tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230255862009-03-16T11:56:02.265-05:00Gary Greenberg's comments on biblical historicity and whatever else comes to mind.Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-46557915223802897522007-08-21T21:12:00.001-05:002007-08-21T21:12:18.767-05:00

After considerable reflection I have decided to terminate this blog. My main literary interest is writing books or preparing long think pieces that explore new perspectives or insights into historical issues or biblical analysis. Such a process is slow and not interactive. Blogging is not a good medium for such activity. Good biblioblogging requires lots of short fillers, some news, occasional

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-72949393250748808312007-08-02T20:25:00.000-05:002007-08-02T20:29:48.318-05:00

Sorry for the posting slow down. I've been extremely busy at my job the last couple of weeks and probably the next week or two. Hope to catch up soon.

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-33116949673143983622007-07-20T20:28:00.000-05:002007-07-20T20:32:17.333-05:00

Here are several reviews of William Dever's Did God have a wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. The wife in question is the Canaanite deity Asherah.

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-25108615276315452122007-07-20T20:14:00.000-05:002007-07-20T20:23:37.638-05:00

Michael Kiehl on the SBL Forum asks: "Did Paul Get Whacked? The Endings of The Sopranos and the Acts of the Apostles." He draws parallels between the endings of Acts and the ending of the Sopranos and wonders if we can draw some conclusions about what happened to Paul after he was sent to Rome for trial.Since in The Judas Brief I argue that Luke's Passion account goes to great lengths to

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-2953189472942272652007-07-19T20:55:00.000-05:002007-07-19T21:13:52.393-05:00

LJXpress, an electronic supplement to the print version of Library Journal, an important book review source for librarians deciding on purchases, will be releasing a brief review of The Judas Brief. The review has some positive comments but in the short space managed to garble a main argument of the book, mistakenly saying I proposed a peace-keeping arrangement, brokered by Judas, between Pilate

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-72846160847183405582007-07-19T19:51:00.000-05:002007-07-19T20:55:23.257-05:00

Among the many glitches plaguing the production of The Judas Brief, is that the publication track is out of sync with the publicity track. While the book was officially release last month, the main publicity campaign was only launched today. This could create some difficulties for book sales because book stores only give a book a couple of months to prove itself before they start returning books.

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-754832048301868622007-07-13T21:43:00.001-05:002007-07-13T21:48:08.175-05:00

In the arsenal of anti-Jewish Christian bigotry, 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 holds a prominent place. Here is the NRSV translation, with a key portion underlined.We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God's word, which is also at work in you believers. For you,

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-52051767115172201622007-07-12T19:11:00.000-05:002007-07-12T19:33:10.459-05:00

The Book of Jeremiah mentions an important Babylonian official named Nebo-sarsekim, who, together with Nebuchadnezzar, was present at the seige of Jerusqlem in 587 BCE. Now, an Austrian Assyriologist, Dr Michael Jursa, has discovered a reference to that very individual on a previously undeciphered cuneiform tablet in the British museum, which apparently has a vast horde of undeciphered Babylonian

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-11882732764275129132007-07-07T21:40:00.001-05:002007-07-07T21:43:04.714-05:00

Mark 12:28-34 tells the story of a friendly encounter between Jesus and a Jewish scribe, in which the two men discuss Gods fundamental commandments and the path to salvation. Matthew and Luke, who used Mark as a source, seem to have been highly disturbed by Mark's account, partly because it shows Jesus having a friendly respectful conversation with a knowledgeable Jew and partly because it

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-72710621140612530272007-07-05T21:50:00.001-05:002007-07-05T21:50:30.077-05:00

I started this blog on about January 1st of this year, so the passing of the six month mark last week seems like a good time to reflect a little on what I have experienced. First, blogging is hard work if you want to be serious about what you write and provide scholarly commentary. For many people, I suspect, blogging is just an opportunity to rant and let off steam, hurt people they don't like,

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-36053855836256149272007-07-05T21:44:00.000-05:002007-07-05T21:50:11.744-05:00

Stephen Cook at Biblische Aus-bildung is hosting this Biblical Studies Carnival (XIX).I'm pleased to note that some of my entries for June received attention. Thanks Stephen.(See my sidebar for a link to the Biblical Studies Carnival archives.)

