In a previous post, I addressed the claim that no star could exist that moves or behaves in the way described in Matthew’s Gospel. I argued that Matthew’s Gospel uses language found in Greco-Roman writings to describe comets, and that a comet could act in the way Matthew described. I also argued that we have good […]
Entries Tagged as 'Hermeneutics'
Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part two
January 2nd, 2026 Comments Off on Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part two
Tags: Christian History · Christmas · Matthew's Gospel · Nativity · Star of Bethlehem
Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part one.
December 17th, 2025 Comments Off on Star of Wonder: Matthew’s Nativity Narrative and its Critics, part one.
Recently, I have been thinking about Matthew’s birth narrative. In particular, I want to discuss three claims that are sometimes made by critics of the narrative’s historicity. First, it is claimed that no star could exist that moves or behaves in the way described in Matthew’s Gospel. According to this objection, Matthew depicts a star […]
Tags: Apologetics · Bible · Matthew's Gospel · Star of Bethlehem
The Beatitudes: Part One
October 14th, 2025 Comments Off on The Beatitudes: Part One
Here is a talk I gave on the Beatitudes a few weeks ago.
Tags: Bible · Sermon on the Mount · Sermons
Matt Speaks at Orewa Community Church.
September 27th, 2021 Comments Off on Matt Speaks at Orewa Community Church.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp9rW8t6MWQ&t=3s&ab_channel=OrewaCommunityChurch
I was scheduled to speak on the topic “The Holy Spirit teaches” at Orewa Community Church on Sunday September the 26th. Because the government ordered New Zealand into lockdown six weeks ago, and has maintained Auckland in lockdown since, I had to do the message in an ad hoc manner by video. The message is […]
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The question “Why Be Moral?” and the book of Proverbs.
January 12th, 2021 1 Comment
I gave a brief talk at Orewa Community Church on 10 January 2020. The talk was part of a short series OCC are doing on the book of proverbs. It is available here.
Thank God for the New Zealand Anti Terrorist Squad: Online
October 16th, 2016 1 Comment
Matt’s article is available at this link flannagan-pc-18-1 Permission has been granted from the Editor of Philosophia Christi to upload this contribution. Learn more about the journal by going to www.epsociety.org/philchristi.
Tags: Ethics · Just War · Pacifism · Philosophia Christi
On Judging Books by their Covers: A Fisk of the Secularist Outpost’s book review of Did God Really Command Genocide?
November 4th, 2014 Comments Off on On Judging Books by their Covers: A Fisk of the Secularist Outpost’s book review of Did God Really Command Genocide?
You should not judge a book by its cover, unless you are a secularist… then it is okay. In a post entitled “Books Like This Should be a Warning Signal to Inerrantists“, published on 26 September 2014, The Secular Outpost’s Jeffery Jay Lowder refers to Paul Copan and this blog’s Matthew Flannagan’s, then forthcoming, book Did […]
Tags: Canaanites · Did God Really Command Genocide? · Old Testament Ethics · Paul Copan
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
