Antiquitopia

Mark Goodacre, who as of late seems to scour YouTube for video clips of controversial finds, has posted a clip of Morton Smith discussing Secret Mark, which has been making additional waves in scholarship lately. I have decidedly not publicly defended or refuted anyone's claims on Secret Mark, and do not expect to get anything out of me anytime soon. Those who pay close attention to my CV--the nocturnal initiates--will know why. Here is the clip on Jesus' potential nocturnal initiation ceremonies: Be sure to click on the link above to get Mark Goodacre's comments.

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According to Newsweek , the Pope is following in Barack Obama's footsteps and is launching his own channel on YouTube. B16 is entering the digital world...a world without boundaries. It has actually proven effective for a great deal of people: politicians and religious leaders. Evangelicals love YouTube--decentralized information networks as a means to disseminate their religious views, a tool of proselytization. But, ironically, it is also a tool of control: The Vatican said it was launching the channel to broaden Benedict's audience while also giving the Holy See better control over the papal image online. Why do they need to control his image? You might think they need to do spin control on the Papal or Vatican positions and how they are taken by the rest of the world: on birth control, homosexuality, etc. But they mean this quite literally: the actual visual image of the pope: "It's undeniable that certain images are already circulating," Celli said. Wh...