New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

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_MormonsTalk
_Emeritus
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:01 am

New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _MormonsTalk »

I'm a longtime lurker at several LDS forums, including this one. I understand that many of you here have negative feelings towards the LDS Church. Without going into that, I want to extend an invitation to those of you with a academic mindset who wish to discuss Jesus Christ and the New Testament period on a more scholarly level - perhaps for purely intellectual reasons (it is a fascinating period in history, after all), perhaps to feel closer to Christ, etc. I would hope that people like Philo Sofee who are interested in biblical scholarship would join and contribute.

We will be doing it within a closed Facebook group that has a mix of active and inactive Mormons. About 20 of us have decided to read an academic introduction to the New Testament (by Luke Timothy Johnson, which is on sale for $4.99 on kindle) over the course of a year (supplemental readings by Dale Martin, Bart Ehrman, and Eric Huntsman). We're going to start next week. It should amount to about 15 pages per week.

The group is really focused on learning what scholars (mostly non-Mormon) have to say about the New Testament. We discuss the LDS Church very little. This wouldn't be a place for debating whether the LDS Church or its policies are good or bad. It's also not a place to try to destroy someone's faith (or alternatively to call people out who don't have faith). On the whole, it is faith-promoting of Jesus Christ, but there's enough purely academic discussion in the forum to be of interest to people of all stripes and faiths (including atheism).

If this academic study group interests you, please reply in this thread and I can provide more information.
_Philo Sofee
_Emeritus
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Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _Philo Sofee »

Im not on Facebook, otherwise I would do so...
Dr CamNC4Me
"Dr. Peterson and his Callithumpian cabal of BYU idiots have been marginalized by their own inevitable irrelevancy defending a fraud."
_GameOver
_Emeritus
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Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _GameOver »

Philo Sofee wrote:I'm not on Facebook, otherwise I would do so...

Same here. I'm not on Facebook and will never join it. Otherwise, I would like to attend this New Testament study group.
_deacon blues
_Emeritus
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Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _deacon blues »

Sounds interesting. I don't use Facebook and feel I am missing out of stuff. I just am hesitant to join. I am enthusiastic about efforts to cross faith boundaries. Good luck with the group.
_Fence Sitter
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Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _Fence Sitter »

Same here, sounds interesting but I am not on Facebook.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
_Philo Sofee
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Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _Philo Sofee »

So, it seems to me like with so many similar desires and interests here we ought to make a group here to do this... I'm just sayin..... or perhaps start a private email group? I have done those before and they work quite well......that way we avoid all the derails and silliness that sometimes shows up.....
Dr CamNC4Me
"Dr. Peterson and his Callithumpian cabal of BYU idiots have been marginalized by their own inevitable irrelevancy defending a fraud."
_MormonsTalk
_Emeritus
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:01 am

Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _MormonsTalk »

Why don't you folks just join Facebook? It takes 30 seconds. If you don't want to be bothered by friend requests, just join under a pseudonym (perhaps the names you use here). All you do is then search for this New Testament discussion group (I'll give you the name if you join), and then request to join. Done. Easy.
_Chuck Finley
_Emeritus
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Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _Chuck Finley »

Or why don't you just have a discussion here? You know, since the people you are talking with are, well, already here.
Proud to be the first of the "February Four" expelled from the Ceebooist branch of NeverMormonism.
_GameOver
_Emeritus
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2016 5:43 pm

Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _GameOver »

MormonsTalk wrote:Why don't you folks just join Facebook? It takes 30 seconds. If you don't want to be bothered by friend requests, just join under a pseudonym (perhaps the names you use here). All you do is then search for this New Testament discussion group (I'll give you the name if you join), and then request to join. Done. Easy.

It isn't about the "ease" of joining Facebook, it's about the fact that Facebook is the biggest privacy violator next to Google. You can't just sign up under a moniker or pseudonym. You will be banned at some point if you do that. They want your REAL NAME and your first-born son, and they will sell them both for a profit.

Facebook is not your friend.
_Philo Sofee
_Emeritus
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Re: New Testament Study Group with Scholarly Focus

Post by _Philo Sofee »

They won't let me back on Facebook because some self-righteous Mormon who I refute it over and over again because of his utterly insanely stupid arguments turned me in as a phishing site.
Dr CamNC4Me
"Dr. Peterson and his Callithumpian cabal of BYU idiots have been marginalized by their own inevitable irrelevancy defending a fraud."
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