told Paramount he would direct Flashdance 2 if they gave him the money to make Temptation) and its production but the insane backlash the film caused in the Christian community.Lindlof did a ton of research - this was released by an academic press - and he has an incredible insight into the world of the people who started the protests and the voices that tried to shout down Universal and Scorsese. One group raised money in an attempt to equal the film's budget so they could buy the negative and burn it. Thousands marched on Universal Studios, despite the fact that not a single person in the protest movement had seen the movie that upset them so greatly. And all across America theaters that dared to show the movie were targeted with bomb threats. A guy actually drove his truck into a theater playing Last Temptation.Lindlof makes a very convincing case that The Last Temptation of Christ was the Pearl Harbor of the Culture Wars that we're still fighting to this day. It's a terrifying story of massive intolerance, religious ignorance and superstitious idiots as well as an inspiring story of a director's vision and an executive's surprising commitment to that vision. Universal could have just dropped Scorsese and Temptation, but they fought with him to the bitter end. That's the kind of stance it's hard to imagine the Tom Rothmans of the world taking today.Why were these religious lunatics so upset? Because the movie shows Jesus having sex with Mary Magdalene, marrying her and having kids. But it shows this in the context of an illusion, a temptation Satan (in the form of a little girl) throws at Christ as he's on the cross. In the last moments Jesus is forced to see the life he is denying himself - the love, the happiness, the human moments - so that he can fulfill a vague destiny he doesn't fully understand. I'm not religious in any way but this concept, of a man who gives up everything (and who understands what he's giving up; this Christ isn't a complete monk who is afraid of his flesh, he's a man who battles with it) for the benefit of everyone yet to come, is one that I find incredibly emotional and meaningful. A god getting up on that cross is devoid of impact - a man, a real man, who feels like a real man feels, getting up on that cross is almost mind blowing.Scorsese's film is beautiful and inspirational, and it's also a touch weird. The low budget means that there's a seriousness sparseness to everything, but I think that works. And Scorsese's vision of the Twelve Apostles as regular dudes does serve to keep many people from really getting into the movie. Harvey Keitel, playing Judas, and the rest of the guys use colloquialisms and urban accents (lots of Brooklyn here) to make you understand that these guys were the blue collar men of their day. The accents we're used to in Biblical films - hoity toity English - are just as phony, but at least these accents are trying to recreate an aspect of who these men were.The Last Temptation of Christ is long, and it can be difficult, but I think it's completely rewarding. I don't think streaming on Hulu with commercial breaks is the best way to see this movie, but this is a movie you must see, and if not now, when?"
I have not seen this particular movie and don't really see anything wrong with it. I will check it out. But I am sorry that Jesus has been so miss represented to him. When I read the Gospels, it is the human side of Jesus that shines through. He is a man that cares for the outcast and downtrodden. He doesn't want to go to the cross, but he must. What strikes me is that God was willing to become a man. Yes he performed miracles but it was his interaction with people and the compassion he showed them that made him unique. In all others religions, the deities are annoyed by man. Man is an inconvenience to them. YHWH deeply cares for mankind. He was willing to give up his life and everything that would have come with it. It was what had to be done. When I read the Gospels, I see the exact Christ that the author of this selection desires to experience.
I hate that ignorant believers do so much harm to un/post churched.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Temptation Seals and Ancient Collective Memory
One of the oldest archaeological finds that seems to depict an event related to scripture is the so called Adam and Eve seal seen here.
The seal was found at Tepe Gawra in northern Iraq. This settlement was occupied from 5000 -1500 BCE. The seal depicts a man and a woman, bent over in shame, closely followed by a serpent. I am not saying this seal depicts Adam and Eve themselves. I am only saying that the inhabitants of Tepe Gawra remembered something closely resembling what the ancient Hebrews remembered and recorded.
Another artifact from a time long after Tepe Gawra, the Temptation Seal, gives the Assyrian side of the Fall. This seal is actually a cylinder with pictographs on it it. When rolled onto clay or dipped in ink and rolled on paper, it presents the image in the link. This seal is very interesting because seated in the center of the man and woman is a tree. Behind the woman a serpent can be seen whispering in her ear.
Again all this seal shows is that different cultures, Assyrian, Tepe Gawra, and Hebrew have a common remembrance/myth/legend of a man and a woman, a tree, and a serpent. Along with various flood stories in cultures all over the world, we can assume that ancient man in general has a collective memory of some distant past experiences.
