I started planning this book, which became my PhD Thesis, about 5 years ago. It didn't turn out to be exactly what I expected - it's a mashup of Paradise Lost scholarship and a comparative history of the influence Milton's Satan had on politics, art, literature, revolution and social progress over several centuries. It's a response to the bizarrely conservative academic readings of Paradise Lost that continue to be taught in many universities. It's a summary of historical ...
“Dig” pilot… a new version of the biblical apocalypse?
As a theology major with his own plans to write bible-based apocalyptic fiction, I was excited to see a new TV show out with some great actors. On the one hand, the same topics are recycled so blatantly from other sources it's cliche on cliche... -A handsome FBI agent called to Israel to chase down a murderer who stole an antiquity... -An attractive red haired archaeologist (also American of course) on a dig under the Temple Mount looking ...
8 more shocking things you didn’t know about the Biblical Noah’s Ark story (that the movie totally got wrong)
I was less than impressed with the 2014 remake of the biblical story of Noah and the Ark, featuring Russell Crowe. While some of the thematic and symbolistic changes they made were interesting (I'll discuss those below), the controversy itself offers much for discussion. People are angry because it "wasn't true to the Bible." But the truth is most Christians don't realize the version they learned in Sunday School isn't in the Bible either - ...
St. Valentine is a lie – and why that means you should question everything.
It's Valentine's Day again, which means we'll all be buying cards, chocolates and flowers for our significant other (or ridiculing the holiday for its commercial vapidness). Since Valentine's Day is one of the major holidays of the western world, you've probably heard the history: We celebrate Valentine's day in honor of St. Valentinus, who was martyred a long time ago around February 14th - the "romance" part is because he continued to marry soldiers during wartime; ...
Bart Ehman vs. Timothy Freke: Did Jesus Exist?
Thanks to New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman's new book "Did Jesus Exist", the debate over the historical Jesus has reached mainstream. Today CNN posted an article about called The Jesus debate: Man vs. myth Interestingly, the only "Mythicist" writers they quote from are Robert Price (author of the Price, author of “Deconstructing Jesus “Deconstructing Jesus" published in 2000) and Timothy Freke (co-author of "The Jesus Mysteries: Was the ‘Original Jesus’ a Pagan God?" published in 2001). According ...
Did Jesus Exist by Bart Ehrman
In the book trailer for the new book "Did Jesus Exist", Bart Ehrman says "as a historian, I can assure you, that no matter what anybody else says about him, Jesus most certainly existed. There is as much evidence for Jesus, Ehrman continues, as the evidence for dozens of other historical figures. So lack of evidence should not lead us to doubt the historical Jesus. This much is true - but lack of evidence isn't the ...
What really happened on Easter Sunday – Jesus, suffering and guilt
My sister sent me the following chain letter, which goes into surprising detail about exactly how, physically, Jesus suffered on the cross. The point of the letter is to get you to feel his pain, which generates an emotional catharsis; it makes you first feel guilty, and then overwhelmingly grateful. Don't forget that this highly robust psycho-religious emotional experience was already being practiced by the Jewish women mourning for Tammuz in the Spring on the ...
Is John Carter Jesus Christ? Gods, Alien Technology, Atheism and Revolution
An online review posted about Disney's 2012 John Carter of Earth movie runs thus: "John Carter evokes pretty much every sci-fi classic from the past 50 years without having any real personality of its own." The essential thing to keep in mind, however, is that Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars was first published almost a century ago in 1917! Science fiction and fantasy novels and stories since then are deeply indebted to John Carter. Others ...
Paradise Lost 2013 Movie: Who is the Hero of Milton’s Epic?
***Oops - the movie adaptation of Paradise Lost starring Bradley Cooper has been canned as of February, 2012! It's a crying shame...Hope they revive it down the road.*** For the past decade, traditionally marginalized or "evil" characters have gained the limelight - witches, vampires and werewolves have changed from creatures of the night to tragically misunderstood victims of humanity's bitter prejudice. At the same time, Western humanist values caused us to champion rebel heroes - heroes ...
All the Greatest Stories were Told in the Bible: King David vs. Leonardo di Caprio
King David (who first defeated Goliath, stole his sword, then become a violent kingly soldier) soaked in the blood of battle, one day happened to see his fellow warrior and friend Uriah's wife Bathsheba bathe in her courtyard from the roof of his palace. He had her brought to his chambers and had sex with her, resulting in a pregnancy. Informed that her husband was Uriah, David summoned Uriah from battle to meet him, suggesting that ...
Was David and Goliath plagiarized from Homer’s Iliad?
Something interesting I discovered today was the link between the David and Goliath story and Homer's Iliad. I've already come to understand how much of the Old Testament (especially the flood story, but there are others) were lifted from Sumerian stories (Abraham was raised in, and left behind, a highly developed Sumerian culture before founding his new religious movement). But I hadn't considered the extent to which Old Testament scribes borrowed from successful Greek Literature such ...
Which came first, Satan, Michael or Garuda? Christian and Hindu Religious Art
Prepare to be amazed. Today I've been looking for pictures of Satan, and pictures of Garuda, for two separate art projects. What I'd never before realized, however, is that medieval depictions of The Devil are basically direct copies of much earlier (I presume) pictures of Garuda - the hindu flying Deity (half man, half eagle) that the God Vishnu flies around on. I'm guessing Garuda is first because A) Hinduism is older and B) they ...
If you're interested in religious mythology, astrological symbolism, or supernatural folklore, grab my book Gods of Myth and Man. You can 
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