The Forbidden Gospels Blog

Apocryphote of the Day: 10-7-08

2008-10-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

Then all the children of light truly will know the truth and their root, and the Father of everything and the Holy Spirit. They will all say with a single voice, "The truth of the Father is just, and the Son is above everything." And from everyone forever, "Holy! Holy! Holy!" Amen.

The Hypostasis of the Archons 97.15-22 (Sethian; mid-second c.).

Manuscript illumination: Isaiah's vision as recorded in Isaiah 6.

Why do I occasionally post on politics?

2008-10-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

From the comments in a few of my past posts, I can see that some of you don't want to see my blog discuss politics because it shows my biases. I have this to say:

1. Religion (and its making) is tied to politics. It is now and it was then. Watching what happens now, can help us to understand what happened then. Why do you think the Gnostics were thrown out? Because they held different beliefs? Or because the different beliefs they held meant that certain people could and could not be in power?

2. Objectivity is not neutrality. The press confuses these two, and in trying to be neutral (i.e., unbiased), they forget to be objective and call a spade a spade. So it is up to people such as myself to try to raise the objective observations above the fray. In this case, the objective observation is that Palin is not prepared on either a national or international level to become our next VP or President (should that happen).

3. Half of my readers are from the international scene. Many send me comments by e-mail, thanking me for my posts on Palin because all they get from the media is a crazy view of Americans who appear to not know what they are doing. These international readers are in total shock over the American reaction to this campaign. They cannot fathom how such an ill-prepared person as Palin can be so close to the White House. In fact, one of my international readers said that Palin makes George W. Bush look like an intellectual giant, something which he would have never thought possible.

4. This campaign is HISTORIC. Not only are we having to face sexism and racism, but we will be witnessing the hostile takeover of our government by the religious right if we are not careful. Too extreme? Consider the Supreme Court which is likely to lose at least two justices in the next presidency, and if they are replaced by conservative judges, there will be no more debates or controls in our government against the imposition of the values of the religious right on all of us. Is this what we want for our country?

Communal memory in operation

2008-10-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

As I have been watching the various reactions to this presidential campaign, I am fascinated with the way in which I can see communal memory in operation - how older memories are refashioned to meet the needs of a current group, especially as it attempts to solve some crisis. Usually I have only ancient texts to study, and so I cannot observe this process as an organic one. So seeing it in process now is very educational. Perhaps it will allow me to bring even more insight to my old text studies.

What do I see? Well I see some evangelical and conservative Christians in a real crisis over this campaign. Why? Because the republicans have nominated a woman as VP, and according to their strict literal readings of scripture, women cannot be in leadership positions, especially if those positions dominate men.

Let's take the Southern Baptist Convention which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago on my blog. Ten years ago there was a conservative hostile takeover of the Convention that resulted in a doctrinal and practical shift - women were told to stay home, and be helpmates to their husbands based on what the bible says literally. At the time, this was applied to secular vocations, not simply pastoral.

In fact, just last year, Sheri Klouda a Hebrew professor in Dallas (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) was denied tenure because of her gender. According to the Dallas news the controversy was over 1 Timothy which says, "I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man." This was used to fire her from her teaching post. Wade Burleson, an Oklahoma pastor who came to her defense said, "Sheri Klouda is not a pastor, she has not been ordained or licensed, she does not perform ministerial duties. She is a professor, for heaven's sake," Mr. Burleson said. "The same institution that conferred her degree and hired her has now removed her for gender. To me, that is a very serious, ethical, moral breach."

Now that Palin is on the republican ticket, there is a dilemma for these communities. So we see a shift now in some of these circles to begin emphasizing part of the past, while redefining the other part. The emphasis is now being placed on spiritual leadership - women cannot be leaders in church. But they can take on these roles if they are secular, like perhaps becoming one of the most powerful people in the world - the President of the United States. And the redefinition comes in terms of "this is what we always meant, but are just clarifying."

