(The following note originated as a response on Facebook, written to someone who was asking in the CAA for technical help in an argument he had gotten into about the use of Bayes’s Theorem in arguments regarding the historical Jesus. In the subsequent comments thread I clarified what I was saying, and I have added some of those clarifications to the note here.) ***** I’m … [Read more...]
About Tim McGrew
On the Historical Accuracy of the Book of Acts
Here are some of the details that Luke gets right in Acts that cannot be derived from Josephus. Most of these can be found in Colin Hemer's magisterial work, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History. 1. A natural crossing between correctly named ports. (Acts 13:4-5) Mt. Casius, which is south of Seleucia, is within sight of Cyprus. 2. The proper port (Perga) … [Read more...]
Cosmos, Giordano Bruno, and Getting it Right
I wanted to like the reboot of Cosmos. Really, I did. Despite the patronizing materialism that kept cropping up in the old show, Carl Sagan covered some great subjects and excited the minds of a generation. Some of his most famous lines can still send a chill down my back. And today, at a time when cosmology is changing so rapidly that all astronomy textbooks more than a … [Read more...]
Rumors of my endorsement have been greatly exaggerated
It has been drawn to my attention that Peter Boghossian has posted a quotation from me regarding his book, A Manual for Creating Atheists, on the book’s page at Amazon.com. Unfortunately, the quotation has been taken out of context in a way that could give a misimpression regarding my opinion of the book. Seizing a stray clause from someone’s writings and packaging it as an … [Read more...]
Christmas Notes, Part 3: Joseph’s Narrative
It is often truly remarked that our classic Christmas story—the one we celebrate in pageants every December and teach to our children—blends elements from two quite distinct narratives, one found in the first two chapters of Matthew and the other in the first two chapters of Luke. In both accounts, Jesus is born in Bethlehem to Joseph and Mary during the reign of Herod the … [Read more...]
Christmas notes, part 2: Did Messianic prophecy inspire the Christmas story?
One of the favorite targets of destructive biblical criticism is the narrative of Jesus' birth in the first two chapters of Matthew. One distinctive feature of Matthew’s account makes it a particularly tempting target. Matthew’s theological agenda is absolutely overt: over and over in the first few chapters of his Gospel, we get some variation on the phrase, “... all this took … [Read more...]
Christmas Notes, Part 1: Was Jesus Born in Bethlehem?
There is perhaps no story so well beloved as the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. But every year we are told on television or in news magazines that we cannot believe the nativity story, that Matthew and Luke contradict each other, and that “scientific” criticism has dissolved the story of the virgin birth into a pious myth. Why do they say this? Could a story of a virgin birth … [Read more...]
Undesigned Coincidences: Part 6
Because Paul’s travels brought him into contact with many people, and some of them repeatedly, it is particularly instructive to compare the notices of some of those people in the book of Acts with the references and allusions to them in Paul’s own letters. Of those people, few are more interesting than Timothy. In 1 Corinthians 4:17, Paul explains that he has sent Timothy, … [Read more...]
Undesigned Coincidences: Part 5
A life as rich in travel and relationships as Paul’s was, documented both by his letters and by the history of the book of Acts, affords many opportunities for undesigned coincidences to emerge—so many, in fact, that it is worth pausing to see some of the evidence that Acts was not written by someone who had Paul’s letters before him. Leafing through 2 Corinthians, we notice … [Read more...]
Undesigned Coincidences: Part 4
There are certain parts of Paul’s letters that we typically pass over in silence. The long lists of greetings, in particular, are flyover territory for expository preachers. “Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, ...” The congregation is probably snoring already. And yet such passages can, on occasion, furnish us with beautiful examples of coincidence without … [Read more...]