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The Logos Academic Blog

Definitively Destroyed: The Bible’s Not-So-Mysterious Teaching on Hell

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by Christopher M. Date

“What does God say about hell?” asks Kris Brossett, kicking off his two-article series on the topic.1 Brossett proceeds to survey the three historic Christian views of hell—eternal torment, conditional immortality, and universalism2—and commendably, he avoids offering readers simplistic, misleading caricatures of the two alternatives to the more historically dominant view (eternal torment). Brossett begins his second article equally commendably, rightly observing, “None of the positions I’ve examined in Part I deny [hell’s] existence. Instead, ‘they differ on what hell is like.’”3 This kind of honest representation of controversial views is refreshing;4 proponents of such views are accustomed to being terribly misrepresented.5

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Hell: What Will You Infer? (Part II)

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by Kris Brossett

In Part I of Kris Brossett’s series he discussed three views of hell, including Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT), Annihilationism/Conditional Immortality (ACI), and Christian Universalism (CU). In this second section, Kris investigates the biblical evidence to analyze these three positions according to his matrix of “mysterious” and “definitive.”

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Did We Get the Temptation of Jesus Wrong? Part I

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Christ in the Wilderness, Ivan Kramskoy (1837-1887)

In this article, I argue that we have been too apt to accept ancient and popular interpretations of Jesus’ wilderness testing in Matthew 4:1-11. Three issues warrant a fresh interpretation: the translation of πειρασθῆναι, our understanding of Satan’s role in the narrative, and the relationship between the two “sons” of God, Jesus and Adam.

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COVID-19 and The Mark of the Beast

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Watching the news a few days ago, I saw photos and videos of those protesting the COVID-19 quarantine on full display. I’m growing weary of how certain biblical texts are attached to certain political movements and demonstrations—texts that are, quite frankly, misused and misunderstood. Sadly, Christianity ends up getting misrepresented in the process.

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Interview: Nijay Gupta discusses “Matthew and Mark Across Perspectives”

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We continue our LNTS 2016 interview series with Nijay Gupta, discussing a volume he co-edited with Kristian Bendoraitis entitled Matthew and Mark Across Perspectives: Essays in Honour of Stephen C. Barton and William R. Telford.  [Read more…]

The Story Behind “Matthean Posteriority”

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In anticipation of Mark Goodacre’s paper at SBL on 18 November (see information below), Alan Garrow has kindly contributed the following article on Ron Huggins, the scholar who coined the term “Matthean Posteriority.” 

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How Mark’s Use of the OT Contributes to His Christology

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by David Evans

The Gospel of Mark is understood by some as having a low Christology. This is understandable, to some extent, in light of the very human aspects of Jesus in the Gospel: he displays a range of emotions (Mark 1:41; 8:12; 3:5; 6:6); he doesn’t know everything God the Father knows (Mark 13:32; Edwards 2002, 13); he is occasionally unable to perform miracles (6:5); and his question to the rich man—“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mk. 10:18)—could be interpreted as a direct denial of divinity. [Read more…]

Kierkegaard’s Leap of Faith

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We recently invited Dr. Mark Tietjen to contribute a series of articles on Søren Kierkegaard, to celebrate the soon-to-be released 26-volume Kierkegaard’s Writings on the Logos Digital Library. This is a monumental occasion, given that it has taken 50 years for Kierkegaard’s entire corpus of writings to be translated into English. In this first essay, Tietjen writes with graceful prose and keen insight into the meaning and implications of one of Kierkegaard’s most famous (and misused) ideas: the “leap of faith”. [Read more…]

Everyone (Who Cares about Early Christianity) Has a Dog in this Fight

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Mark Goodacre and Alan Garrow are due to meet at this year’s British New Testament Conference at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, 6‐8th September. The issues at the heart of the $1,000 Challenge will be debated in the Synoptic Gospels Seminar. Alan Garrow will present a paper, “Reflections on the $1,000 Challenge” (abstract) with Mark Goodacre offering a response. In anticipation of that meeting, Alan Garrow has written the following: [Read more…]

Mark Seifrid Reviews Logos 7 (Deutsch)

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by Mark Seifrid

I just received the Logos 7 (Deutsch) package.  It turns out to be a quite impressive collection, with some nice surprises. [Read more…]