I often get letters from Christian apologists and evangelicals of the fundamentalist stripe. They often challenge me to read some apologetic literature and then decide for myself. I’ve always challenged them in response, telling them to send me some, saying that I would read it. The apologists almost never respond to that offer. So I [...]

Many authors have already written about the Roman Census, Bethlehem and other aspects of the “Christmas Story” of Jesus’ birth. Some elements derive completely from folklore and aren’t even mentioned in the bible, other important bits are only mentioned by one gospel writer but not by others, and all of them include historical errors. Prof. [...]

Few periods in the history of Christian thought have received more scholarly attention than the christological debates of the fifth century. In fact, so much interpretive energy has been spent on these controversies that many textbooks report confidently that all relevant questions about the debates have been answered.(1) The controversy, the textbooks imply, was about [...]

In the early Church, Christians identified Jesus as Christ. Now, in the modern Church, many consider themselves believers in the Christ of faith (as developed by the teachings of the Church) without believing in the identity of that Christ as the actual, historical person of Jesus. But this distinction between the Christ of faith and [...]

THE FIGURE OF JESUS IN POPULAR ISLAM “I have an axe to grind,” said Tarif Khalidi, professor and fellow of the faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University. Speaking at a June 9 panel on religion during ADC’s 18th National Convention, Khalidi addressed the topic of Jesus in the Islamic tradition, which he considers “an [...]

The Islamic view of Jesus lies between two extremes. The Jews, who rejected Jesus as a prophet, called him an imposter, while the Christians, on the other hand, considered him to be the son of God and worship him as such. Islam considers Jesus to be one of the greatest and most forbearing of prophets, [...]

THE FACT THAT JESUS was a Jew has not gone unrecognized. Libraries and bookstores are replete with volumes bearing such titles as Jesus the Jew, The Galilean Jewishness of Jesus, Jesus and the World of Judaism, The Religion of Jesus the Jew, Jesus in His Jewish Context, The Jewish Reclamation of Jesus, and three volumes [...]

Before the attested crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman governor Pilate gave the Jewish people a choice between releasing two characters, the first one was Barabbas, and the second was Jesus who is called the Messiah or the king of Jews. However, early Greece manuscripts of the Matthew Gospel mention the first name of Barabbas; the [...]

For Jesus to be sinless, Mary had to be a virgin and born without a father.  This would give Jesus a pure vessel. However, the bible points to many of the brothers and sisters Jesus had.  The History Channels deals with the issue of immaculate conception.

The following is taken from the “Jewish Women’s Archive”…my notes will be added in capital letters to further emphasis some points. Keturah was one of Abraham’s wives. The Rabbis describe her as a woman of virtue and for that she was worthy of being joined to that righteous one [Abraham]. The Torah mentions this marriage in [...]