The seal was found at Tepe Gawra in northern Iraq. This settlement was occupied from 5000 -1500 BCE. The seal depicts a man and a woman, bent over in shame, closely followed by a serpent. I am not saying this seal depicts Adam and Eve themselves. I am only saying that the inhabitants of Tepe Gawra remembered something closely resembling what the ancient Hebrews remembered and recorded.
Another artifact from a time long after Tepe Gawra, the Temptation Seal, gives the Assyrian side of the Fall. This seal is actually a cylinder with pictographs on it it. When rolled onto clay or dipped in ink and rolled on paper, it presents the image in the link. This seal is very interesting because seated in the center of the man and woman is a tree. Behind the woman a serpent can be seen whispering in her ear.
Again all this seal shows is that different cultures, Assyrian, Tepe Gawra, and Hebrew have a common remembrance/myth/legend of a man and a woman, a tree, and a serpent. Along with various flood stories in cultures all over the world, we can assume that ancient man in general has a collective memory of some distant past experiences.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Pirates.....
This whole piracy thing has me baffled. I actually heard a guy on CNN defending these pirates!! Apparently illegal fishing off of Somalia has turned the country to piracy. It could not possibly be the fact that there is no government, infrastructure, law.... no its the big industrialized countries fault.
Solutions:
1. allow merchant vessels to be armed. Then when one of these little skiffs come puttering up alongside the ship, you blow it up, pirates and all.
2. stop paying the ransoms, it only encourages more piracy.
3. Any navy vessel that sights a pirate ship may fire on and sink said pirate ship.
I am glad the President ordered the rescue of the American Captain. I guess there is a war on piracy now?
do you guys have any solutions to piracy?
Solutions:
1. allow merchant vessels to be armed. Then when one of these little skiffs come puttering up alongside the ship, you blow it up, pirates and all.
2. stop paying the ransoms, it only encourages more piracy.
3. Any navy vessel that sights a pirate ship may fire on and sink said pirate ship.
I am glad the President ordered the rescue of the American Captain. I guess there is a war on piracy now?
do you guys have any solutions to piracy?
Monday, April 20, 2009
Climate Change I can Believe In......
Mike Cope has a post on how climate change affected the Christian make-up of eastern and African societies.
It really is a good read with some modern parallels. I am somewhat familiar with the effects of the climate change that occurred in 1300, it led to the disappearance of the Greenland colony of Norse settlers. The post goes on to attribute the change to widespread famine which then led to revolts and persecution of minorities. A very good read.
It really is a good read with some modern parallels. I am somewhat familiar with the effects of the climate change that occurred in 1300, it led to the disappearance of the Greenland colony of Norse settlers. The post goes on to attribute the change to widespread famine which then led to revolts and persecution of minorities. A very good read.
Maximilist or Minamilist, Where do you stand?
Can everything in the Bible be accurate? I have spent the better part of the last 10 years studying biblical archaeology as a hobby. There is so much about ancient Biblical cultures that fascinates me. I love to keep up with excavations and new scholarship.
However in the early nineties a new school of scholarship began to emerge called Biblical Minimalism. Basically the adherents to this school , guys like Israel Finkelstien, believe the Bible to have been assembled by post exilic scribes, around 400 BCE. They came out in the early nineties declaring many aspects of the OT to be merely myths and not accurate history. These include:
1. Creation and flood as myth
2. Exodus and conquest as an allegory created to unify several displaced peasants in the highlands of Israel. These "peasants" would emerge as Israel under King Omri in the 8th century BCE.
3. They claim David and Solomon as myths or at the very least, small tribal leaders
*It is interesting to note that when these views were published, a few months later, they found this:This.
This view came to be labeled as the Low Chronology, basically saying that all of Israel history before the Omride Period is of little historical value and can not be accurate.
The opposing view, the High Chronology, or Maximalist, is defined as follows:
1. the Patriarchal accounts can be trusted as they present an accurate representation of 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE near eastern culture, even if literal Abram, Issac, and Jacob did not exist.
2. Exodus could have occurred, although in far less numbers than the Bible portrays.
3. Conquest could have occurred in much the same way as the exodus, on a smaller scale.
4. The United Monarchy was powerful and large. This find has been revolutionary in studying the Davidic period and seems to validate the Bible's claim of David being powerful.
