P. Lewis: The Ending of Mark’s Gospel (book review)

I recently received a thin book (128 pages) from an author in Australia, Dr. Peter E. Lewis, a retired surgeon now about eighty years old. The book is entitled The Ending of Mark’s Gospel: The Key to Understanding the Gospels and Christianity (Second Edition), Zeus Publications 2020. At 128 pages, the book appears to be a print-on-demand from Ingram and is simply formatted with table of contents and no index. In this review I consider only the first fifty pages of the book, which deal with Lewis’ intriguing theory of the abrupt beginning and ending to the Gospel of Mark. The author’s remaining pages I find less persuasive in that they are based on the standard views that the canonical … Continue reading

A Critique of Ken Dark’s Nazareth Archaeology (Conclusion)

General Overview and Series Landing Page This post is part of an ongoing series examining Ken Dark’s three recent books on Nazareth archaeology (2020 – 2023). The series focuses specifically on the archaeologist’s claims about the first century CE, especially his argument that a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” existed at the Sisters of Nazareth site. Topics include kokhim, Galilean chronology, rolling stones, and superposition. An expanded and fully footnoted version of this critique can be found on Academia.edu. General Overview (Mobile) and Series Landing Page This post is part of a series examining Ken Dark’s recent claims about first‑century Nazareth. The focus: his argument for a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” at the Sisters of Nazareth site … Continue reading

A Critique of Ken Dark’s Nazareth Archaeology — Pt. 7

General Overview and Series Landing Page This post is part of an ongoing series examining Ken Dark’s three recent books on Nazareth archaeology (2020 – 2023). The series focuses specifically on the archaeologist’s claims about the first century CE, especially his argument that a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” existed at the Sisters of Nazareth site. Topics include kokhim, Galilean chronology, rolling stones, and superposition. An expanded and fully footnoted version of this critique can be found on Academia.edu. General Overview (Mobile) and Series Landing Page This post is part of a series examining Ken Dark’s recent claims about first‑century Nazareth. The focus: his argument for a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” at the Sisters of Nazareth site … Continue reading

A Critique of Ken Dark’s Nazareth Archaeology — Pt. 6

General Overview and Series Landing Page This post is part of an ongoing series examining Ken Dark’s three recent books on Nazareth archaeology (2020 – 2023). The series focuses specifically on the archaeologist’s claims about the first century CE, especially his argument that a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” existed at the Sisters of Nazareth site. Topics include kokhim, Galilean chronology, rolling stones, and superposition. An expanded and fully footnoted version of this critique can be found on Academia.edu. General Overview (Mobile) and Series Landing Page This post is part of a series examining Ken Dark’s recent claims about first‑century Nazareth. The focus: his argument for a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” at the Sisters of Nazareth site … Continue reading

A Critique of Ken Dark’s Nazareth Archaeology — Pt. 5

General Overview and Series Landing Page This post is part of an ongoing series examining Ken Dark’s three recent books on Nazareth archaeology (2020 – 2023). The series focuses specifically on the archaeologist’s claims about the first century CE, especially his argument that a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” existed at the Sisters of Nazareth site. Topics include kokhim, Galilean chronology, rolling stones, and superposition. An expanded and fully footnoted version of this critique can be found on Academia.edu. General Overview (Mobile) and Series Landing Page This post is part of a series examining Ken Dark’s recent claims about first‑century Nazareth. The focus: his argument for a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” at the Sisters of Nazareth site … Continue reading

A Critique of Ken Dark’s Nazareth Archaeology — Pt. 4

General Overview and Series Landing Page This post is part of an ongoing series examining Ken Dark’s three recent books on Nazareth archaeology (2020 – 2023). The series focuses specifically on the archaeologist’s claims about the first century CE, especially his argument that a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” existed at the Sisters of Nazareth site. Topics include kokhim, Galilean chronology, rolling stones, and superposition. An expanded and fully footnoted version of this critique can be found on Academia.edu. General Overview (Mobile) and Series Landing Page This post is part of a series examining Ken Dark’s recent claims about first‑century Nazareth. The focus: his argument for a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” at the Sisters of Nazareth site … Continue reading

A Critique of Ken Dark’s Nazareth Archaeology — Pt. 3

General Overview and Series Landing Page This post is part of an ongoing series examining Ken Dark’s three recent books on Nazareth archaeology (2020 – 2023). The series focuses specifically on the archaeologist’s claims about the first century CE, especially his argument that a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” existed at the Sisters of Nazareth site. Topics include kokhim, Galilean chronology, rolling stones, and superposition. An expanded and fully footnoted version of this critique can be found on Academia.edu. General Overview (Mobile) and Series Landing Page This post is part of a series examining Ken Dark’s recent claims about first‑century Nazareth. The focus: his argument for a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” at the Sisters of Nazareth site … Continue reading

A Critique of Ken Dark’s Nazareth Archaeology — Pt. 2

General Overview and Series Landing Page This post is part of an ongoing series examining Ken Dark’s three recent books on Nazareth archaeology (2020 – 2023). The series focuses specifically on the archaeologist’s claims about the first century CE, especially his argument that a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” existed at the Sisters of Nazareth site. Topics include kokhim, Galilean chronology, rolling stones, and superposition. An expanded and fully footnoted version of this critique can be found on Academia.edu. General Overview (Mobile) and Series Landing Page This post is part of a series examining Ken Dark’s recent claims about first‑century Nazareth. The focus: his argument for a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” at the Sisters of Nazareth site … Continue reading

A Critique of Ken Dark’s Nazareth Archaeology — Pt. 1

General Overview and Series Landing Page This post is part of an ongoing series examining Ken Dark’s three recent books on Nazareth archaeology (2020 – 2023). The series focuses specifically on the archaeologist’s claims about the first century CE, especially his argument that a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” existed at the Sisters of Nazareth site. Topics include kokhim, Galilean chronology, rolling stones, and superposition. An expanded and fully footnoted version of this critique can be found on Academia.edu. General Overview (Mobile) and Series Landing Page This post is part of a series examining Ken Dark’s recent claims about first‑century Nazareth. The focus: his argument for a dwelling “from the time of Jesus” at the Sisters of Nazareth site … Continue reading

AI: Jesus mythicists beware!

Recently I had some time to spare and wondered how artificial intelligence—now revolutionizing everyone’s information landscape—deals with Jesus mythicism. I use Copilot, owned by Microsoft, and began to type in the question: “What is the general opinion today regarding Jesus mythicism?” But I can pretty much guess the answer to that question, so I decided to get specific and instead asked Copilot about the uproar that took place almost twenty years ago, after BAIAS (Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society) published my paper critical of then-current fieldwork in Nazareth. (TOC and entire 2008 volume available for download HERE.) My paper elicited several published reactions in the same issue. What follows is the Nazareth-related material in the BAIAS 2008 issue: • René … Continue reading