In honor of the Christmas season, I have bumped a number of my posts dealing with the birth of Jesus to the top of my blog site for easy access. They deal with such topics as the date of Jesus's birth, the composition of typical nativity scenes, the possibility that Jesus went to Egypt, the …
Author: David Christian Clausen
When Did Christianity Really Begin?
This may seem like an obvious question. Many would answer that Christianity began with Christ. Others, thinking a bit deeper, might assert that the apostle Paul really began Christianity. But, historically speaking, both answers would be wrong. It is commonplace to assume that the religion called Christianity is as old as its namesake. Unfortunately, there …
Why Do the Heathen Rage?
This King James translation of Psalm 2:1 has stuck with me since childhood, long before I had any idea what it meant. But it seems apt for what I am about to share with you. First, let’s look at the psalm from the Jewish Publication Society translation (the best place to start for translations of …
End of the World Scenarios in the New Testament
Whenever violence erupts on the international scene (and even sometimes when it doesn’t) we hear claims that the portents of doom announced in the pages of the New Testament are coming to fruition. “Wars and rumors of wars” (Mark 13:7) draw the attention of many to what the earliest Christian texts had to say about …
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How did Paul Understand the Fate of His Unbelieving Fellow Jews?
Unfortunately, there are too many interpreters who read the New Testament as supporting the notion that Christianity (never mentioned in the NT) was intended to replace Judaism as God’s saving religion and Christians were intended to displace Jews as God’s favored people. After all, as some still claim, “the Jews killed Christ.” Doesn’t that warrant …
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Is Christianity Apostolic?
It may come as a surprise to many, but Christianity, if we define it as a religious movement intentionally separate and distinct from Judaism, is not apostolic. Let me state my thesis a bit more fully and then provide the evidence. First, to remind readers of the obvious, all of the apostles were Jews. Historically, …
Check out my article in this summer’s edition of Biblical Archaeology Review!
This summer's issue of Biblical Archaeology Review features my article "Five Myths About the Apostle Paul"! These myths are ones that most people accept without perhaps giving them much thought. But debunking them helps us understand the Jewish apostle in the context of the first-century, Roman world. His letters may not be saying what you …
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The Woman Caught in Adultery: A Story of the Historical Jesus?
Most Christians, and many non-Christians, are familiar with this story from the Gospel of John (7:53-8:11). A group of “scribes and Pharisees” bring a woman before Jesus while he is in Jerusalem. They disclose that they have caught her in the act of adultery. In addition, they cite the Torah rule (Lev 20:10) that says …
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Jesus Bested by a Woman! The Story of the Syro-Phoenician Woman
There is a very unusual story in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 7:24-30) picked up by, and amplified in, the Gospel of Matthew (Mat 15:21-28). It concerns a desperate woman requesting an exorcism from Jesus. Now that doesn't sound so unusual. People, both men and women, requested healings and exorcisms from Jesus seemingly on a …
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