Thoughts on Antiquity

Earlier this year Dale Allison gave some lectures at Duke in honor of Kenneth W. Clark. They now appear online here. Trivia: Dale Allison is a strong supporter of a Jewish Matthew, while Kenneth W. Clark is famous for really beginning the 20th century for questioning that status with his Gentile Bias in Matthew […]

Mark DelCogliano translated into English the second and third letters that Nestorius wrote to Pope Celestine (published in the original in Loofs, “Nestoriana”) a couple of years ago.  As far as I know no other translation in English exists.
He has very kindly sent them to me, for upload onto the web, and has also kindly […]

After some frustrating MySQL troubles, Thoughts on Antiquity and the forum Ancient Mediterranean Cultures are back and should be working as good (hopefully even better) as ever! Check back here soon for the next Biblical Studies Carnival on April 1st. Any last minute recommendations would be appreciated.

James O’Donnell announced this in CLASSICS-L, and I’ve run up a quick translation of the announcement (in German) on the website at the bottom. The Vienna scholars are cataloguing all the manuscripts of St. Augustine — a huge task — and are making discoveries. It’s interesting that these sermons seem to have an origin in […]

Cyril of Alexandria writes:

Purchase the grace that comes from God; buy for your friend the Lord of heaven and earth: for indeed we often purchase men’s friendship with large sums of gold, and if those of high rank are reconciled to us, we feel great joy in offering them presents even beyond what we can afford, […]

You might be a fundy if you compile a list of 281 strawmen beliefs of atheists. Does anyone take this goon seriously?

The 9th, 10th and 11th gospel ‘difficulties’ have now arrived from Mr. A, which is most encouraging.

The 8th question and answer to Stephanus (of 14) has now arrived from Mr. A, which is encouraging. Someone else has enquired about doing some of the Syriac. Still nothing from Mr. C.
Postscript. 13th March Mr. A. has now sent me the 9th question and answer also. I’ve today prompted Mr. C. […]

The British Library is seeking the opinions of those who use it or borrow books in the UK from libraries on new proposals about copyright. If you live in the UK, stick it to them here.
We can be sure that publishers will be greedily lobbying. Make sure you do too!

Almost 50 years ago, archaeologists searching for the ruined house of Augustus found a tiny clue buried deep in 2,000 years’ worth of rubble overlooking the Forum in Rome.
The single fragment of painted plaster, discovered in masonry-filled rooms, led the experts to unearth a series of exquisite frescoes commissioned by the man who would later […]