Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

But isn't (3) really a response to (2)? I would emend point 3 this way: 2. Celsus argued that Christianity shouldn't be tolerated (and Christians put to death) owing to their religion failing to demonstrate a connection with the deep past - i.e. it was wholly 'novel' and so lacked the basis to its ...

Ben cited: Josephus, Antiquities 8.3.9 §95: 95 Solomon made all these things for the honor of God, with great variety and magnificence, sparing no cost, but using all possible liberality in adorning the temple; and these things he dedicated to the treasures of God. He also placed a partition round a...

Also, I quoted Josephus as mentioning a barrier which was "for the exclusion of the multitude from coming into the temple, and showing that it was a place that was free and open only for the priests [εἴρξοντα μὲν τοὺς πολλοὺς τῆς εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν εἰσόδου, μόνοις δὲ ἀνειμένην αὐτὴν τοῖς ἱερεῦσι σημ...

Let's also bear in mind that the Pharisees (who were in charge of the Sanhedrin during this period according to Josephus) tended to not execute people, so one might assume this was the case regarding non-priests being in the Temple (as per Sanhedrin above). Ant. 13.10.6: Now there was one Jonathan, ...

Read each one of those passages carefully. The passage from Sanhedrin, for example, is about which acts lead to punishment by death outside the temple. It does not allow nonpriests into the temple. What about here? San. 82b-83a: ... if the priest performs any of these sacrificial rites outside the ...

What great subject, Ben (and thanks again for the information). Regarding Num. 1:51, as I go down the list on Google books, this caught my eye: Rashi qualifies the "coming near" to involve the performance of priestly tasks. In other words it is not the physical presence of the stranger tha...

Ben wrote: Given that only descendants of Levi could be priests, and that only priests were allowed into the temple proper (the "holy place"), these legalities forbid nonpriests from entering, do they not? What you need is not evidence that Nazirites (provided they were not descended from ...

Regarding Bauckham's suggestion that James entering the "holy place" is based (partly) on the description of the sons of Zadok in Ezek. 44 (and bearing in mind that the subject in Hegesippus is priests who aren't really priests, i.e, Nazirites and Rechabites), it reminds me that the Damasc...

Ben, I've had so much on my plate (on top of my limited internet time) that it's taking me awhile to address your citations of Bauckham. Now I see that I was going by incomplete information. I gathered from the link I gave upthread that Bauckham only had an issue with the interpretation of Hegesippu...

Where are you in this?

If by "this" you mean the movie scene, I'd say Kenneth. If you mean this conversation, I don't worry about other people's level of learning or aptitude.