Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Interesting, I didn't see that: Hebrew "elohim" vs Greek "angelos". Thanks as always Ben. (I'm glad you aren't charging us for your knowledgeable responses!)

The culprit is the Greek adverb βραχύ. It can mean either "a little" with reference to how much lower Jesus was than the angels or "a short time" with reference to how long he was lower than the angels. The translator has to make an educated guess. Thanks Ben. Interesting, I've never seen that read...

1 Hebrews 2 . 5 It is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified: ........ “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, .......... a son of man that you care for him? [Psalm 8:4] ... 7 ... You made them a ...

In line with our previous discussion of this reference, I doubt anyone around Paul, whether friend or foe, would have taken exception to his methodology in cases like this. Well, that's embarrassing... I thought I'd raised this before, but that thread wasn't so long ago. :oops: Anyway, thanks as al...

Sometimes Paul changes the wording in passages of the OT to provide his own reading of what "was said". For example, in Roms 11: 26 (KJV): And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: This seems to be base...

Yeah, I'm not sure why people argue for the authenticity of Philippians and Thessalonians. Neither seem reasonable to me. Thessalonians claims to have converted idol worshipers to belief in Jesus just like that. Really? How does that happen? Imagine a Scientologist walks into a Baptist church and c...

The problem of Christian origins is best approached by asking the right question. Whether Jesus existed or not, is the wrong question. The right question is "when did the religion begin?" Personally, I don't see that as the right question, since you'd need to define what religion you mean. Fourth C...

It's clear at least in 1 Thessalonians that Paul is writing to a community that previously did not worship the Jewish God. It's difficult to imagine how Paul could have converted some community of pagans to worshiping the Jewish God with stories about how the Jewish God raised his son from the dead...

Around 160 CE, Alexander of Abonoteichus started a new cult about the snake god Glycon, and it seemed to spread widely throughout the Roman Empire during his life and continued after his death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_of_Abonoteichus Alexander of Abonoteichus (Ancient Greek: Ἀλέξανδρ...

Yes, I decided to only address 2 Peter on the basis of what you had in your table and what Carrier said The epistles of James and 1 Peter are also oddly silent about a historical Jesus— an oddity later rectified by the forgery of a second letter from Peter (see Chapter 8, §12) Yes, "an oddity later...