DiscussMormonism.com

Finally, on the Egyptian, what do we do with the dating of Paul, if the Egyptian, who was active in the 50s, was Jesus? According to the standard dating, Paul is already preaching Jesus in the early 50s and writing letters then too. How could that be if Jesus was the Egyptian?

Also, (sorry, I am having fun) why are we taking the nativity sections of the gospels as serious historical data? Surely not, I would think. Jesus is born in the reign of Augustus, which is symbolically important for many reasons. Augustus was put forth by many as the savior of the world, but little...

The point about the high priests just seems to me to be more hashing of history in the Gospels. The point about two high priests in the two sources does not seem very compelling evidence that the Gospel events happened later. Also, Pilate does not have to be killing Galileans in Galilee. Where are t...

I am also not impressed with the bit about arson of the Samaritan village. The disciples ask if they should pray that God burn the Samaritan village, and Jesus says no. Now, I am willing to believe that the Gospel author knew of the later event of Galileans burning a Samaritan village and used the s...

Hey, Philo! Interesting video. One potential problem is your agreement with Tacitus on the topic of peace in Judea under Tiberius. That does not square well with Philo’s and Josephus’ accounts of Pilate does it? Also, what should we make of Jewish reactions to Caligula’s plans to place a statue of h...

Thanks for using Latin.

That is all.

Thanks for the review, Reverend. I think I'll give it a pass. The take home may be that whatever makes a person a "true believer" persists through a change of belief. I was struck by the way his desire to be known as a revealer of mysteries has remained constant throughout. I guess he joins the ran...

I am inclined to agree with Jersey. One can go overboard with humility and move into a new kind of pride. God can attend to and love all Creation in ways we are incapable of grasping with our finite minds. Being open to the possibility of that love and care is an expression of faith. My heart goes o...

Probably the friendliest accurate take on this book is a review I read on Amazon.com: If you loved Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code and your favorite chapter of An Insider's View of Mormon Origins was "Moroni and The Golden Pot," you'll enjoy this whodunnit spanning nearly three centuries and two contin...

One of the closest possible links between John Smith and Kircher is the appearance of Kircher’s work in a list of books in the Dartmouth library from about 1850. So it may be that Kircher’s work was available for John Smith to read and maybe he read it. Maybe. That mention in Bibliotheca Sacra and ...