So now, according to David Kotter executive director of the Louisville, Kentucy-based Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, "Even though the Bible reserves final authority in the church for men, this does not apply in the kingdom of this world" (Houston Chronicle). Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, says that their leadership beliefs are based on New Testament teachings, and do not apply to women in secular leadership. "Where the New Testament is silent, we're silent," he said. "Where the New Testament speaks, we're under its authority" (Houston Chronicle).

Has this shift opened a crack for women's leadership in areas that Land and Kotter may not have intended? Sheryl Brady, one of the five pastors featured in the recent edition of Gospel Today (which I also blogged on last month), reasons, "My problem with all this is, how can we have a Sarah Palin running for vice-president and yet (Southern Baptists) don't think a woman can be preacher?" Colorado-based author Margaret Feinberg, an up-and-coming evangelical voice says that for a lot of young evangelical women, Palin's nomination is "exciting" because "it speaks to young evangelical women who face a glass ceiling in our workplaces, but also the stained-glass ceiling of the church" (Associated Press).

This shift in communal memory - really the development of a counter-memory in order to deal with a crisis situation in the present - is not being met with open arms by some of the conservative Christians because they are recognized as a change from the previous platform. In March 2007, the Pew Research Center found that 56 percent of white evangelicals thought that mothers with young children (i.e., Palin?!) working outside the home was a "bad thing" rather than a good one. Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum, a Texas-based ministry, says, "The Palin selection is the single most dangerous event in the conscience of the Christian community in the last 10 years at least. The unabashed, unquestioning support of Sarah Palin and all she represents marks a fundamental departure from our historic position of family priorities -- of moms being at home with young children, of moms being helpers to their husbands, the priority of being keepers of the home" (Los Angeles Times). Voddie Baucham, a Texas pastor who has criticized the Palin selection as anti-family in a series of blogs, said that the overwhelming evangelical support demonstrates a willingness to sacrifice biblical principles for politics. "Evangelicalism has lost its biblical perspective and its prophetic voice," Baucham wrote. "Men who should be standing guard as the conscience of the country are instead falling in line with the feminist agenda and calling a family tragedy . . . a shining example of family values" (Los Angeles Times).

Send me material and links that you have noticed about these shifting communal memories.

Apocryphote of the Day: 10-6-08

2008-10-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

If you seek with a perfect seeking, then you will know the Good, that it is in you! Then you will know yourself, that you derive from the pre-existent God!

Allogenes 56.15-20 (Platonic Sethian text, 3rd century)

My reaction to the Biden and Palin debate

2008-10-03T06:54:00.000-07:00

I watched the VP debate last night and was again very uncomfortable seeing Palin in action. Perhaps it is because I am a woman, but to see her so out of her league makes me upset. Women have fought so hard to be able to break into politics, against stereotypes that we are intellectually inferior to men and can't go the distance. And now to see Palin emerge on the VP scene as unprepared as she is, well, I wish it were different.

The fact that the media is falling over themselves to increase their ratings with nonsense "analyses" after the interview is equally troubling. To call her style "folksy" and to say that because she surpassed expectations she had a victory is nothing but media spin.

This is what I saw from my couch. I saw a woman who, because she didn't know enough about the subjects and thus refused rudely to answer the posed questions, resort to flirting. I saw her wink and use voice and body language that was inappropriate to a professor, let alone a VP presidential candidate who might become a President one day. Her remark to call John Biden by his first name was not folksy. It was rude and pretentious. Her invocation of socceer moms and Joe six packs, her use of slang jargon, and her mispronunciations were not cute. They were demeaning, as if the middle class of which I am a part, cannot understand anything but street conversation.

George Stephanopoulos of ABC gave her debate an A- and her style an A. Based on what? The fact that she was coherent, even though she had little knowledge of the issues that were being debated? As a professor, this is so offensive, I don't even know where to begin. We don't give grades based on exceeding sub-standard expectations. We give grades based against a knowledge-set that must be met. We don't give grades based on "a good try." We give grades based on the quality of the work. And Palin performance was neither of these. It showed how much she doesn't know (as oral exams often do).

