Musings from an Atheist Theologian

"Let's start at the very beginning, a fine place to start," to paraphrase  The Sound of Music : the so-called virgin birth. To be more specific, we must establish some points of fact upfront that are related to the topic of this post. Isaiah's prophecy was never about a virgin birth.  The whole thing came from a snafu when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek (the famous Septuagint, so called either because 70 scholars participated in its translation or the work only took 70 days from start to finish -- pick the tradition you like) for the benefit of the large Jewish population in Egypt, then the intellectual center of the known world, who no longer spoke or read Hebrew. The passage we now know as Isaiah 7:14, with the three verses following, is entirely symbolic and intended as a prophecy of Israel's future. But leaving aside its actual meaning to its intended audience as opposed to the Christian interpretation, there's another little problem. G...

Before I go deep diving into the biography of the one called Jesus, I want to take a little side trip to one of the more complicated destinations in Christian literature. Indulge me, if you will. No two ways about it: the last book of the New Testament is bonkers. Full-tilt, bull goose loony. My pals at Red Star Ministry aptly -- and accurately -- referred to it as "a clusterfuck of symbols with no real connection to anything material." Most Christians politely ignore it, even the Catholic Church, except of course for fundamentalist (typically right-wing) nut jobs who view it -- and tout it, frequently -- as a blueprint for how Christ will come back someday and vindicate their every prejudice, whim, and act of seething hatred. I'm not here to speculate about the origin. Anyone who has used "magic" mushrooms or "psychedelic" drugs such as LSD or peyote can instantly recognize the content of Revelation for what it is: John of Patmos appears to have had t...

First things first: my identity is not crucial. If you've reached this blog, it's because I told you it existed, and I thank you both for your interest in my writing and your silence about my identity. (Much of what I say in this space will be controversial and may meet with much vitriol from religious communities who believe that the subject matter is blasphemous, which is not my intent, and my working relationship with these communities could suffer as a result of knowing I wrote it. Again: thank you for not outing me.) Given the URL, a self-appointed descriptor on numerous occasions, I want you to know the perspective from which I speculate about the historical basis for the New Testament. (And while we're on that subject... it's okay that you know that perspective, and what may influence it. You should ask that from anyone who writes about this topic. You should know all about my predispositions. You have the right to know everything about me that can affect my thi...