Search found 95 matches

by Aleph One
Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:49 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Buried clues about early Christianity from the context of Pliny’s letters?
Replies: 72
Views: 29625

Buried clues about early Christianity from the context of Pliny’s letters?

I was reading through Pliny the Younger’s letter to Emperor Trajan regarding Christians (Book 10, Letters 96-97) and it made me wonder if there might be underappreciated clues about early Christianity hidden in letters’ context. The letters themselves are amazing sources: they have a known author an...
by Aleph One
Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:47 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Interpreting Philippians 2:5-11
Replies: 77
Views: 18517

Re: Interpreting Philippians 2:5-11

Anyway, what this seems to be emphasizing is that name of Jesus is a humbling name. I do not understand this. Jesus is the name God gifts him (ἐχαρίσατο) upon being exalted. That seems like the very opposite of humbling. Jesus is the name of highest honor in this passage. This does read as kind of ...
by Aleph One
Sun Mar 07, 2021 4:05 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Decoding Mark revealed Secret Mark
Replies: 44
Views: 15880

Re: Decoding Mark revealed Secret Mark

Scott G. Brown's Mark's Other Gospel: Rethinking Morton Smith's Controversial Discovery (2005) (along with other articles) convinced me that a 20th century forgery (especially by Smith) shouldn't even be on the table, at this point. That's not to say the letter definitely originates from Clement in ...
by Aleph One
Sun Feb 21, 2021 1:59 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Convince me that 1 Clement knew a Gospel
Replies: 66
Views: 58347

Re: Convince me that 1 Clement knew a Gospel

It literally says, "what he first wrote to you in the beginning of the gospel." Its exact meaning is controversial. Hmmm quite interesting (thank you). I can see why. 1st Clement is a very late writing ---later than Acts of the Apostles and even later than Irenaeus' "Against Heresies...
by Aleph One
Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:29 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Convince me that 1 Clement knew a Gospel
Replies: 66
Views: 58347

Re: Convince me that 1 Clement knew a Gospel

d) 1Clement, ch.46 "Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul. What did he write to you at the time when the Gospel first began to be preached? Truly, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he wrote to you concerning himself, and Cephas, and Apollos, because even then parties had been form...
by Aleph One
Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:38 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Paul's letters all derived from Marcion?
Replies: 89
Views: 452475

Re: Paul's letters all derived from Marcion?

andrewcriddle wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:44 pmOld archived post by me on Clabeaux
Hey! Thanks for digging this up. :cheers:
by Aleph One
Sun Feb 14, 2021 8:57 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: Paul's letters all derived from Marcion?
Replies: 89
Views: 452475

Re: Paul's letters all derived from Marcion?

D. Roth mentions a couple "recent" attempts at reconstructing Marcion's Apostolikon from available evidence in his book on the text of Marcion's gospel (2015): In recognition of this lacuna, recent monographs arising from doctoral dissertations have focused on critically establishing Marci...
by Aleph One
Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:22 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: What's in the Vatican archives?
Replies: 9
Views: 10506

Re: What's in the Vatican archives?

I've wanted to ask this exact question more than once (just daydreaming about what amazing discoveries could lay out in the world held secret or unrecognized). As far as the Vatican archives go: I would assume keeping ancient documents in archival condition requires expertise that would be hard to k...
by Aleph One
Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:33 am
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: What was the original logic behind Jesus's death?
Replies: 10
Views: 9462

Re: What was the original logic behind Jesus's death?

I think that notion or proposition is likely to have been attractive to many Jews, though I think Jews well away from the temple were already using portable tabernacles and altars? Also i'm assuming in this scheme that having jesus executed by the jewish authorities would be important Perhaps? Good...
by Aleph One
Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:08 pm
Forum: Christian Texts and History
Topic: What was the original logic behind Jesus's death?
Replies: 10
Views: 9462

Re: What was the original logic behind Jesus's death?

Thanks again to everyone who replied (especially Ben for taking that much time, and Bernard). A lot of angles to think about here! :thumbup: Paul's logic appears to be that at some point (when that is I'm trying to figure out) Joshua the Anointed was hung on a tree as a sacrifice to redeem all those...