“It appears unfounded to doubt the fact of Jesus’ honorable burial — even historically considered.” — Wolfgang Trilling, distinguished NT scholar and German redaction critic Burial As a modern-day Westerner, when I think of burial of a person’s remains, I picture them usually in a coffin/casket, which is lowered into a large rectangular hole, which […]
“Except for the romantic few who think that Jesus did not die on the cross but woke up in the tomb and ran off to India with Mary Magdalene, most scholars accept the uniform testimony of the Gospels that Jesus died.” — Raymond E. Brown, distinguished (though somewhat controversial) Catholic scholar and emeritus professor of […]
In the first entry in this series of posts, we looked at a few (but not all) early, non-Christian references to the death by crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as well as variations of one popular theory that claims Jesus of Nazareth did not die on a Roman cross. In the second entry, we examined the […]
Physical Exhaustion & Trauma Anguish in the Olive Grove: To examine the physical exhaustion and trauma that Jesus experienced during His final hours, we must begin in Gethsemane. It was there that He knelt in fervent prayer, knowing that His imminent suffering and death were fast approaching. The Bible says that He was distressed and […]
It’s getting close to Easter (aka “Resurrection Day”) again and, as usual, I wanted to come up with something relevant for my readers. I was casting about for something with a theological/apologetical flavor and eventually remembered an old manuscript I was working on back in 2003 & 2004, which I decided to, um, resurrect. So, […]
A few weeks ago, I said I would be sharing a few more passages from Dr. David Bentley Hart’s book Atheist Delusions. In this citation from early in the book, Hart is in the midst of pointing out some of the bad arguments, poor understanding of both religion and history, and sanctimony in the anti-religious […]
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, influential 19th-century philosopher and cultural critic Late last year, I posted excerpts from the Introduction to Dr. David Bentley Hart’s book, Atheist Delusions. I finally starting reading the rest of the book — slowly, now and then — and am really appreciating Hart’s […]
FUN FACT: Ants make up 15-25% of the total mass of living animal tissue on the continents! We’ll get back to the ants in a minute. But, first… The Sun is a nuclear furnace. Hydrogen, the lightest element and most abundant chemical substance in the universe, is constantly being fused within it into helium. Over […]
“[I]f the report is a phenomenological depiction, permitting the possibility of a local flood, the meaning is not substantially altered: all that Noah and his generation know is swallowed up by the waters so that none survives.” — Dr. Kenneth A. Mathews, The New American Commentary, Vol. 1A In my Facebook travels, not long ago […]
Last week’s post included an excerpt from Nabeel Qureshi’s book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (2014), and I would like to include another one here. It is particularly relevant today, with the jihadists being called “radical” and other Muslims being called “moderate” and all of them saying their interpretation and practice […]
