What did the Deuteronomist reform? How did Josiah’s reign change the religion of the Israelites/The Kingdom of Judah? King Josiah changed the religion of Israel in the mid-seventh century BCE in several significant ways. According to the Old Testament account in 2 Kings 23, he removed all of the thingsContinue Reading

Possible Constructions of The Gospel of John According to Marie-Émile Boismard, the Gospel of John may have gone through four hypothetical stages of composition. Each stage is intricately involved with the life of the Johannine community: Document C. This was a complete gospel stretching from John the Baptist to theContinue Reading

The Conflict with “The Jews” The Gospel of John came from somewhere. There is a prevalent idea that this gospel was collected, written, and redacted by a distinct community late in the First Century. This community consisted of some Samaritan converts to Christianity, as well as some Jewish converts whoContinue Reading

The Construction of the Synoptic Gospels The Authors of the Synoptics used many sources Based on the evidence that scholars have produced in our day, it is evident that the authors of the gospels in the New Testament quoted from other sources. I once had a discussion about this ideaContinue Reading

Pauline Authorship There is consensus in modern scholarship that the letters to Timothy and Titus were written in Paul’s name but long after his death. 1 There is also a strong consensus among much of modern scholarship that there is a second set of letters –  Ephesians, Colossians, and 2Continue Reading

Unpublished Revelations Encyclopedia of Mormonism Author: Caldwell, C. Max Not all revelations of God to his latter-day prophets have been formally published, let alone accepted by the common consent of the Church as canonized scripture. Just as the compilers of the Bible had to decide which texts to include, similarContinue Reading

There is quite a bit going on in Deuteronomy 32, perhaps more than meets the eye when it is first read. First of all, it is worth noting that this text has a few variations and for good reason. Here are three versions of this text: Dead Sea Scrolls: “WhenContinue Reading

The Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources As found in Astronomy, Papyrus, and Covenant, edited by John Gee and Brian M. Hauglid, p. 107-30. Provo, Ut: Farms, 2005. This article points to known cases where Jewish authors adapted Egyptian iconography and scenes to a Jewish point of view andContinue Reading

Egyptian stories repackaged in scripture: Lazarus and the Rich Man Luke’s parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man is an excellent example of how a 1st century Jew wrote down the words of a parable of Jesus, a story which, when analyzed, is really a much older story from EgyptContinue Reading