I don’t usually post articles about website maintenance, but I’ve just added a topical list of almost all the articles I’ve written here over the past four years. You can access it here, and I’ve also added it to the primary menu at the top of this website.
Since Christmas is upon us, I would also like to suggest some topical articles to new readers as well as longtime regulars. My pieces on the nativity stories and genealogies in Matthew and Luke might come in useful for answering questions about the nativity that come up as we enjoy the usual holiday festivities over the coming week.
- Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus
- Matthew’s nativity story
- Luke’s genealogy of Jesus
- Luke’s nativity story
Merry Christmas to all, and watch for a new article in the coming weeks. You can follow me by all the usual methods — RSS, email, Twitter, and keeping an open browser tab that you refresh every hour.
Is That in the Bible? 
Very helpful, Paul. I didn’t know about your Lilith article when I suggested that the Isaiah passage be added to the NIV page. I know that this would probably be time-consuming as heck to create, but an index of scriptural references would be a nice addition. I’m looking forward to your next article.
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Thomas Römer just published an article on Lilith too that I need to read. It might be useful for updating my article or for the NIV entry.
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It occurs to me that the biggest gulf is, not between believers and nonbelievers, but between those who see the text as enriched by a historical understanding, and those who prefer to see it as the direct result of revelation. We have the same gulf between historical versus magical explanations when it comes to the origin of sacred texts, the origin of rocks, and the origin of species.
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Thanks for the comment, Paul. If there’s one thing I want my readers — both believers and nonbelievers — to take away from my writing, it’s that there is a deeper, more enriching way to read the Bible than simply believing or dismissing everything it says.
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Merry Christmas. Magi in the Bible I’d be interested to hear your views on. Although there is a strong inclination (as in your picture) to present the magi of Matthew as foreigners, even as actual Zoroastrians, the other Magi of the New Testament all have Jewish names. Simon Magus being the most famous.
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In case it’s useful for anyone else: here is a version of the list sorted by date instead of passage.
Chronological order can be more useful, for instance in reading through the articles on the Synoptic Problem, or on the different sources of Genesis (as each article builds on the previous ones).
2014
* Lilith in Isaiah
* Two different Moses traditions
* Creation in the Bible
* Simon Magus and Paul
* The god Resheph in the Bible and history
* The mark of the Beast
* Yahweh and the Shema
* High priests in the Gospels and Acts
* The twelve tribes of Israel
* Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus
* David and Goliath
* The book of Enoch in Jude, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter
* The Ark of the Covenant
* Epimenides and Paul at the Areopagus
* Slavery and the temple
* Luke’s genealogy of Jesus
* The plagues of Egypt
2015
* Matthew’s nativity story
* The development of Satan
* Paul and Barnabas mistaken for Zeus and Hermes
* Editorial fatigue in the Synoptics
* The Tower of Babel
* The Parable of the Talents/Pounds
* Sodom and Gomorrah
* The Beelzebul controversy
* Melchizedek
* Luke, Matthew, and the Didache
* Joshua’s long day
* Is John out of order?
* Canaanites, Amorites, and Hittites
* The problem of Psalm 22:16
* The Lord’s Prayer
* Noah’s drunkenness and the curse of Ham/Canaan
2016
* Luke’s nativity story
* The origins of Yahweh
* Luke’s Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
* The golden calves of Aaron and Jeroboam
* Jesus the shapeshifter
* Balaam and the talking donkey
* Mark and the Sea of Galilee
* The flood story
* Marriage and the afterlife in Luke
2017
* The tale of Ezer and Elead
* The early Christian eucharist
* The Gog and Magog oracle in Ezekiel
* The Herodian family
* The ages of the patriarchs
* Saul and the Witch of Endor
* Paul’s sea voyage and shipwreck
2018
* The god Bethel in the Bible and history
* The gift of tongues in the New Testament
* Shamgar ben Anat
Hope someone other than me finds this useful (and also hope I’ve not $%!@ed up the HTML codes for the links).
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I should add that I am a huge (albeit usually silent) fan of the blog, many thanks for the interesting reading over all these years!
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Thanks for the nice comment!
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Going along with your article on glossolalia in the New Testament, do you have any thoughts on demonic possession and exorcism in the Bible? The concept is foreign to the Old Testament, extremely important in the gospels (at least the synoptics) and Acts, and as far as I can remember not mentioned in the epistles or Revelation. I find it curious.
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That’s a good question I’ll have to research some more, but I think it involves a more hellenized view of spirits/demons. However, the idea isn’t completely foreign to the Old Testament, if you consider the evil spirit sent by Yahweh that drives king Saul mad.
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