At the very outset let me alert you that even Christian scholars who believe in miracles prefer to speak of the virginal conception rather than the ‘virgin birth’of our Lord. The miracle focus they argue is on ‘becoming pregnant minus sexual intercourse’. We shan’t quibble on that nicety here. Matthew declares in 1:22-23, which reads…

Critics allege that since there is evidence of a similar idea in another culture then the gospel writers borrowed the idea from that earlier source. This claim with its line of reasoning has been extensively examined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by several scholars, the most accessible books being, possibly, James Orr, The…

It hit me forcibly in 2016 and so I prepared a public lecture about it. I sent it to a few groups but no one seemed interested enough even to acknowledge receipt of my email. Ponder one challenging, indeed embarrassing thought from the prayer life of Jesus in John 17.21. With reference to His present…

“The Genesis myth was born in an oral tradition… such stories were often filled with much frill and lace and fancy trim…” Father Sean Major Campbell A few friends alerted me to Father Sean Major Campbell’s recent column in the Jamaica Gleaner (August 21, 2022) ‘The Essence of the Biblical story’. While what my brother…

As I pointed out in another place the documentary hypothesis is standard fare in global theological institutions. In the more conservative centres it is shared as information for awareness, but in the progressive centres it is irrefutable scholarly fact! How did scholars come up with this JEDP formulation from reading the Pentateuch (the first 5…

Full honest disclosure up front. The best grade in my most recent academic foray into pastoral counselling was C+. My track record though in biblical languages, especially philosophy/critical thinking is quite enviable. We have been so accustomed to seeing/hearing the term ‘transgender’ that most of us (including me) have failed to give a critical look…