Divinity United

The Daily Mail Online has run a piece today entitled: "' Jesus NEVER existed': Writer finds no mention of Christ in 126 historical texts and says he was a 'mythical character .'" The writer is Michael Paulkovich who is described as a "historical researcher." (It is probably worth mentioning that the next story that the Daily Mail suggests its readers view is "Has 'Dracula's dungeon' been unearthed in Turkey?") As the title, and every following paragraph, states, Paulkovich did not find reference to Jesus in 126 ancient historical writers (his list is provided), and so therefore, Paulkovich believes Jesus was mythical. The assumption built in here is that by the end of the first century Jesus was famous enough throughout the Roman Empire that any decent historian would have mentioned him: "all of whom should have heard of Jesus but did not."  Yet, it should be obvious that this is clearly an argument from sile...

The McMaster Bingham Colloquium will be held on June 8, 2013, and the title of this year's Bingham Colloquium is "Rejection: God's Refugees". The schedule can be found here . The description of the one day colloquium that will revolve around the topic of Diaspora is as follows: "God’s people have always lived as exiles and refugees–from the ancient Israelites to Christians throughout history. This conference explores what it means for God’s people of any age to live as those rejected by their surrounding cultures, and living in the world as refugees. For some, this takes the character of spiritual isolation, living a life of faith within a hostile alien culture. For others, this means living outside their land of origin among strangers and even those hostile to them and their beliefs. This conference explores what it means to be God’s refugees in four broad sweeps–from the Old Testament and its tales of exile, to the Second Temple period and Jewish...

I recently received an email from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishers about the release of a book edited by Hal Taussig called A New New Testament: A Bible for the 21st Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts . The book is the traditional or canonical New Testament with the addition of ten texts that have been found in Egypt and elsewhere over the last one hundred years. The Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary are two of these texts. Hal Taussig is a founding member of the Jesus Seminar, and he gathered "a council of scholars and spiritual leaders" to talk about the various apocryphal New Testament texts and to vote about which ones to include in the New New Testament. I could only find the list of council members on the short video on the website. Some of this group include Karen King, Stephen Moore, and John Dominic Crossan. The case made in the promotional material is that these ten texts are early Christian literature and some of it "has be...

I have just added a link to Early Christianity under "Journals" at the right. The journal Early Christianity which was started in 2010 is now in its third volume and tenth issue, June 2012, Vol. 3, number 2. The editors are Jörg Frey, Clare K. Rothschild, Jens Schröter and Francis Watson. Here is the website comment: The journal is concerned with early Christianity as a historical phenomenon. Thereby, “Early Christianity” aims to overcome certain limitations which have hindered the development of the discipline, including the concept of the “New Testament” itself. The journal, then, is taken to cover not only the first Christian century but also the second. This journal will not, however, give any special prominence to reception-history or to the second century. The total phenomenon called "early Christianity" comprises a kaleidoscopic range of individual phenomena, including communal structures, social norms, discursive practices, points of confli...

A great table of contents (and contributor list ) in the latest issue of the Scottish Journal of Theology. I hope to read through these soon. SCOTTISH JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY, VOLUME 65 - ISSUE 03 AUGUST 2012 Creatio ex nihilo in Palestinian Judaism and Early Christianity Markus Bockmuehl, pp 253-270 Kenosis and its Discontents: Towards an Augustinian Account of Divine Humility Stephen Pardue, pp 271-288 Reception Theory, H. R. Jauss and the Formative Power of Scripture Anthony C. Thiselton, pp 289-308 Selective Memory: Augustine and Contemporary Just War Discourse Peter Lee, pp 309-322 Is Tom Right?: An Extended Review of N. T. Wright's Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision Douglas A. Campbell, pp. 323-345