Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

John T wrote: I have not tried to verify Epiphanius' source for the Pella tradition. Instead, I trust respected scholars like James Tabor who did and writes; "...there is strong evidence in its favor..."...The Jesus Dynasty (pg 299). I was able to see this page on Google books when I was a...

On a side note, I noticed something interesting about the Dead Sea Scrolls in Bauckham's Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church. I always hear how the existence of extra-biblical writings like 1 Enoch at Qumran means that they had a different canon than the one that Josephus says existe...

Yes, this has to be the case, since it says in section 14 just before the above section: And he [Hadrian] took the Aquila mentioned above, who was a Greek interpreter, since Hadrian also was a Greek -now Aquila was related to the king by marriage and was from Sinope in Pontus- and he established him...

I'm still looking into the Pella flight tradition and came across an interesting account about the OT translator Aquila/Onkelos in Epiphanius' Weights and Measures, which says that he visited Jerusalem in the time of Hadrian and "saw the disciples of the disciples of the apostles flourishing&qu...

John T, I suppose we are only talking about a difference of a few years, since I gather we both agree that there were Jewish Christians in Jerusalem at the time of James' death c. 62 CE. Were any there in 63 CE? 64? 66? 70? I'm not sure. But I don't see any indication that the Pella flight tradition...

Perhaps Eusebius' statement about the Pella flight is based on Jesus ben Ananias in War.6.5.3, since after he mentions the Pella flight and "the number of calamities which everywhere fell upon the nation at that time" he says "all these things any one that wishes may find accurately d...

I'm starting to doubt the Pella flight tradition. It reminds me of the idea that Eusebius and Epiphanius got their lists of Roman or Jerusalem bishops from Hegesippus. Maybe so, but I'm not convinced. I suspect in both cases -the Pella flight and the bishop lists- the buck stops with Eusebius (and i...

And this seems to be what Hegessipus means by "And immediately Vespasian besieged them," i.e., that following the death of James there were Jewish Christians in Jerusalem up to the start of the 66-70 CE war and possibly even after (assuming that "them" means Jewish Christians and...

Standing in the holy place - Mark says, standing where it ought not," meaning the same thing. All Jerusalem was esteemed "holy," Matthew 4:5. The meaning of this is, when you see the Roman armies standing in the holy city or encamped around the temple, or the Roman ensigns or standar...

But even if "the holy place" in Mt. 24:15 refers to Jerusalem, I think it would still mean 70 CE because it says the abomination that causes desolation would be seen "standing in" it.