UPDATE: J.K. Gayle left this link in the comments. I didn't know about this blog previously.
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/2008/10/after-vp-debate.html

Apocryphote of the Day: 10-3-08

2008-10-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

There are some who say, "We are faithful [...]." But if they had the holy spirit, unclean spirits would not cleave to them. Fear not the flesh nor love it. If you fear it, it will gain mastery over you. If you love it, it will swallow and paralyze you.

Gospel of Philip 65.36-66.7 (late second century Valentinian text; Syrian or Alexandrian?)

Magical Cup has nothing to do with Christ

2008-10-02T09:44:00.001-07:00

Jim Davila posted today on a news release item about an old magic cup that has been discovered in the sea of Alexandria.

The report:

A bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., is engraved with what may be the world's first known reference to Christ. The engraving reads, "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS," which has been interpreted to mean either, "by Christ the magician" or, "the magician by Christ."

This cup has nothing to do with Christ. The Greek on the cup has CHRESTOU not CHRISTOU (or CHRSTOU as the newsreport has it!). CHRESTOU was a well-known title for one of the Sethian Gnostic archons, ATHOTH. It means "EXCELLENT ONE". It is found in several Sethian texts, including the Gospel of Judas. I do not yet know what OGOISTAIS is, but I am going to work on it. But it doesn't mean "magician." This magical bowl is possibly a GNOSTIC magical bowl with an invocation to ATHOTH on it. So don't believe the hype for minute. This bowl had absolutely nothing to do with CHRIST or with CHRIST as a magician. BUT it is totally fascinating if this object is actually SETHIAN!

UPDATE: Wieland Willker has been tracking suggestions on his blog Textual Criticism of the Bible HERE. Thanks for the link Wieland!

Article Note: "Acts of Impropriety: The Imbalance of History and Theology in Luke Acts" (Gerd Lüdemann)

2008-10-01T19:07:00.001-07:00

Gerd Lüdemann sent me a link to an article that he just published in the Toronto Journal of Theology 24 (2008) 65-79. He begins the piece with a stunning quote from Ernst Troeltsch:

"The historical method, once it is applied to biblical scholarship and church history, is a leaven which transforms everything and which finally causes the form of all previous theological methods to disintegrate. Give historical method your little finger and it will take your whole hand."

Reading the opening quote again made me lament the falling away of historical methods as post-modern trends have taken control of the academy. I am worried about the training of the next generation of scholars who are shying away from the hard historical-critical work because it is not as fashionable as post-modern analyses. What will this means twenty years from now? I can't emphasize enough how essential it is to do our own work - from the manuscript up. Textual work and historical-critical work is hard work. It is slow work. But without it, we cannot be sure that we are not making the same mistakes that our predecessors did, or worse, building upon them. Furthermore, there is a new historiography emerging and it needs to be tended.

So I want to thank Lüdemann for his careful historical-critical analysis of Acts. He brings up some tough historical hermeneutic issues in this piece, including the fact that our new historiography has revealed to us that no one writes entirely objective history. What does this mean for Acts, he asks? Go HERE FOR HIS ANSWER.

Apocryphote of the Day: 10-1-08

2008-10-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

O Lord Almighty,
how much glory shall I give you?
No one has been able to glorify God adequately.
O Merciful God,
you have given glory to your Word in order to save everyone,
He who has come forth from your mouth and has risen from your heart
is First-born, Wisdom, Prototype, First Light.
For he is light from the power of God
an emanation of the pure glory of the Almighty.

Teachings of Silvanus (Alexandrian Christian text, second century)

Book Note: The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. An Introduction (Hans-Josef Klauck)

2008-10-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Professor Klauck is on a roll. He has just published another handy book, (finally!) a current English introduction to the Apocryphal Acts. How useful is it? Each chapter covers one of the Apocryphal Acts. He lists the critical edition bibliographical information, translations, plus a content bibliography. Then he discusses the Acts in some detail with more bibliographical information. This will be an excellent book for courses on the apocrypha, as well as a good resource to have on one's library shelf. Klauck relies on his vast knowledge of the Christian apocrypha to make accessible a body of early Christian literature often overlooked. His coverage is thorough and up-to-date, emphasizing provenance, narrative content, and religious context.

