National Coalition of Independent Scholars

The Use of Artificial Intelligence to Reduce Teacher Workload: Opportunities and Limitations

This conceptual note examines the use of artificial intelligence as a tool for reducing teacher workload. It focuses on the difference between task automation and actual workload reduction, emphasizing the need to consider the complete teacher workflow, including checking, correc...

Merkavah Mysticism: From the Opened Heavens to the Seven Palaces

Merkavah mysticism occupies a complex position between biblical visions of divine sovereignty, apocalyptic journeys into heaven, rabbinic restrictions on speculative teaching, and the elaborate heavenly palaces described in late antique Jewish literature. This article examines th...

The Gospel of Thomas and the Problem of Secret Christianity: Sayings, Knowledge, Salvation, and the Limits of the "Hidden Gospel" Narrative

The Gospel of Thomas is frequently described in popular culture as a suppressed secret gospel that preserves an alternative Christianity based on hidden knowledge. This article argues that such descriptions flatten a far more complicated text and scholarly debate. Thomas is a col...

The Gospel of Thomas and the Problem of Secret Christianity: Sayings, Knowledge, Salvation, and the Limits of the "Hidden Gospel" Narrative

The Gospel of Thomas is frequently described in popular culture as a suppressed secret gospel that preserves an alternative Christianity based on hidden knowledge. This article argues that such descriptions flatten a far more complicated text and scholarly debate. Thomas is a col...

Casting Out Demons Before Constantine: Exorcism, Christian Identity, and the Contest for Religious Authority in the Early Church

Exorcism was one of the practices through which early Christians publicly distinguished their religious claims from surrounding ritual cultures. This article surveys Christian exorcistic discourse before Constantine, concentrating on Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Orige...

Melchizedek Beyond Hebrews: Priest, Heavenly Figure, and the Mystery of 11QMelchizedek

Melchizedek appears only briefly in Genesis, yet later Jewish and Christian texts turned this enigmatic priest-king into a major theological figure. This article traces the movement from Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 to the Qumran text 11QMelchizedek and the Epistle to the Hebrews. Pa...

Melchizedek Beyond Hebrews: Priest, Heavenly Figure, and the Mystery of 11QMelchizedek

Melchizedek appears only briefly in Genesis, yet later Jewish and Christian texts turned this enigmatic priest-king into a major theological figure. This article traces the movement from Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 to the Qumran text 11QMelchizedek and the Epistle to the Hebrews. Pa...

The Limits of Dominion: Biblical Theology, Human Intervention, and Responsibility for the Future of Creation

This article develops a biblical theology of ecological responsibility for an age in which human beings possess unprecedented capacities to alter natural systems. It argues that the biblical language of dominion cannot be read as a warrant for unrestricted technological mastery....

Abrasax, Abraxas, and the Making of a Modern Gnostic God: Basilidean Cosmology, Late Antique Magical Gems, Nag Hammadi Traditions, and Jung's Reinterpretation

This article re-examines Abrasax (later commonly Abraxas) by separating four historical layers frequently collapsed in modern accounts: Basilidean traditions reported by early Christian heresiologists; late antique magical gems and amulets; appearances of Abrasax in Nag Hammadi l...

Scripture, Authority, and the Word of God: Rethinking Inspiration Beyond the Dictation Model

This article examines the relationship between divine inspiration, human authorship, and biblical authority, arguing that a high doctrine of Scripture does not require a mechanical or dictation model of inspiration. It distinguishes revelation, inspiration, canon, authority, iner...

Scripture, Authority, and the Word of God: Rethinking Inspiration Beyond the Dictation Model

This article examines the relationship between divine inspiration, human authorship, and biblical authority, arguing that a high doctrine of Scripture does not require a mechanical or dictation model of inspiration. It distinguishes revelation, inspiration, canon, authority, iner...

Improving the Hydrophilicity of the Drugs Paclitaxel, Violacein, and Tetrandrine Using Carbon-Based Quantum Dots

Carbon-based quantum dots and their nitrogen- and sulfur-doped derivatives were used as platforms to improve the aqueous solubility for Paclitaxel, Violacein and Tetrandrine, drugs with known high partition coefficients (Log P). Paclitaxel, Violacein and Tetrandrine showed a sign...

Biblical Authority and Christian Political Allegiance: The Church, Political Power, and Public Witness in an Age of Polarisation

This article examines Christian political allegiance under the authority of Scripture in an age in which political identity can become a rival source of belonging, moral certainty, and quasi-religious devotion. It argues that the Bible neither authorises political withdrawal nor...

The Soul From God: Pre-Existence, Divine Life, Human Freedom, and a Christ-Centred Anthropology

This article examines the pre-existence of souls as a problem in Christian theological anthropology and proposes a Christ-centred alternative that distinguishes the divine source of human life from the pre-existence of individual human persons. Origen is frequently associated wit...

NoMMD: A Point-of-View-Bound Architecture for Recursive Mental Modeling

Recursive mental modeling becomes difficult to evaluate when an observer's global record is mistaken for a participant's state, later evidence enters an earlier prediction, or fluent summaries silently replace incompatible hypotheses. We present NoMMD, a point-of-view-bound archi...