Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Irenaeus was unwilling to admit that there was a Synoptic problem. He pretends that each of the gospels were written independent of one another. If this were the case, obviously Mark wouldn't be a condensed version, or the skeleton, of Matthew and Luke. So far as I know, Augustine (5th century) was ...

"If Jesus did all these miracles, then why is this the first time I've heard about him?" Because he did it in secret. "Ahh. That explains it."

Since the other gospels emphasize Jesus' physical body, I don't see why Mark couldn't have emphasized that Jesus had a spiritual body. 1 Peter does it clearly enough with one sentence. "He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" is an intentionally enigmatic statement ...

But the orthodox (or the gospels that they use) did get rid of it (if not a lost ending of Mark with a resurrected spiritual Jesus then at least the idea of a spiritual Jesus as per Paul and 1 Peter), in that Matthew, Luke/Acts and John depict a resurrected Jesus as having a physical body. 1 Cor. 1...

How would you write someone as having a spiritual body without explicitly pointing out that he has "a spiritual body" (as in 1 Corinthians)? Even if there was some "lost" docetic ending, it would likely be easy for the orthodox to claim that any docetic interpretation of it would...

My thesis comes out of a close reading of Galatians. I have answers to all your good questions but it gets complicated. Short answer: Catholic church tradition going back to Jerome has it that James son of Alphaeus and James the Lord's brother were one and the same person. I think they got the char...

I've always found the consensus around Philemon to be a bit surprising. It seems its alleged authenticity centers around its brevity and subject matter. The epistle lacks any major theological points - but is this a strong basis for authenticity? It names persons (Luke, Aristarchus, Demas, Mark, Epa...

An example where Mark is anti-marcionite: Mark 1:41. Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ The Marcion's Jesus was without a bit of human too human passion. This happens to contradict Marcion, but I don't see how we can determine whet...

Evan Powell believed that the 21st chapter of the Gospel of John was actually the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Ben discusses that idea the first thread I linked to above and he seems partial to it. Not saying I necessarily agree yet, but this line seems pretty Marcan. John 21:7b When Simon ...

Well, it could simply be the case that Paul never found much success when he wrote his letters. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE might have been the catalyst for his anti-Law message to gain traction. It's frequently been pointed out that there is no external evidence for Paul's letters before ...