It is published by Baylor University Press for $39.95.

More dead found after IKE

2008-09-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

Three more bodies have been found according to the Houston Chronicle HERE. Two on the island of Galveston. The bodies will have to be identified by autopsies. The third body has been identified as Mr. Greg Walker of Orange County. Searchers expect to find more bodies as the debris is cleared.

This picture is of the memorial on Galveston seawall that was built in honor of those 6000 people who died in the hurricane of 1900.

For photo and MORE PHOTOS GO HERE
Photo by Johnny Hanson for the Houston Chronicle

Waves crashing into the seawall reaching over the memorial to the hurricane of 1900 as Hurricane Ike began to hit Galveston.

Zakaria weighs in on McCain's VP choice

2008-09-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

CNN has reported this about a column in Newsweek where Zakaria is interviewed about McCain and Palin:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- In a column appearing in Newsweek, world affairs expert and author Fareed Zakaria said he thinks it would be best for Republican presidential hopeful John McCain if Gov. Sarah Palin bowed out as his vice presidential running mate.

Zakaria says McCain did not put the country first in making his V.P. choice, and he says Palin is not qualified to lead the United States.

MORE OF ZAKARIA'S INTERVIEW HERE. Zakaria emphasizes the fact that Palin is operating from a set of talking points which she repeats and confuses. Like Parker admitted yesterday in her editorial, Zakaria thinks it would be best for our country if Palin would step down. She is clearly not ready for the President's post if (more likely: when) she would need to take over the helm. Zakaria thinks that McCain did not make this VP choice with the best interest of our country in mind.

Apocryphote of the Day: 9-29-08

2008-09-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

It is good to pray to God night and day, spreading out our hands toward him as do people sailing in the middle of the sea. They pray to God with all their heart without hypocrisy...God examines the inward parts and searches the bottom of the heart so that he might know who is worthy of salvation.

Exegesis on the Soul 136.17-25 (second century Valentinian sermon)

Parker now thinks that Palin is "out of her league"

2008-09-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Kathleen Parker who had been an early enthusiastic supporter of Palin has now changed her mind and asks directly for Palin to step down in HER EDITORIAL HERE. After listening to the interviews, Parker has come to the conclusion that Palin is out of her league. Palin doesn't know enough about international politics or the economy to function successfully as our President should the need arise, although Parker did note that the foreign male leaders that Palin met were infatuated with her. The Pakistani president asked to hug her because he was so smitten with her beauty.

So here we are again glaring into the face of sexism at its worse. We have standing before us a woman VP nominee who is not ready for the job. This is nothing but a mockery of women politicians in my opinion as I have said before on this blog (just scroll down to my last several posts). Why don't we have Senator Hutchinson, a woman who knows what she is doing, standing next to McCain? It is painful for me to watch a woman who finally "made it" be so unknowledgeable about the essentials, and for this to be seen as "okay" by Americans because she is a so-called "hockey-mom" and beauty queen. I dare say that if this were a male VP nominee none of us would tolerate it - think Dan Quayle.

The MISSING after IKE are being reported

2008-09-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

We now have a more accurate picture of who is missing after IKE. There is a web-page devoted to the MISSING HERE.

As I feared in the aftermath of the storm, the information about the MISSING was not being reported to us. Why I do not know. But today, over two weeks following IKE's devastation, the Houston Chronicle has a sad report HERE on the MISSING which now is at 400. And some survivor stories that are horrifying HERE. Many of the MISSING are hoped to show up yet in shelters. But it is beginning to look more and more like many were washed out to sea, and we are expecting to find more bodies buried in the mounds of rubble yet to be shifted through and removed.

