Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

sure but there seems more going on here than just events being described, like why the stories have odd features and details. and maybe metaphorical meanings in there. are these just plain stories or do they encode other information? after all there's the esoteric sayings that turn up in Thomas, a ...

after all , the epistles undermine the claim when they reveal there were other competing traditions and i think it is such as these that may have sourced the gospel stories. I think we also can't just assume that the Gospel stories are based (or mostly based) on other traditions. It's possible that...

Another interesting thing to point out is the words that are used for resurrection mean to go from a laying position to an upright position. To go from a sleeping position, to a waking position. So resurrection is "getting up" and "awakening". Waking from sleep was a common metap...

I completely agree with Ken Olson. Just because Paul believed that Jesus was physically raised to heaven doesn't mean Paul knew about anyone actually finding the tomb empty like we find in Mark. The story of people finding the tomb empty could be completely made-up. I personally think the finding of...

The logos that brings light and life into the world is comparable to the Egyptian sun god who brings light and life into the world and the underworld. Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom: RE, Amun and the Crisis of Polytheism (Routledge, 1995), Jan Assmann: The phrase "secret words in hi...

I shall contribute their religious and philosophical teachings, as well as their objects of worship when they are celebrated in conformity with Plato, whatever the Brahmans, the Jews, the Magi, and the Egyptians have instituted. Langseth writes that "it seems that he allegorized foreign myths ...

I think we can relate the Eleusinian theme to 1 Cor 15: (1 Cor 15:20) But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep […] (1 Cor 15:37) And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain Why th...

She caught him by his (Joseph's) cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. [Genesis 39:12] Clement sees a lot of naked Joseph in the Bible. Naked when his brother's stripped him of his cloak and again in this scene: As is right, then, he neve...

Gods taking on a disguise or lower status and blindness as a metaphor for lacking spiritual sight: The Transfiguration: an Exercise in Markan Accommodation (Yale University, 2004), Candida Moss: A variety of Greek myths recount how the gods often walked amongst humans in disguise and it is certainly...

More on the novels containing some of the same themes as the texts of the NT. Journeys of suffering and the loss of status (becoming a slave or a lower form of being like a donkey in the case of Lucius) that lead to rebirth/resurrection and salvation, themes of "descent" and "ascent&q...