Religion Section

• Method:
  
  • Information, Knowledge, and the Prophets of HTTP the current introduction 1/8/2001
    
    
  • Sensitivity Training screw you! 3/10/2001
    
    
  • Hacking the Bible h0w 2b aN 3133+ b1bLe d00d 4/30/1999
    
    
  • Starting Points general assumptions; fundamentalists need read no further 1/6/2001
    
    
• Hebrew Scripture:
  
  • Before the Exile:
    
    • The Colony Hypothesis my humble take on the exodus legend 5/9/2004
      
      
    • The Moabite Stone as seen on LookSmart and Argos 6/16/1999
      
      
    • The Garden of God a brief speculation on the origins of Eden 5/9/2004
      
      
    • Sodom and 'El Who cast the first brimstone? 2/9/2003
      
      
  • After the Exile:
    
    • Notes upon Esther a usenet post (almost) grows up 11/15/98
      
      
  • Apocalyptic:
    
    • Visions of Moses the question of ezekiel the tragedian's apocalyptic sources 8/20/2001
      
      
    • Daniel among the Watchers fee fie foe fist, i smell the ink of a plagiarist 2/5/2001
      
      
    • Forgers of Righteousness the chain of authorship up to the damascus document 12/31/2002
      
      
• Christian Scripture:
  
  • Oral Tradition:
    
    • The Root of Christian Polygyny not just for mormons anymore 07/26/2003
      
      
    • The Passion of the Epistle of Clement the origins of roman-catholic guilt 03/21/2008
      
      
  • Mark:
    
    • The Apocalypse of Mark is mark 13 post-daniel? 4/7/2002
      
      
  • Deutero-Synoptic Problem:
    
    • The Scholarly Corruption of Egerton how 'johannine' is egerton really? 7/4/2002
      
      
    • The Ascension of Egerton two new verses to replace the ones debunked earlier 7/4/2002
      
      
    • Ignoring the Teacher egerton is NOT a gospel harmony 5/19/2002
      
      
    • Judas's Motive who betrayed Christ? 9/18/2006
      
      
  • John:
    
    • The Visionary Gospel defining a genre 6/11/2002
      
      
    • John and Enoch it's hard to tell them apart 4/1/2002
      
      
    • The Gospel of Works 'works of the father' as a johannine term 3/29/2002
      
      
    • John and the Jews time to scrap the fourth gospel 5/6/2002
      
      
    • Walking in the Light 1 John's ideas and their influence 4/1/2002
      
      
    • The Secret Gospel of John what is (the) truth? 6/11/2002
      
      
  • After the Gospels:
    
    • The Valentinian Library stromateis on the gospel of truth etc 3/31/2008
      
      
    • The Other Testimonium Flavianum josephus didn't know jesus - so what else is new 4/14/2001
      
      
    • The Vision of the Saviour berolinensis 22220 6/26/2002
      
      
    • The Shepherd and the Vineyard doctrine vs. practical ethics & art: guess who wins 9/10/2000
      
      
    • The Gospel of Matthias What do a papyrus found a century ago and the Traditions of Matthias have in common? 12/24/1999
      
      
    • The Sources of the Testimony of Truth cassian and matthias 4/6/2008
      
      
    • The Apocalypse of Sedrach evangelising a jewish book 6/7/2000
      
      
• Book Reviews:
  
  • The Parable of the Cowshed on Lewis, Luke, and Lazarus 2/1/2001
    
    

And here is a site which I am maintaining, best view'd by an HTML 4 compliant browser. I validated the code with version 4.01 of both Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator, or tried to. Readers are warned that some version higher than 4.01 is required for Netscape.

• The Baal (and the Asherah?) in Seventh-Century Judah written by Baruch Halpern 1992, text by Tzimon Yliaster 24 August 1994, HTML by me 5-15 March 1998

Self-Review

I used to mark the essays I liked with a Star of David. (Essays, reviews, and of course the hobby-related material are not important / objective enough to count.) But too many of these pages were kind of confused, and I was attracting too much kook mail, so I've gotten rid of a lot of them. (7/17/2007)

There may be mistakes and stuff I've left out of the remainder. If so, tell me.

As for what you're likely to get out of all this: well, first read the "method" essays. If you don't agree with those, it could be that my methods are wrong; either way, we'll have no common ground to dispute facts. Believe it or not, I'd prefer it if my methods are wrong. At least I can do something about my own methods. I won't be able to undo yours if you are wrong.

Barring that, there should be something for everyone. Liberals will like what I have to say about Egerton (move over, Saint John!). For conservatives, I offer proof that Matthias/POxy840 and what we have of Sedrach and Hermas are based on Matthew, Luke, and Mark (respectively).

Email Policy

Email becomes the property of The House of David. This means, if you're a New Age goofball or a Scripture-slinger, don't cry "slander" or "harassment" if I post your rantings - and possibly email address - on the 'Web. I've done it before. As for commercial, bulk, "spam" mail - I don't even respond to that, I just report it.

Criticism is good. Requests for help are good, but erratically acted on (and this is my fault - I am truly sorry). Ideas for other projects are rare, but I like them. You will be credited with them. Sermons from kooks are funny. You may be published and ridiculed. Requests for reams of someone else's (not mine) photocopied material are not good. You may be ignored or insulted, depending on my mood. I have historically responded most quickly to goofy sermons, and to comments on the sites that I have most recently updated. I have responded least quickly to requests of a legally dubious nature, if at all.

Copyright Policy

The moral rights of me (Dave Ross) as the author of all the above (except Halpern's... obviously) are asserted. Please let me know if you are linking to these papers or quoting them. In particular, if you're a student - don't hand in my work as if it were your own. I'm probably not going to find out about it, but your teacher might (I'm a public service!), and in any case it won't help you.

Concluding Thoughts

Enjoy your time on the 'Web. Take everything you see with a degree of skepticism, like anywhere else. Beware of giving out personal information, like anywhere else. Don't spend too much time in online chat or newsgroup flame wars. Remember that you don't know a person until you meet the person in real life. If you meet people off here, again like anywhere else, be safe. Learn what you can, because the only thing God did give you was a brain.

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