Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

The Formal Education of the Author of Luke-Acts (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), Steve Reece: When I came to Paul’s speech to the Athenians on the Areopagus, I was surprised to discover him quoting a verse from the Phaenomena by the third-century BCE Cilician astronomer and poet Aratus... I found it utt...

As many of you already know, the texts of the New Testament contain common tropes and themes that are found in other Greco-Roman and ancient Near Eastern texts. I think it's important to be familiar with these texts in order to completely understand Christianity. Of course, the Hebrew scriptures are...

Thank you for your vote of confidence. I have been out of this game for a few years and am trying to get back into it. Your posts are always a fun read just by how much information you drop in them. If you're not Boswell himself you sure pack a similar punch. lol I don't know what it is in modern b...

Not sure if anyone here has this book https://www.amazon.com/YHWHs-Divine-Images-Cognitive-Approach/dp/162837439X the author did an interview with Mythvision podcast a couple years ago which I recently rewatched, and with all the talk around the nomina sacra I wanted to put up a thought for conside...

It is more likely that the original followers of Jesus believed that Jesus was resurrected and was the first of a universal resurrection that would end time. Yes, that is part of it. They were interacting with both Jewish and Greco-Roman concepts. Jews weren't expecting an individual to be the firs...

N.B. the imperial practice of seating statutes of reigning monarchs in the temples of greater gods, indeed at the right hand of the larger statue of that temple’s god. Esp. when the cult was taken to new levels with Hadrian. Right! I recently read some stuff by D. Clint Burnett. This idea of the ki...

If there are no Palestinian Jewish texts which show Greek ideas in the first century then M. David Litwa case is weakened. Litwa's book isn't about pre-Christian Jewish texts. He focuses on the NT texts. He just gives a brief overview of the scholarship on Hellenism in Palestine. I am not aware of ...

over in the odes they have no idea of that though cause there's not really a resurrection. instead here the cross sort of gets compared to the bond of marriage as found in the OT. i suspect they were applying the previous idea onto the cross here. a simple reading of the odes just has the messiah '...

I agree with you that the motive of mourning women is important and it's good that you pointed it out. But at the same time I think that the women in GMark 15 & 16 don't really fill that role. It's like the anointing. Somehow Jesus is a king and a prophet is expected to appear and anoint him in...

I asked does M. David Litwa demonstrate these Greek ideas are present in first century Palestinian Jewish texts? Which Palestinian Jewish texts do you have in mind? The Dead Sea Scrolls show signs of Hellenism. The imperial cult was already in Palestine by the first century so Palestinian Jews woul...