There is a lot of study surrounding the Davidic period, known archaeologically as Iron Age II, and it should be exciting to see the forthcoming discoveries.
The whole point of this post is to get a feel for how you approach Biblical Scholarship. Being a Christian, I guess I would be considered a high Maximalist. This is based on Christ affirming the Hebrew cannon (which was set in Christ's time and is the same cannon we have today) in Luke 24:44. Here Christ affirms everything written in the OT, so if he validates it, I must also.
So are you a Maximalist, Minimalist, or somewhere in between? Or does it matter?
However in the early nineties a new school of scholarship began to emerge called Biblical Minimalism. Basically the adherents to this school , guys like Israel Finkelstien, believe the Bible to have been assembled by post exilic scribes, around 400 BCE. They came out in the early nineties declaring many aspects of the OT to be merely myths and not accurate history. These include:
1. Creation and flood as myth
2. Exodus and conquest as an allegory created to unify several displaced peasants in the highlands of Israel. These "peasants" would emerge as Israel under King Omri in the 8th century BCE.
3. They claim David and Solomon as myths or at the very least, small tribal leaders
*It is interesting to note that when these views were published, a few months later, they found this:This.
This view came to be labeled as the Low Chronology, basically saying that all of Israel history before the Omride Period is of little historical value and can not be accurate.
The opposing view, the High Chronology, or Maximalist, is defined as follows:
1. the Patriarchal accounts can be trusted as they present an accurate representation of 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE near eastern culture, even if literal Abram, Issac, and Jacob did not exist.
2. Exodus could have occurred, although in far less numbers than the Bible portrays.
3. Conquest could have occurred in much the same way as the exodus, on a smaller scale.
4. The United Monarchy was powerful and large. This find has been revolutionary in studying the Davidic period and seems to validate the Bible's claim of David being powerful.
There is a lot of study surrounding the Davidic period, known archaeologically as Iron Age II, and it should be exciting to see the forthcoming discoveries.
The whole point of this post is to get a feel for how you approach Biblical Scholarship. Being a Christian, I guess I would be considered a high Maximalist. This is based on Christ affirming the Hebrew cannon (which was set in Christ's time and is the same cannon we have today) in Luke 24:44. Here Christ affirms everything written in the OT, so if he validates it, I must also.
So are you a Maximalist, Minimalist, or somewhere in between? Or does it matter?
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Bone Box
The James Ossuary forgery trial has been going on for years. In 2002, Oded Golan, an Israeli antiques dealer revealed the James Ossuary to the public. It is an important discovery because, if legitimized, would be the earliest extra biblical reference to Jesus from the middle of the 1st century, if we place James' death in the early 60's AD, as Josephus does.The Israeli Antiquities Authority labeled it a forgery (without ever examining it) and charged Oded with fraud. Well in the years since, the trial has fallen apart as well as the case against Golan.
Biblical Archaeology Review
http://www.bib-arch.org/news/forgery-trial-news.asp
It seems some 30 scholars have examined the inscription and its authenticity.
Here is the translation of the inscription found on the box:
This is important because it was not customary to mention brothers on these inscriptions, unless they were very well known.
This could effectively put an end to the Jesus Myth movement.
NEW THEOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH!!!!!!
You can be a Christian and deny the Resurecction Happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huzzah!!!!!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-tarico/ancient-mythic-origins-of_b_185455.html
This is really stunning. This is why pluralism and divergence from some essential sound doctrines can be very harmful. Yes the bodily Resurrection is a essential sound doctrine. it's not like music, or women leading, or clapping.
"If the resurrection of Christ didn't literally happen, that shouldn't have any bearing on whether life now is worth living or how we live."
There is no point in living like a Christ devoted life, if the Resurrection did not happen.
Paul was adamant he had seen the risen Christ. The Gospel of John, 1,2,3 John all deal with the fact of the fleshly Lord being risen and to be aware of teachers that deny such. John especially refers to himself as an eyewitness. The Resurrection was not some hijacked ancient myth. Nor did the NT writers intend for ancient parallels.
What do you guys think?