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-7777392076348321922007-07-05T20:28:00.000-05:002007-07-05T20:39:13.787-05:00

For a look at the morass of difficulties that arise when historians and theologians confront each other check out James Crosslely's response to N. T. Wright's critique of Crossley. For additional perspective, also look at April DeConick's comment on the Crossley-Wright exchange.There is simply no point in engaging in these sort of debates except for the entertainment value of watching witty

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-47982146984994379412007-06-27T21:03:00.001-05:002007-06-27T21:10:06.945-05:00

In the wake of The da Vinci code and claims about a Jesus family tomb including a reference to the son of Jesus, some people actually think there is some merit to the idea that Jesus was married and had a child. That there is not a shred of tradition or evidence in any ancient Christian writings for the existence of a wife and child seems to be beside the point.Consider what would be the case if

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-44394052366519881162007-06-24T16:03:00.000-05:002007-06-24T16:46:17.275-05:00

In my previous post I mentioned my light encounter with the Gospel of Judas. For that purpose I made use of two books, Reading Judas by Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King, and The Gospel of Judas, edited by Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst, with additional commentary by Bart Ehrman.Although the two have similar translations (I didn't do any detailed comparisons) each has some

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-83020902630080883682007-06-24T15:59:00.001-05:002007-06-24T16:03:15.289-05:00

I was thumb-wrestling with the Gospel of Judas for much of the day and it occurred to me that this Gospel seems to take the Gospel of Mark as a primary source of information. The most telling clue seems to be the treatment of the Twelve Disciples, but there are others.The primary theme of Mark's Gospel appears to be that while Jesus was alive, no human truly knew the nature of Jesus, that the

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-23924974793699527592007-06-22T21:53:00.000-05:002007-06-22T22:03:37.784-05:00

Tony at Apocryphicity reviews Reinventing Jesus by J. Ed Komoszewski, M. James Sawyer, and Daniel B. Wallace. The book is an apologetic attempt to make historical arguments defending the validity of the New Testament canon in part by denigrating the Christian Apocrypha. Tony is not convinced.

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-50679169628942753072007-06-22T21:29:00.000-05:002007-06-22T21:52:19.391-05:00

From Eden to Exile by Eric ClineCline was the chief consultant to National Geographic's Science of the Bible series. This just released book, is in some ways a companion volume to that series, although not all the shows are covered. Instead, it provides a mainstream archaeological overview of several biblical issues and then introduces some of the more controversial views from other scholars. In

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-89910281921103664412007-06-17T22:42:00.000-05:002007-06-17T22:56:33.647-05:00

I have posted an online copy of the first chapter of The Judas Brief, "Jews in the Dock; Pilate in the Choir." Its a PDF file. For more info on The Judas Brief go here.The book is now in stock at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. It should hit brick and mortar stores over the next few days.

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-41859085218297691892007-06-12T17:28:00.001-05:002007-06-12T17:33:28.188-05:00

A major computing project has created a three-dimensional on-line journey through Ancient Rome in 320 AD/CE. You get an overview of the city, a tour of the Colosseum and other sites. Here's the story on Yahoo NewsThanks to Thoughts on Antiquity for the notice.

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-28419588110907322332007-06-12T17:25:00.000-05:002007-06-12T17:27:11.928-05:00

BN announces 24-hour shipping. Amazon has cut its shipping notice from 1-3 weeks to 8 to 12 days. That should change in the next couple of days.

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-54980795319974308502007-06-09T16:38:00.001-05:002007-06-09T17:11:35.242-05:00

We seem to be entering that stage of the presidential campaign when all of the major candidates of both major parties think about what lies they can get away with in the course of deceiving the voters about what they really believe.Today I was going through my mail and found a solicitation from one of these contenders whose been accused of flip-flopping on certain issues. (Shock, shock!) Anyhow,

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-6994675881532932902007-06-09T16:32:00.000-05:002007-06-09T16:38:09.994-05:00

Most biblical scholars accept that the story of the adulterous woman in John 7:53-8:11 was not part of John's original Gospel. Andrew Criddle at Hypotyposeis has a discussion about some of the historical issues associated with this text.

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-77742253903947602162007-06-09T16:26:00.000-05:002007-06-09T16:31:59.083-05:00

Mark Goodacre has posted a snippet from his upcoming lecture Did Jews in Jesus' day expect the Messiah?

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-13081213136449181252007-06-09T16:18:00.000-05:002007-06-09T17:26:42.103-05:00

The Judas Brief can now be pre-ordered at Barnes and Noble but Barnes and Noble has a link to a Table of Contents that is not the current Table of Contents. There is a link in my sidebar to the correct Table of Contents.Somehow, an early version of a proposed Table of Contents in the book proposal solicitation stage, before I had a contract to do the book, has been submitted to BN and it is that

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23025586.post-20661491457711296302007-06-05T21:16:00.000-05:002007-06-05T21:38:28.693-05:00

A while ago I mentioned the publication of Brian Doherty's Radicals for Capitalism, which tells the story of the developement of the modern libertarian political movement, and that I was pleased that he included a couple of quotes from me. Since then there have been a number of reviews. Now I've discovered that several major book reviews have focused in on one my quotes to highlight some of the

Gary Greenbergggreenberg@msn.com1