Humble Skeptic Update
Information about our upcoming series on the Gospel of Luke, news coverage related to the Moses inscription, a new bookstore, and the top 25 episodes.
Over the past few months I’ve recorded several interviews related to the Gospel of Luke. The first of these conversations, featuring Australian NT scholar Peter Bolt, will air in mid to late August. Dr. Bolt wrote The Gospel Coalition Commentary on Luke in which he mentioned the possibility that Luke’s Theophilus may have been the high priest who, according to Josephus, served in that office sometime around 39 to 41 AD. In light of his proposal, I inquired whether he was familiar with the Joanna ossuary discovered in Jerusalem back in 1983. As it turns out, he was not only familiar with this discovery, but has also referenced it in various academic journals and publications. You’ll have to wait until the release of that episode to find out what he says about the significance of this first-century artifact!
I’ve also been spending time putting the finishing touches on my book, Luke’s Key Witness. In fact, I decided to add several new chapters, including one that re-examines the words of Luke’s opening prologue in light of my thesis that Luke’s narrative may have originally been a kind of written affidavit submitted to Israel’s high priest. Though Jesus had been condemed years earlier by the chief priests, Luke’s report, I argue, could be seen as an attempt to “set the record straight” through its presentation of testimony from reliable witnesses who had been with Jesus from the beginning.
As I began to study the words of Luke’s prologue in the original Greek, along with a variety of other helpful books and commentaries, I discovered something I had never noticed before. In fact, this discovery has opened up a whole new area of research! I’ll be sharing the results of that research during my upcoming series on Luke, but I believe this new discovery has the potential to change the way we think about Luke, the meaning of his prologue, and his Gospel as a whole. So stay tuned!
Moses Inscription Story Picks Up Steam
Earlier this month I reported that The Jerusalem Post covered the Moses inscription story and included a reference to Michael Bar-Ron’s interview on The Humble Skeptic podcast (which you can find here). Well, this past Monday another article on this topic was featured in The Daily Mail, followed by several other news outlets.1 Here are some highlights from the Daily Mail piece which was titled, “Mysterious message ‘from Moses’ found in ancient Egyptian mine could prove the Bible true.”
A controversial new interpretation of markings etched on the walls of an ancient Egyptian mine could prove the Book of Exodus to be true. Researcher Michael Bar-Ron claimed that a 3,800-year-old Proto-Sinaitic inscription, found at Serabit el-Khadim in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, may read ‘zot m'Moshe,’ Hebrew for ‘This is from Moses.’
The inscription, etched into a rock face near the so-called Sinai 357 in Mine L, is part of a collection of over two dozen Proto-Sinaitic texts first discovered in the early 1900s…Bar-Ron, who spent eight years analyzing high-resolution images and 3D scans, suggested the phrase could indicate authorship or dedication linked to a figure named Moses.
Other nearby inscriptions reference ‘El,’ a deity associated with early Israelite worship, and show signs of the Egyptian goddess Hathor's name being defaced, hinting at cultural and religious tensions. Mainstream experts remain cautious, noting that while Proto-Sinaitic is the earliest known alphabet, its characters are notoriously difficult to decipher…
The Humble Skeptic New & Used Bookstore Is Now Open!
Every order helps to SUPPORT this podcast—and we’ll even throw in a free Humble Skeptic coaster with every purchase! Click here to see a list of titles available—including John A.T. Robinson’s Redating the New Testament, and a complete early set of Eerdmans excellent New International Commentary on the New Testament.
Recent Humble Skeptic Articles
The Date of John’s Gospel, Revisited, Shane Rosenthal
The Implications of 70 AD on the Date of the Gospels, Shane Rosenthal
A Pre-70 Date for The Gospels & Acts, Views Across the Centuries
A Pre-70 Date for Revelation? Shane Rosenthal
Ezekiel & Revelation: Intriguing Parallels, Shane Rosenthal
TOP 25 Episodes of The Humble Skeptic podcast
01 The Pilot Episode
02 Is Faith Irrational?
03 Did the Exodus Ever Happen?
04 How Did Jesus View the Old Testament? — New to the Top 10
05 Faith Founded on Facts
06 Christian Narcissism
07 What Did the Earliest Christians Believe?
08 Locating Golgotha
09 The Angel of Yahweh — New to the Top 10
10 Dealing with Doubt
11 Faith & Experience
12 In The Beginning Was the Word — New to the top 25
13 Death, Ghosts & Views of the Afterlife
14 Which John Wrote John?
15 The Intersection of Church & State
16 Greg Koukl on Blind Faith
17 Authenticating the Book of Acts
18 Decoding the Prophecies of Daniel
19 Reconciling the Resurrection Accounts — New to the Top 25
20 The Galatian Controversy
21 John Lennox on Evil & The Challenge of AI
22 The Big Picture
23 The Woke Revolution
24 Greg Koukl on Street Smarts
25 Signs of the Messiah—New to the Top 25
Little House of Neurodiversity
Our local paper recently published an article featuring the work of Little House of Neurodiversity, which is an organization my wife Heidi created a few years ago here in the St. Louis area. Here are a few paragraphs from this story:
Little House of Neurodiversity, founded in January 2022, serves Jefferson County, focusing on neurodiverse people, including those with ADHD, autism, dyslexia and beyond, said Heidi Rosenthal, founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization. “We provide resources to give neurodiverse individuals a platform to interact with the community on their terms,” she said. “We work to educate the community around them so that the individuals will be fully seen and accepted.”
“We hold our programs at places within the community [such as] The Jefferson County Library.” The idea behind the programs and courses offered at the library is to teach people how to use different tools to reach their personal goals, Rosenthal said, adding that sometimes those tools might look different than those used by someone who is neurotypical. “We want to reach a little higher for everyone…”
You can read the full article here, along with another story featuring the work of Little House of Neurodiversity here. For more information about Heidi’s organization, visit littlehousemo.org.
Here are some of the news outlets that have covered this story (some of which also mention The Humble Skeptic: The LAD Bible, All That’s Interesting, Arkeonews, The US Sun, The Greek Reporter, GB News, Premier Christian News, and Ancient Origins.