Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Ben wrote: Okay, but I have already conceded for the sake of argument that the author of James believed in some kind of eschatological Messiah figure. What then? How does this impact who exactly is coming in chapter 5? If you argue that the coming figure must be the Messiah simply because James beli...

guess you will have to explain to me more fully why you think the messianic character of a text, or of all texts, matters to the argument I have made. In my view, I can easily concede messianism all around without in any way suggesting (yet) that any given portion of that text or those texts, is re...

I took a look at the Testament of Abraham and I see that it too has a Messiah-figure, i.e., the archangel Michael, who is mentioned in Dan. 12:1, which is not surprising since it is conjectured to be a post-OT writing. Dan 12:1-3: At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people , wil...

Ben wrote: Oh, the Testaments as a whole are certainly messianic. But again, that does not matter. The advent described in that verse I quoted is still of God, not of the Messiah. That is my point. Even if I were to grant that James is messianic, it does not mean that the advent in James is of the M...

Ben, I will mull over what you've said. But some things that come to mind regarding the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs are that fragments of some of it were found among the DSS and the DSS are messianic, and at least one of the testaments (Levi 18) mentions a Messiah-figure. Can T. Judah be isol...

Thanks, DC. It's been about twenty years since I've thought about this kind of stuff and I want to take a fresh look at everything.

Ben wrote: The only data I can go on is what I find in the epistle of James itself. James says that there is only one Judge; he also says that the Judge is right at the door, in a context which suggests that this Judge is the coming Lord; and he also calls the Father "Lord." This set of ci...

Re: Letter of Rav Sherira Gaon: In 986/7 CE R. Sherira Gaon (b. circa 906 CE-d.1006 CE) wrote the work that presaged the historical-critical study of early rabbinic literature, the Epistle (Letter) of R. Sherira Gaon. This letter was written in response to a request of the Rabbanite community of Kai...

From the Jewish Encyclopedia on Babylonian academies: But for the four centuries covering the period from Ezra to Hillel there are no details; and the history of the succeeding two centuries, from Hillel to Judah I., furnishes only a few scanty items on the state of learning among the Babylonian Jew...

List of Babylonian Amoraim:

http://web.oru.edu/current_students/cla ... bbis9.html