Drawing on the work of James Scott, Richard Horsley ( Jesus in Context: Power, People, and Perfomance ) offers this remarkable description of first-century temple worship: “The ideology of the Temple and high priesthood, both being institutions of venerable antiquity, aimed to symbolize that . . . . Continue Reading »
Wise words from NT Wright, in his contribution to Horsley’s Paul and Politics: Ekklesia, Israel, Imperium, Interpretation : “It is . . . much easier to highlight Paul’s confrontation with some aspect of his world when the aspect in question is one that is currently so deeply out . . . . Continue Reading »
What motivated the Jewish persecution of Christians? Paul Fredriksen ( From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Christ ) suggests this plausible explanation: “News of an impending Messsianic kingdom, originating from Palestine, might trickle out via the . . . . Continue Reading »
A reader, Mark Kelly, sends along these reflections on the question I raised in a recent First Things column. The remainder of this post is from Kelly: “If you ask any modern to visualise the earth, or draw the earth, you will without exception evoke an exterior view of our planet, outside it . . . . Continue Reading »
Peter James and his colleagues dispute the existence of a three-century dark age in ancient history. They find it implausible to think that civilization died in the 12th or 11th century, and then revived, almost intact, three centuries later. Language provides one example of the difficulties of . . . . Continue Reading »
Defending the historicity of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt and the exodus, GE Wright pointed to the prevalence of non-Semitic Egyptian names in the early history of Israel: “Moses, an abbreviation of a longer name, is from an Egyptian verb meaning ‘to bear, beget.’ The same . . . . Continue Reading »
Peter James, et. al., ( Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Chronology of Old World Archaeology ) are no fans of the “devout breed of archaeologist happy to dig with a trowel in one hand and a Bible in the other.” At the same time, they are critical of the knee-jerk skepticism . . . . Continue Reading »
Peter James ( Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Chronology of Old World Archaeology ) notes: Going Ussher one better, “Dr John Lightfoot, author of the wonderfully titled A Few and New Observations on the book of Genesis, the most of them certain, the rest probably, all harmless, . . . . Continue Reading »
According to Josephus ( Antiquities , 2.10), Moses spent his youth leading Egyptian armies against invading Kushite/Ethiopians: “Moses, at the persuasion both of Thermuthis and the king himself, cheerfully undertook the business: and the sacred scribes of both nations were glad; those of the . . . . Continue Reading »
According to the Jewish historian Artapanus (quoted by Eusebius in his Preparation for the Gospel ), the Pharaoh of Moses’ nativity was Palmanothes, and his daughter, who rescued Moses, was named “Merris.” Josephus says that the daughter’s name was Thermuthis, Greek for . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
