I have asked Matthew Green to write a brief introduction of himself, as many readers may not know him (as they may know Kyle Gerkin from the Secular Web.) -- JPH

Dear readers,

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Matthew and I am a proud participant on Tekton Apologetics Ministry's "Scholarly Diplomacy Series". A bit about me. Right now (until March 22) I am 27 years old. I happen to be a secular humanist and a staunch atheist. I am currently studying history at the California State University, East Bay in Hayward. I am studying for my B.A. Degree with a special concentration in ancient European history, especially Greco-Roman history. I consider myself a pre-divinity student. I definitely plan to attend graduate school where I plan to study for a master's degree and eventually a Ph.D or two. My main interests are in New Testament criticism and Hebrew Bible criticism. My chief goal in life is to become a Bible scholar and antiquity historian.

I really enjoy being able to have good, intelligent discussions with J.P. Holding of Tekton Apologetics. J.P. Holding is one of the sharpest theological minds I have ever encountered save N.T. Wright and Ben Witherington. Like myself, he is a student of the Bible and agrees with my dictum that "Context is Everything!" To this end, we are both strong and die-hard fans of the Context Group. I love reading their works and Dr. Bruce Malina is one of my favorite authors of all time. The Context Group scholarship is excellent and first-rate research and is utterly indispensable for understanding the social context and history of the Bible, especially the New Testament, not to mention the social worlds of Jesus and Paul.

I consider it a joy and honor to participate in the Scholarly Diplomacy Series because it gives me a chance to learn more about the social and historical context of the Bible and it allows J.P. Holding and myself to serve as peer reviewers for each others' work where our insights are needed by each other, although I need Holding's insight far more at times than he really needs mine. I also believe strongly that it's important for skeptics like myself to be very humble, admit that there is much about the ancient social world of the Bible that we don't know about and I frankly enjoy friendly, respectful, and intelligent discussions like these. They foster understanding, respect, and friendship among its participants. It is the goal of Tekton Ministries to uplift and edify the faith of believers and to educate them. I can appreciate that because it's my goal to help educate other skeptics. Let's face it: I think we have more than enough of our fair share of Dan Barkers, Farrell Tills, C. Dennis McKinseys, and the like. Likewise, I believe that Tekton is devoted to educating other Christians because the Christian community has a similar problem with very uninformed Christians (Josh McDowell, Ralph Muncaster, etc.), who while well-meaning are very ignorant and are spreading nonsense and giving skeptics and critics a reason not to take the Christian claims about Jesus very seriously.

J.P. Holding and myself take this challenge very seriously. We both seek to educate our respective groups and this is a step in the right direction. My goal is chiefly to educate other skeptics. I do not wish to harm, call into question, challenge, and certainly not destroy the faith of any Christians. I do regret that there are confrontational atheists, even evangelical atheists, who are dead set on that purpose. Likewise, J.P. Holding is not out to cure the skepticism of atheists, convert them to faith in Christ Jesus or convince them of the historicity of the Bible or it's truth claims. This has created a mutual respect and friendship among J.P. Holding and myself and it's my hope that this leads to more productive conversations, fosters respect, and heals any hurts or ill-will between Christians and critics.

With Respect!

Matthew J Green