Although I do agree that Christians should not torture.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-tarico/ancient-mythic-origins-of_b_185455.html
This is really stunning. This is why pluralism and divergence from some essential sound doctrines can be very harmful. Yes the bodily Resurrection is a essential sound doctrine. it's not like music, or women leading, or clapping.
"If the resurrection of Christ didn't literally happen, that shouldn't have any bearing on whether life now is worth living or how we live."
There is no point in living like a Christ devoted life, if the Resurrection did not happen.
Paul was adamant he had seen the risen Christ. The Gospel of John, 1,2,3 John all deal with the fact of the fleshly Lord being risen and to be aware of teachers that deny such. John especially refers to himself as an eyewitness. The Resurrection was not some hijacked ancient myth. Nor did the NT writers intend for ancient parallels.
What do you guys think?
Although I do agree that Christians should not torture.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Jesus or Paul? Where do you stand?
This sounds like a good idea. http://sibboleth.blogspot.com/2009/04/jesus-great-but-paul.html has an interesting idea for a book on Paul.
It seems a tenant of the emergent/ing church is to get away from the perceived "bluntness" of Paul in favor of a more tolerant "in touch with his feelings" Jesus. Can the two be reconciled?
Here is my take. You can't believe in Jesus and reject Paul. I know that might strike some of you as strange, maybe even heretical. but stay with me....
Jesus was great. No argument there. Big influence on me. However, it can be argued that it is only because of Paul, that we in the West understand Jesus as we do. Remember, Paul went west:
"Paul's Vision of the Man of Macedonia
6.Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
7.When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
8.So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
9.During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
10.After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."
With this action Paul transforms the Way from an eastern religion to a western one. As the Way is accepted by gentiles (Greeks and Romans) it begins to radically transform. Thus we get Paul's letters reforming the Way to be more appealing to no-Jews. Various ideas like appropriate sexual practices, food laws, worship, giving, faith, justification, etc. are disscussed at length. All really weighty stuff that today (and back then) rubs people the wrong way today.
A good example brought up in the comments from the linked blog is that Paul was willing to radically change his life practices so as to not hinder the gospel ( IE eating laws, vows etc.). For those of us comfortable with the the way our lives go, that can be a difficult pill to swallow.
The rejection of Paul, is to reject the very man Christ chose to share the Gospel and bring it westward. Since I believe Christ chose Paul for an obvious reason, we should not ignore him or write off what he has to say. Does everything he say apply to us? No. But a lot of it does.
What do you guys think of Paul? Why does there seem to be a breaking away from Pauline inspiration among the emergent/emerging? Thanks and hope you enjoy the blog!
P.S. a free meal to anyone that can name where the title of this blog comes from.
(meal includes soup and a sandwich.)
It seems a tenant of the emergent/ing church is to get away from the perceived "bluntness" of Paul in favor of a more tolerant "in touch with his feelings" Jesus. Can the two be reconciled?
Here is my take. You can't believe in Jesus and reject Paul. I know that might strike some of you as strange, maybe even heretical. but stay with me....
Jesus was great. No argument there. Big influence on me. However, it can be argued that it is only because of Paul, that we in the West understand Jesus as we do. Remember, Paul went west:
"Paul's Vision of the Man of Macedonia
6.Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
7.When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
8.So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
9.During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
10.After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."
With this action Paul transforms the Way from an eastern religion to a western one. As the Way is accepted by gentiles (Greeks and Romans) it begins to radically transform. Thus we get Paul's letters reforming the Way to be more appealing to no-Jews. Various ideas like appropriate sexual practices, food laws, worship, giving, faith, justification, etc. are disscussed at length. All really weighty stuff that today (and back then) rubs people the wrong way today.
A good example brought up in the comments from the linked blog is that Paul was willing to radically change his life practices so as to not hinder the gospel ( IE eating laws, vows etc.). For those of us comfortable with the the way our lives go, that can be a difficult pill to swallow.
The rejection of Paul, is to reject the very man Christ chose to share the Gospel and bring it westward. Since I believe Christ chose Paul for an obvious reason, we should not ignore him or write off what he has to say. Does everything he say apply to us? No. But a lot of it does.
What do you guys think of Paul? Why does there seem to be a breaking away from Pauline inspiration among the emergent/emerging? Thanks and hope you enjoy the blog!
P.S. a free meal to anyone that can name where the title of this blog comes from.
(meal includes soup and a sandwich.)
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