Category Archives: History

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

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

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

Nicholas Covington Reviews “The Case for Christ: The Movie”

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Celsus

Nicholas Covington, who blogs at Hume’s Apprentice, has recently written a review on Amazon of the new The Case for Christ movie edition. Covington’s review discusses issues such as the preponderance of post-mortem hallucinations in religious movements, the growing legendary … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologists, Historical Jesus, History, Miracles, Resurrection, Reviews | Tagged Historical Apologetics, Lee Strobel, Nicholas Covington, The Case for Christ | Leave a comment

Guest Blog by Michael Kok: The Tradition about the Apostle and Evangelist John

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Celsus

Below is a guest blog by Michael Kok (Ph.D. in Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield) on the topic of his new book regarding the identity and reception of the “Beloved Disciple” in the Fourth Gospel, and how the text came to … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Blogs, History, Patristics, Reception, Religious Studies | Tagged Authors of the Gospels, Authorship of John, Evangelist John, Michael Kok, The Beloved Apostle, Who wrote the Gospel of John?, Who wrote the Gospels? | 5 Comments

Fictional Characters Who Appear Even in Historical Literature

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Celsus

This quarter I am busy teaching as part of the Humanities Core at UC Irvine. The course is inter-disciplinary, and covers literature, film, philosophy, history, and visual art. It’s a great teaching experience, especially since we have our students writing their … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Biography, Classics, History | Tagged Acts of the Apostles, Allagorical Characters, Calgacus, Gospels, Humanities Core, Richard Bauckham, Saint Stephen, Tacitus | 7 Comments

More of the Same: Eric Bess Reviews Sean McDowell’s “The Fate of the Apostles”

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Celsus

Below is a guest post by my friend Eric Bess, in which he reviews Christian apologist Sean McDowell’s book The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus. McDowell defends the apostolic martyrdom argument for the resurrection, … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologists, Christology, Guest Blogs, Historical Jesus, History, Miracles, Resurrection, Reviews | Tagged Accounts of the disciples' deaths, Argumentum Ad Martyrdom, Christian Persecution, Deaths of the Disciples, Disciples died for their beliefs, Disciples Martyrdom, Eric Bess, Resurrection of Jesus, Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles, What happened to Jesus' disciples?, Would the disciples die for a lie? | 1 Comment

Bayesian Analysis of Craig Keener, “Otho: A Targeted Comparison”

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Celsus

Recently I received feedback from ancient historian Richard Carrier about my previous review of Craig Keener’s article–“Otho: A Targeted Comparison of Suetonius’ Biography and Tacitus’ History, with Implications for the Gospels’ Historical Reliability”–which is chapter 6 of Biographies and Jesus: What Does … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Biography, Ancient Novel, Apologists, Classics, Guest Blogs, Historical Jesus, History, Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged Bayes' Theorem, Craig Keener, Richard Carrier | 3 Comments