All good!

My memory is failing me, what stuff do you have in mind?

What we (don't) know about the apostle Simon the Zealot This is the first post in a series on what we know, and more often do not know, about the individual members of the Twelve, the closest disciples of Jesus of Nazareth.

Joined Substack! Will be reposting my series on the apostles there.

substack.com/@sophiainthe...

Not sure, I think any of Kok’s “literary” options in the above post are plausible.

Everything you ever (never?) wanted to know about James the son of Zebedee:

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

A promotional-style image of Justin Bieber standing outdoors, wearing a bright red hat, a gray zip-up jacket, and a black shirt. He looks directly at the camera with a neutral expression. White text on the left side quotes him: “If you even think of a woman with lust, it’s the same thing as actually doing it — committing adultery, or whatever. It’s like the same thing. If it even crosses your mind for one second.” The quote is attributed to Justin Bieber, via Twitch. The top right corner has the “what’s trending” logo.

I hope this becomes a whole genre, entertainment news covering Justin Bieber just lightly paraphrasing Jesus sayings lol.

From the AcademicBiblical community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the AcademicBiblical community

Who was the historical Judas Iscariot?

Check out my write-up, the latest in my series on the apostles:

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

From the AcademicBiblical community on Reddit: What we (don't) know about the apostle Matthew Explore this post and more from the AcademicBiblical community

Is Matthew the same person as Levi? Did Matthew write the Gospel of Matthew? Did Matthew journey to Ethiopia? This post has all the answers! Or maybe it doesn’t, go see for yourself.

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

“Three divine persons” 😌👍✨

“Three divine people” 😧😡❌

From the AcademicBiblical community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the AcademicBiblical community

The Suffering Servant passage is a eulogy for the prophet who wrote earlier parts of Second Isaiah.

(Or so argued Joseph Blenkinsopp.)

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

From the AcademicBiblical community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the AcademicBiblical community

Want to know everything we don’t know about the apostle Andrew?

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

From the AcademicBiblical community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the AcademicBiblical community

Wrote something up (collected excerpts from scholars, really) on what we know about the apostle Thomas! What was his name? Who was his twin? Are his Acts based in history?

Thomas has the honor of being the first apostle to make me hit the Reddit post length limit.

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

Did a little literature review on what we know and don’t know about the apostle Bartholomew!

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

Listening to The Caliphs podcast and nearly choked on air hearing the traditional account of how Marwan I died.

I think we can all relate to the embarrassment of watching someone “on your side” make a bad argument.

But imagine being a monothelite at the Third Council of Constantinople when one of your allies brings out a dead body and says he’s going to prove your position via necromancy.

The most interesting part of the argument is the linguistic analysis suggesting that the Testimonium Flavianum may actually be fairly neutral, contrary to the way typical English translations of it read blatantly pro-Christian.

I’m not even a Muslim but learning about Islamic history is turning me Shia. At least in the original political sense. Even being exposed to tellings from both sides, it seems like Ali really was getting wronged left and right!

Thanks!

TIL! Is it still true that some ecumenical councils were followed with orders to burn the writings of this or that figure, for example the works of Arius after Nicaea? Or is that apocryphal (or real, but more properly attributed to political figures than the Church?)

Donald Trump entering the business of deciding the theological bounds of Christianity is not discouraging my conviction that he is, at his core, a Byzantine Emperor.

Saw a recommendation for the podcast The Caliphs recently. I’ve really been enjoying it. If you like Mike Duncan inspired chronological history podcasts and have an interest in early Islamic political history, this one is high quality. I think the host, Zayd, recently wrapped it up at ~90 episodes.

Almost forgot to post it here, but I put together a sort of literature review on what we do and don’t know about the apostle(s?) Jude (and?) Thaddaeus:

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

There are some real gaps, unfortunately. For example, the 1991 Ferguson translation of Stromateis 1-3 is very good, but I’ve searched far and wide for a modern translation of 4-7 and I think it simply does not exist yet.

Wrote up a review of what we know and don’t know about the apostle Philip!

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...

From the AcademicBiblical community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the AcademicBiblical community

A reminder that I'm doing a Reddit AMA starting at 2 today! Get those questions in.

Luke: “The Force?”

Kenobi: “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field which sustains all living things. It surrounds us, and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. You see, Luke, the Force is what we call ‘actus purus,’ infinitely real and infinitely perfect…”

Can’t wait to hear the review!

I try to avoid interacting with this stuff, but the fact that the creation pseudoscience folks really think they have something lately with “rocks don’t bend” is… funny.

Thanks for this!

From the AcademicBiblical community on Reddit: What we (don't) know about the apostle James of Alphaeus Explore this post and more from the AcademicBiblical community

Wrote a bit about what we know and don’t know about James, son of Alphaeus!

www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBi...