The Torah: Divinely-Inspired or Man-Made?
Overview: A clear pattern in Jewish history following the biblical theme of the Covenant and its predictions which played out surprisingly accurately against all odds. The Covenant Argument First...
Bible Criticism
Where Man Meets the Divine: The Partially Divinely-Inspired Model of Torah
Overview: An approach that reconciles both faith and critical scholarship, bridging somewhere in the middle of a divinely-inspired Torah and a man-made Torah. Torah min hashamayim – the term...
On the Origins of the Israelites and Their Religion
Overview: A summary of what we know about early Israelite history, starting from its conception down to its destruction and rebirth. Discusses genetics, the Exodus, the twelve tribes of Israel,...
Did Moses Really Write the Torah?
Overview: Evidence to demonstrate the antiquity of much of Torah yet showing how Moses couldn’t have been the only author of the Torah, as proven by a number of rabbinic...
The Composition of Deuteronomy: When it was Written
Overview: Exploring various elements in the dating of Deuteronomy. Showing both sides of the aisle in the research of Deuteronomy’s laws, language, and theology in attempt to date the book....
Is the Torah’s Text Accurate?
Overview: In this article we discuss various elements of the Hebrew Bible’s text. It’s original script, the rabbinic invention of Safrut, the amendments made to it, the scribal errors, and...
Torah and Evolution: Early Genesis as a Metaphor
Overview: The ancient genre of metaphor and the indications that early Genesis was not intended as literal history. This would reconcile the issues of Evolution and Genesis. The approach to...
Exodus on Trial: Were the Israelites Enslaved in Egypt?
Overview: Summary of both the evidence for and against an Israelite Exodus and the responses of each side. The element of embellishment in ancient story-telling and the possible ramifications of...
How Many Israelites Really Left Egypt?
Overview: Challenging the literal interpretation of 600,000 leaving Egypt. Giving scriptural-friendly and archaeological-friendly alternatives to the common notion of the mass exodus from Egypt. What first may appear as...
Genesis on Trial: Were the Patriarchs Real Historical Figures?
Overview: A general outline of the arguments for and against the historical credibility of Patriarchal Genesis, the responses of each side, by comparing it to ancient documents from that time....
The Genesis of Genesis: On the Origins of the Book
Overview: Arguments for early authorship, arguments for later authorship, legends based on kernels of truth, legends that served political and ideological agendas, and the several layers found within the book...
Israelite Conception of God: Monotheism or Monolatry in Torah?
Overview: The differences of deity worshipping in the ancient world, the biblical conception of God, the inferior gods in Tanakh, and what makes Judaism unique as a monotheist belief system....
The Biblical View of Afterlife
Overview: The biblical view of an afterlife in the context of Canaanite belief in Sheol and the Egyptian belief in the spiritual afterlife of judgment; why the Torah makes no...
Sacrificial Worship Outside Jerusalem? A Scriptural Analysis
Overview: An overview of the arguments concerning the legality of worship outside of Jerusalem in ancient Israel. The arguments for and against as well as the possible responses. Before...
Was Torah Influenced by Surrounding Cultures?
Overview: Addressing the issue of parallels between the divinely-inspired Torah and the man-made Ancient Near East documents. Parallels include phraseology, civil laws, and religious rituals. Introducing the partially-divinely-inspired model for...
Kuzari Principle: The Mass Revelation Argument Deconstructed
Overview: The classical argument explained, but then deconstructed with an understanding of myth-formation in the ancient world. While I do believe there is evidence that can support the idea...
What is the Center of the Universe?
Overview: The debate between Heliocentrism vs. Geocentrism and its relation to the apparent religion vs. science debate. How the idea of relativity invalidates the conflict, and why each side takes...
The Early Prophets on the Sinai Account
Overview: A response to the claim that the early Prophets don’t mention Sinai because it was a later development in Judaism. A few references to Sinai; why it is underemphasized:...
Was the Great Flood Only a Local Flood?
The Local Great Flood theory would suggest that the flood in Noah’s days was indeed historical. However it was a localized flood primarily in the Mesopotamian area that completely wiped...
Must Torah be Taken Literally?
Genesis begins with two of the most controversial narratives in history. It starts with a 6-day Creation story and has a universal Great Flood more than a thousand years later...
Yahu of Who? On the Origins of YHWH
Overview: A discussion on the different opinions and archeological evidence for the origins of the Israelite God YHWH, as well as a discussion of how to square it with belief...
Divine Names and the Documentary Hypothesis
Overview: Why multiple names are used to describe the divine throughout Torah, the assumptions of the Documentarians, and various explanations for Ex. 6:3, the revelation of the name YHWH. ...
How to Deal with Contradictions in Torah
If the Tanakh is a divinely-inspired work, how are contradictions possible? Don’t contradictions show multiple authors with multiple Codes of Law they are attempting to convey? We will make a...
Is Tanakh a Historically Reliable Document?
Overview: The three overall approaches, the issues with the extremes, the middle-path of embellishment, metaphor, myth and legend. The consequences of errancy in Tanakh for Judaism as a whole. From...
Source Theory for the Flood Narrative and the Flood Narrative Source Theory
Overview: A discussion about the constant and obvious repetition and contradictions within the Flood narrative. The two sources theory, the counter arguments from the Epic of Gilgamesh and chiasm, and...
210 to 430: How Long Were the Israelites in Egypt For?
Overview: Four possible solutions to one of the most glaring contradictions in the Torah. Were the Israelites in Egypt for 430 years, for 400, or for 210? The issue...
Where did Half the World Go: Table of Nations in Genesis 10
Overview: A study identifying the people-nations in Genesis Ch. 10. The glaring absence of any nations and civilizations beyond the known world of the ancient Near East, including the great...
Torah in Historical Perspective: Answering Many Issues with One Simple Approach
Overview: One approach to Torah that answers many question we may have. When we look at Torah with our modern conception of writings, laws, and history, we can bump into...
“For it is Your Wisdom”: How Revolutionary was Torah
Overview: Origins of the main Torah laws, its influence from other cultures, and the areas where Torah advanced novel revolutionary ideas to the world. Torah is definitely the most influential...
Please wait...