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HEGSETH LEADS PRAYER SERVICE AT PENTAGON [1]
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Date: 2025-09-06
In May, I recall, Pete Hegseth asked God for wisdom and protection in a prayer service he led in the Pentagon’s auditorium (NYT 5.21.25). I find it interesting that the born-again evangelical Pete Hegseth (I’m not kidding) traces the foundation of his faith to something that happened in college. When he started college, he says, he took a class on Christianity. “I presumed [the class] would explain the gospels,” he wrote. “Taught by an atheist famous for studying the Gnostic gospels, the professor believed Jesus died, was buried in a shallow grave, and was eaten by dogs.” This led Hegseth to perform a deep-dive, knowledge-seeking voyage of discovery in the university’s library, a voyage that strengthened the Christian faith that became foundational to his view of himself, the world, and his place in it. Or something like that.
There actually are a few theorists on the fringes of religious scholarship who believe the core assertion that Jesus was buried in a shallow grave and that his body then disappeared. DePaul emeritus professor of religion, John Dominic Crossman, now in his 90’s, is the primary spokesman for this view. The vast majority of Biblical scholars obviously find the evidence to support the belief that Jesus was buried in the tomb by Joseph of Arimathea to be irrefutable as the New Testament resurrection account is the essential, central pillar of Christian faith. And Crossman was basing his theory on pure conjecture based on contemporaneous historical burial practices.
When I read Hegseth’s account, I thought he must have attended some small private liberal arts college in small-town Minnesota, where academic eccentricity was accepted, if not encouraged. Instead, I discovered he attended one of the Ivys, Princeton! What I’m sure actually happened is that Hegseth took some freshman survey course and Crossman was mentioned as the source of some alternative resurrection theories. So yes, I believe Hegseth’s account is complete bullshit. I do believe, however, the published assertion in The Daily Princetonian (5.25.25) that Hegseth plagiarized parts of his senior thesis. You can decide for yourself which story is more plausible.
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