Home » The Bible and Beyond
Enjoy posts about a variety of subjects, all designed to help you look at religion, the Bible, and early Christian texts in a new way.
By Dr. B. Brandon Scott|2022-03-14T18:46:08-04:00March 16th, 2022|Tags: Church, Early Christian Communities, Early Church, Gospel of Matthew, Paul|
In the King James translation of the Hebrew scripture (so-called ‘Old Testament’), the translators consistently employed the gloss ‘assembly,’ while in the New Testament they used ‘church.’
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2022-03-07T02:41:21-05:00March 9th, 2022|Tags: Ancient Writings, Community, Fear and Protection, Letter of Peter to Philip, Violence|
This is an uncommon set of instructions in the face of grave danger, to say the least! It neither promises a miraculous escape, nor does it call for violence in return.
By Dr. Hal Taussig|2022-02-26T01:35:50-05:00February 28th, 2022|Tags: Fundamentalism, New Testament, Paul, Resurrection, Spirituality|
The spiritual, present, collective understanding of resurrection has special longer-term promise for integrity, imagination, community, and new frameworks for divine presence.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2022-02-05T18:28:54-05:00February 9th, 2022|Tags: Gospel of Peter, Mary Magdalene, Noncanonical Texts, Resurrection|
The more I read these other texts, the more light I find shining on the Bible and the spiritual things I’m interested in. Getting a better view of what Mary saw in Gethsemane is worth it.
By Dr. Hal Taussig|2022-01-26T14:04:13-05:00January 26th, 2022|Tags: Christ, Nag Hammadi, Norea, The Thought of Norea|
Now that these new discoveries have shown us the very close ties between Norea, the Father God, and Christ, there is a new set of possibilities for ways Christian divinities can be seen.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2022-01-13T12:44:52-05:00January 12th, 2022|Tags: Fear and Protection, Heaven, Material World, Thecla|
Heaven was not found in another place or time, but right in the midst the world she inhabited. The world’s fire was blazing, but in her other dimension of thought, Thecla was holding tight to God.
By Dr. Hal Taussig|2021-12-23T05:22:18-05:00December 22nd, 2021|Tags: Bible, Early Christian Communities, Early Jesus Followers, Jesus, Paul|
The book challenges the general public, many churches, and most scholars to re-consider how to think about Jesus and these hundreds of years before there were ‘Christians.’
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2021-12-06T06:41:38-05:00December 8th, 2021|Tags: Christmas, Eugnostos the Blessed, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Truth, Letter of Peter to Philip|
“Joy to the world!” “‘Tis the season to be jolly.” The Christian Advent wreath reminds us that joy welcomes the Messiah. But there’s a tension between uninhibited joy and the knowledge of pain in the world.
By Dr. Hal Taussig|2021-11-16T17:48:23-05:00November 24th, 2021|Tags: Concepts of God, Gospel of John, Gospel of Truth, Meaning of Life|
When I would look across the car, and see the fierce confidence of a dancer, I would find myself silently saying “I am in you and you are in me.”
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2021-11-10T12:53:21-05:00November 10th, 2021|Tags: Fear and Protection, Healing, Jesus, Letter of Peter to Philip, Violence|
The first time I read the relatively unknown text called the Letter of Peter to Philip from the Nag Hammadi collection, I was stunned with its overall message of guidance in the face of violence.
