Bible Review, June 2002
Features
Ways of Knowing God
A Christian theologian sees multiple paths to salvation
Almost every religion claims that it is the exclusive path to a true knowledge of God, or at least that its path is superior to other religious traditions. This is certainly the case in my own tradition, Christianity: Only in Jesus Christ is the true revelation of...Read more ›
The 34 Gospels
Diversity and division among the earliest Christians
In 1995, I discovered a lost gospel. Well, stumbled over it might be a more accurate description. I was working in the Berlin Egyptian Museum, reconstructing an ancient papyrus codex. In the museum’s storage area I chanced upon a few fragments of a manuscript written in Coptic,...Read more ›
Can God Read Minds?
God knows all and sees all. That, at least, is what most Bible readers—and scholars—assume, and numerous biblical passages certainly appear to support the idea. The writer of Psalm 139, for instance, praises the omniscient God who watched him grow in the...Read more ›
When Gods Go Hungry
Mesopotamian rite clarifies puzzling prophecy
The prophet Zephaniah predicts that the Israelite God Yahweh will overcome the gods of foreign nations. These foreign deities will be deserted by their worshipers, who will turn instead to the God of Israel. But just how God plans to defeat these false gods is not easily...Read more ›