The Mystery of the Woman Caught in Adultery, by Anthony Esolen, PhD

One of the best literary commentaries ever written on the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel is undoubtedly Anthony Esolen’s In the Beginning Was the Word: An Annotated Reading of the Prologue of John, which overthrows modern assumptions and delights the inward heart on every page. This profound work should be required spiritual reading for all Catholics who assist at the TLM, where these opening verses of the Fourth Gospel are read after nearly every Mass. Some time ago we shared one excerpt; today we are pleased to share another.—TSF

Why Modern Exegetes Are Often Wrong in Their Views of Biblical Authorship

Forensic experts in handwriting can tell a true signature from a forged signature by some tic or habit betrayed by the forger, or by some telltale that suggests that the forger has stopped or slowed down in the middle of writing a single letter in a word. A man’s signature is not quite like a fingerprint, but it is close. We are tempted to believe that the same science that can sort out a genuine signature from a forged signature can reliably be applied to authors, even when the texts in question are few and rather short. Let me assure the reader that this is not so. …