who owns jesus?

It is an interesting headline. "Jesus: a prophet of Islam" And it will be coming to a billboard or two in Sydney.

I wonder what impact it will have.

archaeology and jesus

Archaeology can tell us a lot about the world of first century Palestine, where Jesus lived, and this is a great help in understanding the New Testament. But can it tell us much about one of the most basic questions of all: are the New Testament gospels accurate accounts of Jesus' life, based on eyewitnesses?

It turns out that it can at least tell us something, especially about the gospel of John.

forgiveness

It is natural to want to strike back when attacked and hurt, whether by violent words or by violent actions. But christianity has always taught the importance for forgiveness and many non-christians are finding it an important part of their lives as they struggle to recover from the effects of deep hurts.

historical jesus for ordinary people

Most books about Jesus by scholars are long and detailed, with many footnotes. They are not always either succinct or readable.

Most books about Jesus aimed at the ordinary reader don't worry too much about what the expert historians have concluded.

Historian and author John Dickson has always been very readable yet also historically reliable. His latest book hits the mark again.

visions of jesus

After my last post on why believe?, I remembered some other interesting stories I had read. People from non-christian backgrounds, mostly Muslim, having visions of Jesus which led to their conversion.

So I did a bit of searching, and came up with these:

a surprise for the infidel guy!

They say you should never interview someone unless you know what they are going to say. But in a radio interview last year, the "Infidel Guy" interviewed Bible scholar Bart Ehrman and got a number of surprises.

did jesus really live?

Some people think that the Jesus of the gospels never existed, yet the historians (both unbelievers and believers) are almost unanimous that he did.

was Jesus a capitalist?

It is an interesting, strange, and somewhat disappointing fact that christianity today often tends to be associated with right wing politics - the Republican party in the US and the Liberal-National coalition in Australia. Strange, because I have long thought that Jesus' teachings on money and wealth seem much closer to communism than capitalism.