Story and Photo HERE
Photo by Cindy Horswell for Houston Chronicle
Mike Anderson, 49, is a survivor from Bolivar. He was adrift at sea and lost for 36 hours in debris before he was rescued. He was covered in ant bites and flesh-eating bacteria. He said thoughts of his family gave him the will to live.

Apocryphote of the Day: 9-27-08

2008-09-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "He who prays and fasts but does not abandon sin is inscribed in the Kingdom of God as a liar."

Abu al-Qasim ibn `Asakir, Sirat al-Sayyid al-Masih p. 172 (no. 196): The Muslim Jesus

Bolivar Peninsula video

2008-09-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

Residents have been returning home to face what is left and what is not left of their homes and properties on Galveston island and Bolivar peninsula this week.

The Houston Chronicle reported this morning that "the most stunning sight amid the devastation in town may have been Warren and Pam Adams' bright yellow home — the only house along the beach in Gilchrist left standing. Warren Adams credited his home's survival to several reasons: It was built higher off the ground than surrounding houses and its foundation was made with reinforced concrete. Also, the house, completed last year, was built to new hurricane building codes. Pam Adams felt a sense of guilt that her home survived and those of her neighbors didn't. 'It is just devastating. I feel so sorry for all these people,' she said. While their home remains standing, the first-floor garage was wiped away, the wooden staircase to the second floor was knocked out and the home's interior suffered water and mud damage.Warren Adams said he planned to repair and rebuild. But like many other Bolivar Peninsula residents who planned to do the same, he worried whether his home could be seized by the state because Ike eroded so much of the beach that it might now sit on public property."

The photos are from Houston Chronicle. Pam Adams is standing in front of her home in Gilchrist on Friday, Sept. 26, on the Bolivar Peninsula. Hurricane Ike leveled every house on the Gulf side of Gilchrist, except hers. Compare the aerial photo.

VIDEO OF BOLIVAR RESIDENTS FACING THE RUBBLE

Cafferty's comments on Palin's interview

2008-09-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this. It's short. When I saw this, I thought, gosh, I'm beginning to sound like Cafferty. Thanks to Bill Parsons for bringing it to my attention.

A link to Palin's interview

2008-09-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Doug Chaplin for posting this link to Palin's interview which Doug calls PALIN DRONE - the interview which I referred to in my last post. You really do have to see it to believe it.

I am terrified at the prospect that this person who can barely answer simple questions could be our next VP. The journalist appears more knowledgeable than she.

Palin's candidacy is a mockery

2008-09-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well, Doonesbury this morning cartoons much better the feelings that I tried to convey in my story about Palin (which I posted yesterday). HERE is the link to DOONESBURY, the cartoon is SEPT. 28.

Reading this morning in the newspaper about Palin's justification for her lack of interaction in the international scene is demeaning to me, the child of a working class family. A working class childhood is no justification for an adult VP nominee to have never obtained a passport before last year or to never have traveled beyond the US borders. These excuses are pitiful and they suggest that working class people have no ingenuity or abilities. Being from a working class background is no excuse for not being prepared for the job she wants.

I too am a working class kid. My father is a plumber and we had to deal with very tough times in Michigan in the eighties when there was no work for many people in construction. Nevertheless, during those hard times, I not only figured out how to go to college, but I also figured out how to travel overseas. Because my family couldn't afford to send me away to university, and I had to work and get scholarships and loans, I went to our local community college for two and a half years before transferring to a state university. During that time, I managed to travel outside of the US. many times, beginning when I was 20 and I won a scholarship from the local Kiwanis Club to support an educational trip to Greece and Turkey. I have never stopped traveling nor have I ever stopped learning.

Palin's candidacy is a mockery, especially of women politicians, but also of the way in which we select the people to run the White House. It is a last ditch ploy by the Republicans in power to draw attention away from the fact that they have crashed our economy, involved us in a war with no ethical justification, and have nothing except their own self-interests at heart. They are using Palin to present themselves as a party for Every(wo)man, when in fact, they are a party dominated by a white male elites who are more concerned about making quick money (and getting bailed out) at our expense and our children's expense and their children's expense. I have never been so depressed or embarrassed about my country as I am today.

