New Evidence for Jesus' historicity?

 The writings of the ancient Jewish historian Josephus include some of our best evidence outside of the New Testament for the ministry of John the Baptist (whom Josephus is very interested in) and also, for Jesus Christ.

However, many modern scholars have held that the sections about Jesus (or at least some parts of them) must be later Christian forgeries, since they speak so highly of Jesus, and yet Josephus was not a Christian.  Scholars have debated which parts (if any) of the Jesus section are original to Josephus and whether any of this material has any historical value at all. 

I've tended to work from the assumption that much of what Josephus says is original for the simple reason that it would be very strange for him not to mention Christ - who is mentioned by other Roman historians who are not focused (as Josephus is) specifically on the history of 1st Century Israel.

In this video Dr. T.C. Schmidt makes the case that all of the Jesus material is original to Josephus but, having been read (and translated) through a Christian lens has simply misunderstood some of what Josephus was saying, which can be read (and translated) in a way that is more ambivalent than positive about this "strange wizard" from Nazareth.  

If this is so, it does mean that Josephus' writings about Jesus, so long dismissed out of hand by many modern scholars, do in fact give us some of our best historical information about Jesus from a non-Christian observer who actually knew personally some of the people that interacted with Christ.

Is the UK heading into Civil War?

This video was posted a few months ago.  University professor and military historian David Betz has long studied the "risk factors" or social conditions that tend to result in civil conflict and civil war.  He's been sounding the alarm for months that he sees many of these factors now at play in Great Britain.

  

Normalcy bias leads us to say "that could never happen" - but it has before in many places (including the UK and the US) and human nature hasn't changed. 

Please join me in praying for peace in our time, and wise leaders who take the steps necessary to make peace.

Redeeming Halloween

 Here is a really fascinating discussion about the Christian connections to various Halloween traditions.  
Of interest to me especially was the discussion towards the end of the parallels and oppositions between the traditional images, symbols, and meanings connected to witches and those connected with nuns.
They don't say this in the video but it turns out that even the words "coven" (as in, a group of witches) and "convent" (where consecrated sisters or nuns live) share the same etymology.

Beating Lust with John Chrysostom and Gospel Simplicity

I've long admired the work that Austin is doing over at the Gospel Simplicity YouTube channel.  Here is a nice video drawing from St. John Chrysostom (and others) in addressing lust.  This is always a timely topic in our days when so many are being completely overcome by the deadly sin of Lust.