Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Most of the DSS "bible" is more or less in line with the Masoretic text (up to 80%). However, despite these variations, most of the Qumran fragments can be classified as being closer to the Masoretic text than to any other text group that has survived. According to Lawrence Schiffman, 60% ...

Giuseppe wrote: This means that it is not so different to assume or not the Two Powers Tradition as basis to deduce that the Christians was identifying their Christ with the ''Angel of Lord'' of Exodus 23:20-23. That's interesting. I never noticed that Jude 1:5 says "Jesus" instead of &quo...

Michael BG wrote: I don’t think Jews regarded their religious literature as fixed as they continued to write new literature and interpret the old literature in new ways. If it was fixed then why are there differences between the Septuagint and Masoretic versions? Also the Masoretic has 24 books but ...

While I'm thinking about it, another element of the "He visited them" part in the Damascus Document is that it says that after this happened, but before the rise of the Teacher of Righteousness, "they perceived their iniquity and recognized that they were guilty men, yet for twenty ye...

Ben wrote: So you have landed on the equation: Jesus = Lord = Yahweh himself in the epistle of James? It's starting to seem like it, given the Philippians Hymn, the post-70 CE Jewish Christian and Pauline belief that Jesus was Daniel's Son of Man (which I now see as being divine), and the post-70 CE...

You should not use “John’s belief” as evidence for in this instance "James' belief". I think you mean "Paul's belief" not "James' belief," but I get your point. Daniel has “last days” without a Messianic figure. The Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 1-36) has judgement that co...

I've had a chance to catch up with the thread (thanks everyone) and look at Heiser's article (didn't seem too scandalous) and I see that Hurtado has blogged about Segal's book (in 2013) and Heiser and Boyarin are discussed in the comments section. In an analysis that I found (and still find) persuas...

As I was reading Boyarin's The Jewish Gospels the other day I noticed that he refers to the "two powers in heaven" tradition in Rabbinic Judaism, which is something I've never investigated before (or even heard of except from Stephan Huller on this forum). As Boyarin puts it: Throughout th...

I'm on the fence about it and probably always will be because I don't know Aramaic and the text is very fragmentary. As Ferda notes in Naming the Messiah: A Contribution to the 4Q246 ‘Son of God’ Debate (2014): The contribution of this article begins with the recognition that all six views typically...

Regarding pre-70 CE Jewish thought about the End of Days, consider the Isaiah Pesher. The Lord declares to you that He will build you a House. I will raise up your seed after you. I will establish the throne of his kingdom [for ever]. I [will be] his father and he shall be my son. He is the Branch o...