Arguments from ignorance are not always fallacious. Fallacious arguments from ignorance would go something like this: “There is no evidence for X, therefore, X does not exist.” If I had an alligator on my head, I would know if it was true simply by feeling around the top of my head. So, the fact that…More
Mark’s Gospel
This will be an ongoing exegesis on the Gospel According to Mark. Included will be my own interpretations, the interpretations of others that I find interesting or compelling, and where necessary, reflections on how the process of translation has introduced nuances that may or may not have been intended by the author(s). 1.1: The author…More
Hector Avalos on Appeals to An “Original” Text
From “The End of Biblical Studies” (Prometheus Books, 2007): “Even if we were to find the original Greek texts behind all the Greek manuscripts we now have, we would end up only finding a translation of Jesus’ own words. And Greek translations, by definition, cannot be the “original” text of anything Jesus said in Aramaic.”…More
Preservation ≠ Validity
Here are some thoughts on the obsession with the “original” text that many scholars and laypeople have when it comes to the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament: The validity of a historical claim cannot and should not be equated with the state of preservation of that claim. If someone 2000 years ago wrote down…More
Three Distinct Qualities In The Transmission of The Biblical Text
I’ve been going through an excellent course on the Hebrew Bible offered by Coursera that is taught by Professor Jacob L. Wright of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. The course deals with the where, when, who, what, and why of the Biblical texts. Professor Wright is a proponent of the Supplementary Hypothesis in Biblical…More
