Author Archives: Celsus

Suetonius, Nero’s Dreams, and Biographical Memory

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Celsus

Several years ago, back in Spring 2011, I took a graduate course taught by prominent Classics scholar Marilyn Skinner on ancient biography and Suetonius’ Life of Nero. One of the most interesting sections of the biography is a series of … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Biography, Classics, Dissertation, Exegesis, Historical Jesus, History, Literary Theory, Religious Studies, Weird Stuff from Antiquity | Tagged Ancient Biography, Dreams, Flight to Egypt, Gospel of Matthew, Herod the Great, Historical Jesus, Mimesis, Moses, Nero, Suetonius | 6 Comments

Review of the Anti-Abortion Movie “Unplanned” (2019)

Posted on September 11, 2019 by Celsus

About a week ago I had a chance to watch the recent anti-abortion movie Unplanned. Admittedly, since I cannot (in good conscience) financially support the producers of the film, I resorted to downloading a pirated copy online. Nonetheless, I did … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Miscellaneous, Musings, Philosophy, Reviews | Leave a comment

“The Rationalization Hypothesis: Is a Vision of Jesus Necessary for the Rise of the Resurrection Belief?” — by Kris Komarnitsky

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Celsus

Although the bereavement vision hypothesis is widely regarded as a plausible naturalistic explanation for the rise of the belief that Jesus was raised from the dead, I have never quite found this hypothesis completely convincing. My article below draws on … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Blogs, Resurrection | 21 Comments

Did the Author of Matthew Intend to Imply that the Disciple Matthew Was the Brother of James son of Alphaeus?

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Celsus

In doing research on the Gospel of Matthew the other day, I noticed a peculiarity in the Matthew’s redaction of the Gospel of Mark. The process started when I was looking into the name change between “Levi” son of Alphaeus (Mk. 2:13-17) … Continue reading →

Posted in Exegesis | Tagged Alphaeus, Authorship of Matthew, Calling of Levi, Calling of Matthew, Gospel of Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Levi son of Alphaeus, Matthew the Disciple | 7 Comments

Authorial Third Person Narration–in Thucydides, Josephus, Xenophon, and Caesar–Versus the Gospel of Matthew

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Celsus

One of the issues that pops up frequently, when discussing the authorial anonymity of the Gospel of Matthew, is how a number of Classical authors refer to themselves in the third person, when narrating historical events in which they themselves … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Exegesis, History, Literary Theory | Tagged Anonymity of the Gospels, Authorial Third Person, Calling of Matthew, Gospel of Matthew, Historiography, Josephus, Julius Caesar, Matthew the Disciple, Thucydides, Xenophon | 4 Comments

David Bryan on N.T. Wright and the Argument from “Anachronistic Anastasis” by Eric Bess

Posted on April 1, 2018 by Celsus

[Below is a guest blog by my friend Eric Bess, which deals appropriately with a topic pertaining to Easter and how to interpret the nature of the resurrection event.] General Problems of Reasoning and Rhetoric One of the most common … Continue reading →

Posted in Exegesis, Guest Blogs, Historical Jesus, History, Miracles, Resurrection | Tagged Dale Allison, Daniel Smith, David Bryan, James Charlesworth, Markus Bockmuehl, N.T. Wright, Richard Miller | 7 Comments

Margaret Froelich on the Death of Aesop and Luke 4:16-30

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Celsus

Both teaching and dissertation work have been keeping me occupied of late. I have an exciting announcement about an important conference that I have been accepted to present at later this year, which I will discuss here at some point … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Conferences, Ancient Biography, Ancient Novel, Classics | Tagged Gospel of Luke, Life of Aesop, Margaret Froelich, Popular Biography | 10 Comments

Some New Peer-Reviewed Publications

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Celsus

I have been quite busy this quarter teaching as part of the Humanities Core at UC Irvine. So far we have covered the Incan Empire and Shakespeare’s Tempest, and we are now beginning to explore British colonialism in India. All … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Biography, Announcements, Publications | Tagged Francis Cairns Publications, Langford Latin Seminar, Secular Web, UCI Humanities Core | 1 Comment

Bart Ehrman and Jodi Magness on the Burial of Jesus and the Empty Tomb

Posted on January 20, 2018 by Celsus

It’s been almost four years since Bart Ehrman’s How Jesus Became God was published, and one of the points of controversy that arose when the book was first released is the fact that Ehrman does not endorse the historicity of … Continue reading →

Posted in Exegesis, Historical Jesus, History, Resurrection | Tagged 1 Corinthians 15:3-7, Allegorical Characters, Bart Ehrman, Burial of Jesus, Empty Tomb, Greg Monette, How Jesus Became God, Jesus' Burial, Jesus' Resurrection, Jodi Magness, Joseph of Arimathea, Minimal Facts Apologetic, Natural explanations for Jesus' resurrection, Resurrection Apologetics, Resurrection Creed, Skepticism towards the Resurrection of Jesus | 90 Comments

Numismatic Evidence that Corroborates Suetonius’ Life of Otho and Contradicts the Gospels

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Celsus

To follow up on my previous review of Christian scholar Craig Keener’s “Otho: A Targeted Comparison” in Biographies and Jesus, I’d like to briefly discuss the relevance of numismatic evidence in evaluating Suetonius’ Life of Otho in comparison to the NT Gospels. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Biography, Apologists, Classics, Historical Jesus, History | Tagged Ancient Biography, Authorship of Matthew, Craig Keener, Edward Watts, Fabian Udoh, Historical reliability of the Gospels, Numismatics, Otho, Render unto Caesar, Roman Denarius, Roman Taxation | 29 Comments