Month: July 2021

As I’ve previously mentioned, which books are included in our official New Testament was largely established by informal consensus by the 2nd century or so. In the case of the four gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — this consensus was virtually unanimous very early. But there were a number of ‘alternative’ gospels that…

Which books are included in the official New Testament was essentially established by informal consensus by the 2nd century or so. In the case of the four gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — this consensus was virtually unanimous very early. But there were a number of ‘alternative’ gospels that didn’t make the cut.…

In 1610 Galileo (1564-1642) peered through his small 20 power telescope, and saw moons around Jupiter, observed phases of Venus (like the phases of the moon) and observed craters on our moon. This played a major role in the intellectual crisis of his day: the collapse of Aristotelianism. Aristotle’s (384–322 BCE) M.O. (modus operandi) was…

28 Come to me all [you who are] weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matt 11:28-30)…

In English we have ‘independent clauses’ — sentences or sentence fragments that stand on their own: “William bought rhubarb.” We also have “dependent clauses” — sentence fragments that don’t stand on their own: “Having gone to the store”. But one or more dependent clauses can be combined with one independent clause to express a complete…