The sort of thing he describes here is as far from Christianity as the sun is from Pluto. People never cease to amaze me. Smart folk follow cult leaders; stupid folk (so far as being educated is concerned) act wiser than learned politicians; and Christians adhere to the most idiotic nonsense as though it were manna from heaven. It’s just annoying. Too many things annoy me. I think I’ll move off to some deserted island and live like Tom Hanks did in Castaway.

‘[The] miracle [of the resurrection] is a concession to the weakness of man, so is the appearance of the Risen Jesus a concession to the weakness of the disciples.  Fundamentally they ought not to need it!  Fundamentally it ought not be the sight of the Risen Lord that first moves the disciples to believe ‘the word that Jesus spoke’, for this word alone should have the power to convince them.’  — Rudolf Bultmann

I sometimes scan around for forthcoming books (especially when I have some rest time on a Sunday afternoon and am watching a movie). Today I came across a couple that I think will be quite interesting to a number of folk.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hasmonean State, by Hanan Eshel.

The Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder, by Ehud Netzer.

Now, if Eisenbrauns would only hook me up with some sort of huge discount for all the traffic I drive their way….

We are not diplomats, but prophets, and our message is not a compromise, but an ultimatum. — Tozer [via Chuck Baumgardner]

Ed Cook has published a Glossary of Targum Onkelos with Brill and it can be yours for a scant $174. At 314 pages that’s just 55 cents each page. Ed’s a good guy. I hope he get’s 90% of the price in royalties. [Via Jack Sasson.]

Whoever said failure isn’t an option was obviously not very well read, informed, or observant. These photos prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that failure happens all the time. Mind you, whoever the artist was of the initial statue surely failed miserably… With thanks to Roger Mugs for pointing it out.

Ancient Roman period anchors at Ein Gedi (next to the Dead Sea) are on display at the Ein Gedi Pictures blog. With thanks to David Stacey for pointing it out on the ANE-2 List.

To all you moms!  Have a grand day.

I don’t know of anyone who is more convinced that authentic interpreters of biblical texts must be educationally and spiritually authorized than myself- which is, oddly enough- the very reason I like the story of Medad and Eldad (from Numbers 11, you git) so very much. And I like it because it reins in my inclination to a perfectly sealed system of authoritative exegetes. A poem by Charles Wesley (a good Methodist, a learned hymnologist, and a fine scholar in his own day) says it quite well:

Eldad, they said, and Medad there,
Irregularly bold,
By Moses uncommission’d, dare
A separate meeting hold!
And still whom none but heaven will own.
Men whom the world decry,
Men authorized by God alone,
Presume to prophesy!

How often have I blindly done
What zealous Joshua did,
Impatient to the rulers run,
And cried, “My lords, forbid!
Silence the schismatics, constrain
Their thoughts with ours t’ agree,
And sacrifice the souls of men
To idol unity!”

Moses, the minister of God,
Rebukes our partial love,
Who envy at the gifts bestow’d
On those we disapprove.
We do not our own spirit know,
Who wish to see suppress’d
The men that Jesu’s spirit show,
The men whom God hath bless’d.

Shall we the Spirit’s course restrain,
Or quench the heavenly fire?
Let God his messengers ordain,
And whom he will inspire.
Blow as he list, the Spirit’s choice
Of instruments we bless;
We will, if Christ be preached, rejoice,
And wish the word success.
Can all be prophets then? are all
Commission’d from above?
No; but whome’er the Lord shall call
We joyfully approve.
O that the Church might all receive
The spirit of prophecy,
And all in Christ accepted live,
And all in Jesus die!

It’s good to be restrained, you see, from one’s own inclinations from time to time.

And evidently something of a creepy control freak too. I have mixed feelings about David. On the one hand, I think he’s wretchedly talented. And on the other, if he wins, his dad wins. Ack. What to do. Anyway, David’s dad has been booted from everything at American Idol except the live performance.

I guess I still hope David A. wins- and that he sends his Danny Bonoducci (or however it’s spelled) looking creepy dad packing. With thanks to Bob Cargill for the hint about the report.