Hearing something repeatedly can diminish its significance. I suspect that this is particularly true of Scripture. Overfamiliarity with a biblical passage can contribute to its misunderstanding. Sometimes it can reduce a profound saying to nothing more than a cliché.
Pileggi Sermon: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand”
Listen to a sermon by David Pileggi delivered at the Narkis Street congregation in Jerusalem.
Jesus’ Sabbath Dispute with Pharisees in a Cornfield
The debate between Jesus and the Pharisees about plucking and eating corn did not concern labour on the Sabbath but concerned eating food which was allowed only to priests.
A New Perspectivist Response to Simon Gathercole’s Christianity Today Article
How do the results of a debate that raged more than three centuries after the New Testament was written affect the way most Westerners read Paul’s theology? Put briefly, Augustine effected a revolution in understanding what the human predicament is, how Christ saves us from it, and what the role of justification is within the larger understanding of salvation.
Where Seed and Thistle Grow
The interpretive approach of this essay assumes that Jesus’ frame of reference for the Parable of the Sower centered on the kingdom of heaven. Jesus emphasized repentance and grace, and their joint role as a catalyst for increasing God’s reign.
A Theology of Jewish-Christian Relations
Still today a famous German New Testament professor can say (as he did) to his students: “If you want to be a good Christian, you must kill the Jew in your heart.” I quote this professor’s words not because I am a Jew, but because he used the word “kill” as if it were a Christian virtue. Furthermore, the opinion that “you have to kill the Jew in your heart” is not unconnected with an important trend that existed in Christianity from its beginnings.
Rabbinic Reflections on Living Sacrifices at Romans 12:1
Paul mentions the living sacrifices without explanation, as if the readers would be familiar with the concept. Similar early rabbinic vocabulary suggests that Paul is referring to sacrifices which were given to the Temple but which were inappropriate for offering, because they were female instead of male or for other technical reasons. They could not be un-offered so, although they were sacrifices, they were kept alive as temple property till they became blemished, and any profit from them was for the Lord.
The Statistics behind “The Tomb”
Rather than being treated as liabilities to a statistical study, conjectured details are turned into historical givens and are even factored in as positive data. Consequently, most of the connections made in the documentary fall under the heading of “special pleading.”
How should I cite material taken from your site?
Due to the nature of Internet publishing, content found on Web sites can be updated, corrections and improvements being inserted whenever an author desires. Sometimes, an article’s revision involves no more than a word or two. An online article might be revised, for example, twenty times in one day. Consequently, online articles are usually accompanied by a “Last Revised” date and the “Date Read” (date of access)
James Tabor Responds to JP Review
Poirier’s review on JP of Tabor’s recently published The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity has caused a stir on the Internet
Book Review: James Tabor’s The Jesus Dynasty
Tabor has an annoying habit of promoting remote possibilities into even possibilities, and then into probabilities.
What is the meaning of “firstborn male” in Luke 2:23?
Is the consecration of the boy only done if he is the firstborn? Or is it done if he is simply the oldest?
How should Jesus’ Hebrew name be transliterated to English?
I was puzzled by David Bivin’s January/February column (“Understanding the Roots of the Bible”) [in Ministries Today (Strang Communications, Lake Mary, Florida)] inasmuch as Bivin makes a case against spelling the name Y’shua with an apostrophe.
Doesn’t the Bible Call Jesus a Rabbi?
From the Gospel accounts, Jesus clearly appears as a typical first-century Jewish sage, and was famous enough to draw students to himself.
What language did Jesus speak?
The following two articles by Shmuel Safrai are the most essential reading on this question: “Spoken Languages in the Time of Jesus” and “Literary Languages in the Time of Jesus.”
Did women go through a mikveh (ritual immersion pool) after childbirth?
Scripture seems to say nothing about a woman washing herself either after childbirth or after her monthly period.
Are you suggesting that the canon of Scripture is incomplete?
There is something scary in the suggestion that there may be an additional Gospel. The canon of Scripture is, after all, complete. And I hope you don’t suggest otherwise.
Matthew 24:20: Why did Jesus advise people to pray that their flight not be on the Sabbath?
If one had to flee on the Sabbath one would be forced to leave behind nearly all of one’s possessions.