The Incompetent Crankery of the Israel Only Movement

There is a strange little fringe movement, including in its ranks even atheists and other nonbelievers, that attempts to make the bizarre argument that Christians should abandon their religion because “the Bible” says the entire Christian gospel concluded...

The Bible Actually Permits Abortion and Condemns Homosexuality

There are two common modern myths about the Bible, one conservative, the other liberal. The liberal myth is that the Bible never condemns homosexuality. In fact it clearly does, both in the Old Testament and the New. The conservative myth is that the Bible condemns...

Establishing the Biblical Literalism of Early Christians

Usually I don’t have to argue this because it’s obvious. But there are a few who have attempted to contend that early Christians—say, before the fourth century—never took the Gospels as factually true reports of events but only as allegorical...

Adam’s Burial in Outer Space

In On the Historicity of Jesus I cite the Revelation of Moses establishing not only that Jewish lore held that the Garden of Eden was located in outer space (roughly in the vicinity of, if not in fact on, Venus or the Sun, depending on which geocentric scheme they...

Why Did Mark Invent an Empty Tomb?

I have written on this question in many different places. Here I collect excerpts from, or summarize, several of the most important. You’ll find further material and expanded arguments, with evidence and footnotes and cited scholarship, in my contributions to The...

What Did Paul Mean in Romans 1:3?

Tim O’Neill is at it again, on Twitter this time, making false claims about my work, and about the Epistles of Paul. The item of contention again is my proposal that when Paul said Jesus was “made from the sperm of David” (which is literally what...

Mark’s Use of Paul’s Epistles

Many studies have argued the Gospel that came to be labeled “according to Mark” based some of its content on the Epistles of Paul. Here I’ll discuss this scholarship and its evidence. “Mark” is of course the earliest Gospel we have any...

Yes, Galatians 4 Is Allegorical

Contrary to what is often asserted, Paul never says Jesus had an actual “woman as a mother.” He says Jesus came “from a woman” but then says we are all born of the same woman. This “woman,” Paul says in Galatians 4, is an allegory for the physical world of flesh, not...

Was the Long Ending of Mark Original? Carrier’s Closing Statement

Anglican scholar Jonathan Sheffield and I are debating whether the “long ending” of the Gospel of Mark (or “LE,” verses 16:9-20) is authentic or interpolated. For essential reading and references on the subject see chapter sixteen of Hitler Homer Bible Christ. This is...

Was the Long Ending of Mark Original? Sheffield’s Closing Statement

Anglican scholar Jonathan Sheffield and I are debating whether the “long ending” of the Gospel of Mark (or “LE,” verses 16:9-20) is authentic or interpolated. For essential reading and references on the subject see chapter sixteen of Hitler Homer Bible Christ. This is...

Was the Long Ending of Mark Original? Fifth Reply

Anglican scholar Jonathan Sheffield and I are debating whether the “long ending” of the Gospel of Mark (or “LE,” verses 16:9-20) is authentic or interpolated. For essential reading and references on the subject see chapter sixteen of Hitler Homer Bible Christ. This is...

Was the Long Ending of Mark Original? Sheffield’s Fourth Response

Anglican scholar Jonathan Sheffield and I are debating whether the “long ending” of the Gospel of Mark (or “LE,” verses 16:9-20) is authentic or interpolated. For essential reading and references on the subject see chapter sixteen of Hitler Homer Bible Christ. This is...

Was the Long Ending of Mark Original? Fourth Reply

Anglican scholar Jonathan Sheffield and I are debating whether the “long ending” of the Gospel of Mark (or “LE,” verses 16:9-20) is authentic or interpolated. For essential reading and references on the subject see chapter sixteen of Hitler Homer Bible...