David
@lifeofopuscula.bsky.social
Is there a book on this?
January 20, 2026 at 9:24 PM
Is there a book on this?
How many do you need? I take the point but it's not a bipolar world any more. Europe needs to become one of the poles
January 20, 2026 at 9:13 PM
How many do you need? I take the point but it's not a bipolar world any more. Europe needs to become one of the poles
French nuclear weapons backed up by British, no?
January 20, 2026 at 9:05 PM
French nuclear weapons backed up by British, no?
Yeah, there's some nuance in this in that people in London know murders tend to be gang-related whereas somebody outside just sees that a kid in London was killed. And if the murder rate is too high, who cares about broken windows. But low-level stuff has to play a big role in perception
January 12, 2026 at 11:02 AM
Yeah, there's some nuance in this in that people in London know murders tend to be gang-related whereas somebody outside just sees that a kid in London was killed. And if the murder rate is too high, who cares about broken windows. But low-level stuff has to play a big role in perception
Yeah, people aren't judging a city by whether they get knifed or not. It's the low-level stuff that affects perception
January 12, 2026 at 10:13 AM
Yeah, people aren't judging a city by whether they get knifed or not. It's the low-level stuff that affects perception
Surely it's the broken windows thing?
January 12, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Surely it's the broken windows thing?
Argh! I wasn't in any way talking about that
January 6, 2026 at 10:19 AM
Argh! I wasn't in any way talking about that
I don't think your voting history affects your political writing. If somebody is a political commentator, their voting history does. I'm not sure that's controversial. I'd argue that it's the same for historians. Atheists don't have a better historical understanding of the first century than Xians
January 6, 2026 at 10:18 AM
I don't think your voting history affects your political writing. If somebody is a political commentator, their voting history does. I'm not sure that's controversial. I'd argue that it's the same for historians. Atheists don't have a better historical understanding of the first century than Xians
(I was talking about how your voting history affects your political writing, not your input to this discussion. And my implication was that it doesn't)
January 6, 2026 at 10:13 AM
(I was talking about how your voting history affects your political writing, not your input to this discussion. And my implication was that it doesn't)
Okay, you're not operating on the basis of your being a Tory voter then. Historians can do historical work. Their beliefs inform it but don't necessarily mean that they are operating on that basis
January 6, 2026 at 10:11 AM
Okay, you're not operating on the basis of your being a Tory voter then. Historians can do historical work. Their beliefs inform it but don't necessarily mean that they are operating on that basis
It's useless to say the original text is divinely inspired. We don't have it. But that's a very different discussion
January 6, 2026 at 10:09 AM
It's useless to say the original text is divinely inspired. We don't have it. But that's a very different discussion
Are you operating on the basis of being a Labour voter? Most historians throughout the last 2000 years ago who have worked on this were Christians; I'm not sure they're operating on that basis (everything is subjective, etc)
January 6, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Are you operating on the basis of being a Labour voter? Most historians throughout the last 2000 years ago who have worked on this were Christians; I'm not sure they're operating on that basis (everything is subjective, etc)
...like it does. And Augustine was more important than both of them
January 6, 2026 at 10:01 AM
...like it does. And Augustine was more important than both of them
I honestly don't think that that's what people mean. Christ brought the kingdom, Paul brought the Church. That's an actual historian. And it's, I suspect, the kind of thing that non-specialists are half-remembering. But sure, Paul is more important than Jesus for why Christianity in the UK looks...
January 6, 2026 at 10:00 AM
I honestly don't think that that's what people mean. Christ brought the kingdom, Paul brought the Church. That's an actual historian. And it's, I suspect, the kind of thing that non-specialists are half-remembering. But sure, Paul is more important than Jesus for why Christianity in the UK looks...
Sure, but historians of the Reformation are talking about interpretations of Paul, not Paul. Just look at church architecture, it's all Jesus. What do we actually mean by*Paul* was more important?! Again, I really think it sounds fun and counterintuitive, not consensus on the history
January 6, 2026 at 9:53 AM
Sure, but historians of the Reformation are talking about interpretations of Paul, not Paul. Just look at church architecture, it's all Jesus. What do we actually mean by*Paul* was more important?! Again, I really think it sounds fun and counterintuitive, not consensus on the history
Sure, but I kinda took it from the 'consensus among historians' statement in relation to two historical figures!
January 6, 2026 at 9:46 AM
Sure, but I kinda took it from the 'consensus among historians' statement in relation to two historical figures!
Paul was the driving force behind the inclusion of the gentiles? Peter was at it, Paul's opponents were at it. Galatians 2, if that's what you're thinking of, is Paul defending his authority. Anyway, the fourfold gospel seemed to be circulating before Paul's letters
January 6, 2026 at 9:42 AM
Paul was the driving force behind the inclusion of the gentiles? Peter was at it, Paul's opponents were at it. Galatians 2, if that's what you're thinking of, is Paul defending his authority. Anyway, the fourfold gospel seemed to be circulating before Paul's letters
You can definitely go down the route of Christianity in the UK depends more on Paul, etc. And historians would say that. As a claim about the first century, I'm not sure it's true though
January 6, 2026 at 9:40 AM
You can definitely go down the route of Christianity in the UK depends more on Paul, etc. And historians would say that. As a claim about the first century, I'm not sure it's true though
That just isn't true (not least, and for a whole load of other reasons, because he wasn't a Christian himself)
January 6, 2026 at 9:36 AM
That just isn't true (not least, and for a whole load of other reasons, because he wasn't a Christian himself)
My sense is it's something that sounds smart rather than actually is smart. Lots comes down to what we mean by important. Like, when you talk about its success, you're not really talking about the first century, which is what I'm focusing on
January 6, 2026 at 9:25 AM
My sense is it's something that sounds smart rather than actually is smart. Lots comes down to what we mean by important. Like, when you talk about its success, you're not really talking about the first century, which is what I'm focusing on
I'm not sure it's a historic fact!
January 6, 2026 at 9:13 AM
I'm not sure it's a historic fact!
The first point gets very close to using Marcion to define those who argued against him (which I think is actually what the initial point does) and the second, well, Paul's letters are the earliest NT texts, so what evidence are historians using for pre-Paul theology?
January 6, 2026 at 8:28 AM
The first point gets very close to using Marcion to define those who argued against him (which I think is actually what the initial point does) and the second, well, Paul's letters are the earliest NT texts, so what evidence are historians using for pre-Paul theology?
Where do you get the Paul more important than Jesus one from?
January 5, 2026 at 11:05 PM
Where do you get the Paul more important than Jesus one from?