Listening to an interview

2008-09-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

Last evening as I was working on the computer, I could hear part of an interview on TV. Two people were talking about the financial crisis which is on all of our minds. Someone was asking a woman some questions about the crisis, and the woman was replying. Her replies were so misinformed and silly that I couldn't believe what I was hearing. So I asked Wade (who was able to see the screen) who was being interviewed. He replied, "Palin."

My reaction was complete embarrassment, especially for women in America. What a mockery of us this is.

Apocryphote of the Day: 9-24-08

2008-09-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "There was a wealthy man who had many assets. He said, 'I will use my assets to sow, harvest, plant and fill my granaries with produce, so that I will not need anything.' These were the things he was thinking in his heart. But that very night, he died."

Gospel of Thomas 63.1-3

What the evacuees face

2008-09-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Galveston residents returned to the island today, some seeing their properties and the devastation for the first time since they left the island before IKE hit. There is a long road ahead for these residents. Apparently even after power and water is restored to the island, every house has to be inspected by a licensed electrician and plumber, followed by city inspectors who must give their blessings - all before residents can turn on their power and water. There are 4 city inspectors for approximately 50,000 residents.

Wade returns to the Law and Justice Center on the island tomorrow even though the building is under generator power. The water is so bad that they are being told to not even brush their teeth with it or allow their pets to drink it. Residents are warned that mosquitoes, rats and snakes are swarming on the island. So everyone is supposed to go and get a tetanus shot which are being administered at the local Galveston grocery store. Wade was told to pack a brown bag lunch and all the sodas and water that he wants to drink.

The good news I heard is that the missing people have been reduced to under a hundred, perhaps even as low as fifty. I don't know how long before we know any more than this.

For photo and MORE GO HERE
Photo by David J. Phillip for AP

Wayne Neill, left, and Brenda Roby, center, hug as Donna Hanson looks over the debris left where her home once stood in Galveston.

Apocryphote of the Day: 9-23-08

2008-09-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

His disciples said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside."

He said to them, "Those here who do the will of my Father, they are my brothers and my mother. They are the people who will enter the Kingdom of my Father."

Gospel of Thomas 99.1-3

Galveston residents to return home to what is left (or not left)

2008-09-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow marks the day that Galveston evacuees are allowed to return to their homes. People that have been back already tell of how bad it is: to bring masks, gloves, high boots, and be ready to face heartbreak. For some who were lucky, they only have to deal with first floor flooding. This means getting rid of all the furniture and appliances on the first floor, pulling up the flooring, and tearing out the walls, dealing with mold everywhere.

For those who weren't so lucky, it means tearing down the home completely (or what was left of it) and starting over. In the meantime, these people are homeless. Many are now jobless as well, at least until Galveston is up and running again, or they move elsewhere to find work.

What else do they face when they return to Galveston? The sewer system is leaking; the water pressure is so low that there is a boil water order in place; the ER room in the hospital can barely handle urgent care, let alone a car accident or heart attack victim; and did I mention that there is no electricity yet? Many of Wade's co-workers in the judicial system no longer have homes, cars, clothes, or any other possessions that we all take for granted. They are scrambling to try to find housing, which is basically non-existent in the areas around Houston. How can you house 40,000 displaced people in an area where housing is at a premium? They are bunking with family and friends on the mainland, or living in tents on their Galveston property and using make-shift outdoor grills to prepare food.

For these photos and MORE GO HERE
Photo 1 by Rick Bowmer for AP

Joan Harden removes debris from her mother-in-law's home today in Galveston. The home was hit by flood waters.

Photo 2 by Rick Bowmer for AP

Scot Adams helps demolish a house destroyed by Hurricane Ike today in Galveston.

Photo 3 by Rick Bowmer for AP

Donna Lawe, who weathered Hurricane Ike at her home, is shown washing her clothes while preparing to cook breakfast today in Galveston.