The unbearable lightness of Chris(sy) Hanson

I spun this out of the first of two recent posts about the thoughts, presumably wrong thoughts, of "independent biblical researcher" (you don't get the s-word) Chris(sy) Hansen, who I only ran into at r/AcademicBiblical a couple of months ago after her their comments about Tacitus and whether his comments about Nero persecuting Christians in the Great Fire is an interpolation or not. (Her forceful stating that it's not led me to relook at my own writing that it probably is, though I don't know for sure. I find Hansen's wrong, certainly on the dogmatic conviction.)

I mainly spun this out of my first piece, about her their claim that 1 Clement is about Peter and Paul being killed by internecine Christian conflict.

Hansen also is .... interesting elsewhere. Hansen apparently thinks Shushama Malik is the real deal. I don't. See here for her take. Elsewhere, Hansen gets puffed by KamilGregor, who I don't think a lot of, but, he notes she has NO academic biblical background. See here for publishing CV. Great.

Chrissy Hansen is an example of an independent researcher with no formal degree in Biblical studies and she currently has eight(!) academic publications in Biblical studies listed as forthcoming. In 2022 alone, she managed to publish six journal articles (and in good journals, too).

OK? Not OK. Gregor doesn't disclose that he's a co-author with her at least once. That itself is an ethical issue, and I've already had other reasons to dislike him, too. And, given that at least one of the journals is specifically geared to contributions from people with no academic biblical background, how peer-reviewed are they? I mean, technically, if it's "peers," then it's being reviewed by people like her, or Paul Davidson, whom I also believe has no biblical degree, undergrad or grad. (One does name Shaye Cohen on the editorial board, but he's one of more than a dozen.) In addition, most are semiannual if not annual. (The one with Cohen is annual.) In other words, backwaters. And, just because he's on the editorial board, that doesn't mean he's a reviewer.

As for Malik? Here you go.

The Nero-Antichrist: Founding and Fashioning a Paradigm by Shushma Malik
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

A simplistic view of a book that in all likelihood had multiple layers of composition. Assuming an earlier core that was written at the time of Nero, later Christians could have adopted this at the time of Domitian, which is when Nero Redivivus rumors arose.

The author is also illiterate in terms of proper biblical criticism. The word and concept "antichrist" are nowhere mentioned in Revelation. Only the "beast." The word "antichrist," representing a totally different concept, is only in two of John's epistles. And, neither one of those is "the man of lawlessness," found only in 2 Thessalonians. See here for much more detailed discussion.

And, since for various reasons, since running into them, I like to kick Hansen, their missing this basic error in Malik undercuts their claim to be an independent "scholar." Per this person, anybody can claim to be a "researcher."

Please also note that reviewer Allen Russell Fuller's graduate theology "degrees" come from an online ordination certification mill, which is what Esoteric Interfaith Theological Seminary is, and even more whackadoodle in a New Agey-lite way than, say, the old Universal Life Church.

Beyond my review of Malik, see comments in this archived r/AcademicBiblical thread.

Academic siloing is sometimes bad, but often good. Shushma Malik is a classicist, not a scholar of biblical interpretation. 

And, Hansen is neither.

And, Hansen definitely is NOT a "scholar," despite her own claims. 

Here's a list of the only scholars (and myself) I know who notably interact with Carrier's work

You're not a scholar. I have an undergrad degree in classical languages, which includes biblical as well as classical Greek, and also read biblical Hebrew at that level, and have a graduate theological degree. You're not a scholar, and that's even shown at r/AcademicBiblical, because you have no "flair." See more below. 

Next, back to that CV page:

I professionally focus on Creative Writing outside of NT studies. I am currently applying for an MA in Creative Writing, and I hope to eventually teach it. I have edited for creative literature journals and magazines in the past, and I named the “Outstanding SVSU Graduate in Creative Writing” for my work (both in and out of classrooms).

Also, per it, there IS no "Canadian-American Theological Society." There is a CAT Association. Its website is a WordPress blog. I'm sorry, it now says elsewhere on teh Google that it is a society. Big whoop. And, asking people to "advertise with us" on a subvertical? Places like the Society for Biblical Literature never do that.

Back to the not a scholar? Said person (sic) has no current graduate degree in ANYthing:

I professionally focus on Creative Writing outside of NT studies. I am currently applying for an MA in Creative Writing, and I hope to eventually teach it. I have edited for creative literature journals and magazines in the past, and I named the “Outstanding SVSU Graduate in Creative Writing” for my work (both in and out of classrooms).

And I wasted time arguing with this person.

Carrier? Low-hanging fruit to go after him. No bona fides there. Trying to apply critical thinking while being a polytheist? (Person self-identifies as "pagan," and was from some sort of Methodist or similar background.) "Know thyself" honesty but no critical thinking bona fides. 

Weirdly, as noted briefly at the top, Hansen has been on r/AB for three years at least; never came across that person until last month. Said person also claim to be a friend of alleged atheist and actual papal apologist Tim O'Neill, though Hansen admits disagreeing with O'Neill on some things. Sorry, Hansen, plenty of non-mythicists find O'Neill laughable. (And about as pedantic as Richard Carrier.)

And, as discussed on my primary blog, there's another issue. You may already have figured it out.

Oh, while I'm at it, where does Paul Davidson of "Is that in the Bible" blogsite get off on r/AcademicBiblical with flair of "Hebrew Bible | Early Christianity"? (He's Captain Haddock there.) While he's a researcher of longer duration than Hansen, his "about" page on his blog lists no bachelor's, let alone graduate, degrees in the relevant fields. 

This shows that that site is about favoritism, and why I was comment-banned. Naugrith the Nazi had already ingratiated himself well enough that other moderators then were butt-hurt that I called him out. (At least one "chased" me to the new sub that I created, then said that with it marked as "restricted" or whatever Reddit's intermediate level of group privacy is, nobody would find it, not understanding that I made it thus to keep them away.)

And, with that, if I've not completely purged that site from my system, I've done a fair amount.