Similar to my initial response post regarding Colossians, where I make the case for why Paul and/or Timothy could have been the authentic author, 2 Thessalonians is another case in which Paul could have been the true author. Not to mention that because the divide over 2 Thess, as well as over Colossians, has been…
Author: Cee Vee
Was Paul the Actual Author of Colossians? Quite Possibly so!
Depending on which scholarship camp a person falls within, the proposed author of Colossians ranges from Paul himself, to Timothy as a credible co-author, to a disciple in the Pauline community who was skilled in pseudepigrapgical writing and intimately familiar with Paul’s prose. This post will give a somewhat short case for why Colossians could…
Paul’s ‘Call’, not Conversion, to Christianity
Did Paul remain Jewish during his ministry, even after his Damascus experience, and despite preaching the new (and eternal) covenant made through Jesus’ death and resurrection? Moving beyond the base knowledge of Paul as a former Pharisee and also former persecutor of Christians, we can see that he was an accomplished theologian, having been skilled…
Clearing up Discrepancies Between the Book of Acts and Paul’s Letters
Borrowing from the old proverb, “all roads lead to Rome,” questioning the Luke-Acts version of Paul’s biography is like a case of do ‘all roads lead to (and from) Jerusalem?’ Was Paul raised and educated in Jerusalem or in Damascus? Did he ever persecute Christians in Jerusalem, or did that happen in Damascus? Did Paul…
‘Penal Substitution Theory’ is a False Understanding of Salvation
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son…For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). From a Scriptural perspective, this passage — and which captures the entire Gospel in two verses — pretty much…
Misunderstandings about Jesus’ Resurrection
According to O’Collins and the opposing scholarship he examines, Jesus’s death and resurrection face a number of important challenges. Three of these challenges, all involving Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection, give some plausible food for thought. However, O’Collins shows logical flaws in the arguments. The first argument, originally pioneered by the pagan philosopher, Celsus, claims…
Overview of Catholic Ecclesiology: the first millenia
As McBrien rightfully points out that “the history of ecclesiology covers an enormous amount of biblical, historical, theological, doctrinal, social scientific, and other material” (61), answering questions #1 and #2 in this module is liking drinking several gallons’ worth of water through a firehose, then going all out at an all-you-can-eat buffet, followed by an…
Catholic Ecclesiology: What Does ‘Unity’ Mean?
For those of you who might not be familiar with Brant Pitre, he is a Catholic theologian with a gift for putting complex topics into plain English and without the high-brow, pipe-puffing scholar stereotype to go with it. On YouTube, through CatholicProductions.com, Pitre has a wide array of digestible, down-to-earth videos, usually between five and…
The Dichotomy of Condemnation and Hope: The Major Themes of Ezekiel, Second Isaiah, and Third Isaiah
Ezekiel As a combination prophet and priest who lived in the thick of the exile, and whose allegorically vivid words not only resemble how earlier prophets expressed themselves, but also have a priestly authority to them (Boadt et al. 338, 339), Ezekiel is credited for writing one of the most detailed accounts of the exile….
The Names of God that Point to One God, “The God of our Fathers”
In the world of theological conversations, the word “God” is the de facto, universal name to describe the supreme Source of Judeo-Christian belief. Yet the etymology of God, just in the Jewish tradition alone, comes from a variety of sources. Further, various names ascribed to God are clearly used in the Torah – which begs…