Lee Harmon's Blog, page 46

Book review: The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero

by Joel Baden

★★★★★

This book hooked me from the beginning. Definitely a fun read, especially during the beginning of David’s career.

Uncovering the historical David is no small challenge—more difficult than pinpointing the historical Jesus, I believe—but Baden makes a valiant effort. His research is fraught with speculation, and he certainly has no qualms about taking a controversial stand, but who knows? He may be right more often than he is wrong. The point is that we simply cannot know; we c...

Acts 24:24, The Historicity of Acts

And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess…

//Acts is a puzzling book. On the one hand, its miracle stories are so bizarre that they are hard to believe, given the lack of corroborating writings. On the other hand, it is chock full of references to real historical figures for which we do have non-Christian corroboration. Most of this corroboration comes from Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian. Here is a list of people mentioned in Acts that are a...

2 Corinthians 12:12, The Miracles of Paul

Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

//The book of Acts tells of many miracles that Paul performed. I’ve noticed a tendency among scholars to distrust these supernatural accounts, based on Paul’s own lack of writing about them. The opinion seems to be that Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, boldly elaborated on several stories to make them seem miraculous.

But hold on. Not so fast. Paul DOES confirm his own miracle...

John 5:2, When Was John’s Gospel Written?

Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesdaand which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

//Authorship of John’s Gospel has traditionally been understood to be quite late … in the tenth decade of the first century. However, a number of Bible scholars—usually, the more conservative believers—date John’s Gospel quite early. Perhaps in the seventh decade.

There is good reason for the controversy. The author seems to know an awful lot about Judea a...

John 20:17, The Christology of John

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

//John’s Gospel is recognized as the gospel with the highest Christology–that is, the gospel which describes Jesus in the most divine terms. John bluntly equates Jesus with God, and though scholars have uncovered hints in the other three gospels in that direction, none is so forthright as John’s Gospel.

Odd...

Book review: Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

by Reza Aslan

★★★★★

Captivating! Reza is a good story teller who holds your attention on every topic. His perception of Jesus differs considerably from mine, but that’s part of what made the reading interesting for me.

Aslan portrays Jesus as a revolutionary predicting a violent overthrow of the current government, both Roman and Judean. Woe to the corrupt ruling class, because the Kingdom of God is coming, with chilling destruction! Aslan points out that in the political turmoil of the first ce...

Matthew 2:1-2, The Magi (wise men) and the Star of Bethlehem

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

//Everybody knows Jesus was born under a star, right? The magi, following a star, go looking for Jesus and at first go to the wicked king Herod’s palace. Herod tells them to report back to him when they find him, because he wishes to kill any po...

Mark 2:22, New Wine in Old Wineskins

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.

//Wine is an important symbol in the Bible,well understood by its original readers and writers.It is a symbol of the messianic age, when there would be wine aplenty. It is impossible that the symbolism of Jesus’ parable could have been misunderstood by his audience. This promise of abundant wine can be interpreted...

Acts 11:26, What it Means to be Christian

And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

//I’d like to refer you back to a post I wrote a while ago about what it means to me to be a Christian. SeeActs 11:26, I am a Christian. I was writing in current-day terms, of course, so let me now back up and discuss exactly what it meant to take the title of Christian in the first century.

The word “Christ” is simply another word for Messiah. Yes, I know, we toss the title around like it’s some sort of surname: “Jesus Christ.” But it’...

Book review: The Gatekeepers

by Stephen Moss

★★★★★

Here is a novel that will be talked about for a long time. Moss doesn’t pull punches as he exposes religion’s dark underbelly, and readers may feel him teetering on the edge between insightful and cynical. I vote for both, and the blend is captivating.

Two primary themes run throughout the book. In a conference at Georgetown University, scholars debate the origins of the Jesus movement and a discovery within the pages of the Bible that may rock the Christian world. Biblical...