Hiatus

As all 3 of you who read my blog have noticed, I've taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging. Unfortunately, my funding for school ran out and so I've had to move back to my beloved homeland (North Carolina, a.k.a. God's country) to work and figure out what I'm going to do school-wise. Funding has been the bane of my academic experience. If you know of any schools who have stellar religion departments that want to fund the heck out of me (paying tuition in good looks, maybe?), you just let me know. Until I figure out what I'm going to do school-wise, the blog will be put on hold.

Continuing Tilling's 'When asked'

As Chris Tilling has given a go at this, I figured I would.

When asked about whether the resurrection actually happened....

Spong: Well, as a former Episcopal Bishop let me just say that it is certain that Jesus did not actually rise from the dead. Did I mention that I’m a former Episcopal Bishop? This resurrection nonsense has to go – we have to modernize Christianity. Episcopal Bishop…

Wittgenstein: What do you mean by “Did” and “Resurrection” and “Happen”?

Zwingli: Did you just deny the resurrection? Would you like to take a swim in Lake Zurich?

Ehrman: Interestingly, I’ve just written 6 books in the last week on the subject – the answer’s no – read all about it!

National Geographic Society: We’re staying out of this one – we’ve learned our lesson.

History Channel: But not us! Watch next week as we have a panel of people who have no clue what they’re talking about propagating sexy new theories on the resurrection!

John A.T. Robinson: Jesus would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what you people were saying about him.

Irenaeus: God smites heretics – just letting you know.

T.D. Jakes: You better believe Jesus rose from the dead – and his new clothes were super blinging. You know Jesus was stylin’ and profilin’ post-resurrection, he had his Easter clothes on, son!

Joel Osteen: Now -*smiles* - I’ve not actually read the Bible, but I am aware that there’s some talk of resurrection. Honestly, though, I think the most important thing is whether Jesus wants us to be rich and the answer is obviously - - - send me money to find the answer!

Donald Miller: Lets snuggle – mmm mmm. Who wants to make s’mores and talk about how we feel when we say the name Jesus? You do? Well yay – Christ-hugs for everyone!

Sargon of Akkad and Nimrod

My first post of the new year and it's not even about the New Testament. But, my question is: Could Nimrod, son of Cush, be Sargon of Akkad?

My reasons for asking:

1) Neither Nimrod nor Sargon are names, but titles.

2) The Bible records that Nimrod founded the city of Accad (אכר) and Sargon is from "Akkad". Nimrod also founded the city of Nineveh and there was a mask of Sargon found in Nineveh.

3) Sargon is the first empire builder in antiquity. Nimrod is credited with founding Erech (Unug or Uruk, the oldest city in antiquity).

Could these two be the same people?

Surprise Surprise

What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Roman Catholic You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you. Roman Catholic 100% Neo orthodox 86% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Emergent/Postmodern 64% Fundamentalist 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 29% Reformed Evangelical 14% Classical Liberal 14% Modern Liberal 4%

What I find interesting is not my highest score, but the scores that follow. 86% Neo-Orthodox? 71% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan? But - my favorite - I'm 39% Fundamentalist. I hope Jim West can still like the other 61% of me.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone out there had a great Christmas. It has certainly been a really blessed time for me this year. I've gotta say - in a moment of personal business - my mom is pretty much the best mother one could ask for. Instead of, "What do you want for Christmas?" she asks, "What books do you want for Christmas?"

A few books I got this year are:

Bultmann, Rudolph. Theology of the New Testament.

Ehrman, Bart D. The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture.

Johnson, Paul. A History of Christianity.

And the one I was most surprised/excited about:

Bauer, Walter and Frederick William Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.

I'm so excited. It was a little difficult to explain to people why this is a cool gift...but such is life when you're a nerd.

A la Descartes

I've been thinking lately about Descartes' idea that we are simply a res cogitan. I completely disagree (as the ultimate subject of attribution in a rational being is the person, not a nature and certainly not a power). But, while thinking about this, my brain naturally went to a joke I had heard a few years ago.

Descartes walks into a Cafe in Paris to have a coffee. As the waiter pours his coffee for him, he asks, "Sir, would you care for any cream or milk?" to which Descartes replies, "I think not." and disappears.

If you haven't already watched these....

Then repent. These are links to Ben Witherington's Parchman lectures given at Baylor last October. I love Dr. Witherington's work and he's probably one of my favorite lecturers (perhaps because we are both sons of the Old North State and as Southern genetlemen, we have a somewhat kindred spirit). Go give these a watch:

Video 1, Video 2, Video 3,

By the way, Video 3 is Dr. Ben talking about the authorship of Gospel of John and his theory that the BD is actually Lazarus.