Search found 1388 matches

by Joseph D. L.
Thu Apr 25, 2024 2:01 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Josephus again
Replies: 26
Views: 464

Re: Josephus again

I'm more of a 'one hand washes the other' kind of guy myself. Hegesippus was definitely using Josephus for some heinous propaganda and the conspiratorial side me wonders how much of Josephus is authentic and how much is really Hegesippus. If Luke-Acts and Mark drew upon Josephus, the question we sho...
by Joseph D. L.
Thu Apr 25, 2024 1:51 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Book 6.5.3 of Wars of the Jews.
Replies: 7
Views: 141

Re: Book 6.5.3 of Wars of the Jews.

A cow gave birth to a lamb? Huh. I really didn't see that one coming. :o Like you I think these little tidbits make up a potential source for early Christianity. Maybe source is the inappropriate word as it infers a kind of difference between the two. Michael Crouch believed that this was just how J...
by Joseph D. L.
Wed Apr 24, 2024 2:09 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Book 6.5.3 of Wars of the Jews.
Replies: 7
Views: 141

Book 6.5.3 of Wars of the Jews.

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-6.html In discussing the leadup to the the destruction of Jerusalem, Josephus mentions a series of signs that foretold this horrible event. They were 1. a star in the shape of a sword appearing in the sky, 2. a comet which was visible for a whole year, 3. D...
by Joseph D. L.
Wed Apr 24, 2024 1:01 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Josephus again
Replies: 26
Views: 464

Re: Josephus again

The story of Jesus started in Ant. And was developed by ghostwriters in letters, in gospels. With invented tradition to cover the past. Is Jesus a historical person? It is a question to Josephus. Probably He is historical Michael Crouch thought that Jesus ben Ananias was the only authentic an allus...
by Joseph D. L.
Fri Apr 19, 2024 7:33 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Litwa on Marcion as ancient Mythicist
Replies: 46
Views: 922

Re: Litwa on Marcion as ancient Mythicist

Carrier always came off as having an authority complex. When his books on historical Jesus studies came out he was quick to claim that he was the first credentialed scholar to undertake this topic (and to salvage it from the other mythicists who he says did more to discredit it), which shows a need ...
by Joseph D. L.
Fri Apr 19, 2024 7:20 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Litwa on Marcion as ancient Mythicist
Replies: 46
Views: 922

Re: Litwa on Marcion as ancient Mythicist

This is interesting. Would Marcion think that the Jesus cycle existed/took place in a Platonic-esque world of forms? In that way it would be possible to say these things are real while also being ahistorical. His Gospel has Jesus coming down to a specific region in a specific time, but how much is s...
by Joseph D. L.
Wed Apr 17, 2024 4:21 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Were Marcionites keepers of the original Christian faith?
Replies: 19
Views: 530

Re: Were Marcionites keepers of the original Christian faith?

... the structure of the belief is Paul being translated up to Heaven to be reborn out of the jurisdiction of the law, and he becomes an envoy for this new covenant, the gospel of Jesus. I think this is something that needs to be stressed a little more. Paul is not suggesting that Torah is now null...
by Joseph D. L.
Wed Apr 17, 2024 4:00 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Were Marcionites keepers of the original Christian faith?
Replies: 19
Views: 530

Re: Were Marcionites keepers of the original Christian faith?

Were the Marcionites the keepers of the original Christian faith? (1) Was their faith represented by the original Pauline epistles? If so, where did the author of the original Pauline epistles get his ideas from? Kind of a leading question in my opinion, for what are the "original" Paulin...
by Joseph D. L.
Sat Apr 13, 2024 1:35 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Why I Think Morton Smith is Innocent
Replies: 8
Views: 249

Re: Why I Think Morton Smith is Innocent

I can accept that the Letter to Theodore is spurious (though I don't think it is, I can accept it is possible), but I cannot accept that Smith forged it and have not been convinced by any of the arguments put forward thus far as they rely on circumstantial evidence (comparing its discovery to the pl...