Introduction to a series on the resurrection — For Christians, the resurrection is one of the best-attested events in history. Yet many of our atheist and non-religious friends wonder how we could believe something so irrational. Are we condemned to talk past each other? Mutual head shaking? Slogans abound on both sides. “The Bible’s the claim, not the…

Part II of a series on Jesus’ resurrection — I recently finished a series on whether Jesus was the Messiah. The intention of these articles was to inform the prior probability of Jesus’ resurrection. This next series moves on to the resurrection. …

A reply to Martin Hartke’s article This is a response to Matthew Hartke’s blog article (1) on how cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) explains Christianity. My PhD is in social psychology — so I always enjoy engaging with articles combining psychology and Biblical studies. Hartke’s article brought back memories. As a…

This is a collection of articles I’ve written on passages in Isaiah commonly thought to be about Jesus. Isaiah 6: Isaiah saw Jesus’ glory What Does John Mean by “Isaiah Saw Jesus’ Glory”? John 12's quotes from Isaiah on Jesus’ Mission and Identitymedium.com Isaiah 7: Immanuel Is Isaiah 7:14 About Jesus or Someone Else? Responding to Rabbi Tovia Singer’s criticisms of Matthew 1:22–23medium.com Isaiah 9: Unto us a child is born

I’ve just finished a four-part series on the Messiah. This also informs the prior probability for the next series on the resurrection. Part 1 looks at passages in the Hebrew Bible about a divine Messiah. How Likely Is It That Jesus Is the Messiah? Part I Are there passages on the divinity of the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible?medium.com Part 2 is on passages about the suffering Messiah in the Hebrew Bible.

This is the fourth part of a series on the Messiah. This article looks at the development of a Bayesian model (using Genie software) to estimate the likelihood of Jesus being the Messiah based on the three previous articles in the series. The model looks at the following factors: the…

Chronology of the Messiah in Judaism and Christianity (Part III) — We’ve seen that Jesus has already fulfilled many key Messianic prophecies in part I and part II of this series. But might someone else meet these criteria more completely in the future? Does the Hebrew Bible give us a time to expect Messiah to come? This article focuses on Daniel…

Part II: A suffering Messiah in Judaism and Christianity — Many think the Messiah of Judaism has always only been a victorious king. Didn’t Christianity have to invent a suffering Messiah to account for Jesus’ death? According to Jewish scholar Daniel Boyarin, these arguments must be ‘completely rejected’: The notion of the humiliated and suffering Messiah was not at all…

Are there passages on the divinity of the Messiah in the Hebrew Bible? — This is the third part of a series on Jesus’ resurrection. The previous article argued the evidence for the Messiah was one of the key background factors to consider. The next few parts of the series will discuss this evidence. We will consider whether the promised Messiah was expected to…