Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

And why is the transmission of documents and traditions in Christianity so difficult to figure out? Why can't Christians FROM THE VERY BEGINNING agree on even the most basic details about who or what they venerate? The certainty that so many have about 'the historical (man) Jesus' should not be so s...

And just to make clear - I am not uncritically 'accepting' the Marcionite view of the canonical gospels. It is standard to see Mark behind Matthew and Luke and no one in antiquity gave Mark the rank of 'eyewitness.' At best he was one of the 72 (= De Recta in Deum Fide) but even this this marginal p...

Much of the interior of the churches in Lalibela are not open to the public. In all Ethiopian Orthodox Churches, the central section is closed off for priests only, and is referred to as the 'Holy of Holies'. This church is unusual in that the interior was painted. Most of the churches have only ba...

And again - back to the original point to the thread - it's like scholars have this blind spot. They try to start (like DCH) with: This is a reliable historical account of a man named Jesus ... Err. No not exactly. Little separates the gospel from the later hagiographies. It's filled with exaggerati...

Saw this on my Facebook newsfeed yesterday. Thought it was cool (if only because it reminds me of my own life/experiences). Once again - thank God for German idealism: Handing over the glasses and viewing manuscripts at Debra Tsion. For those of you who don’t know the story: My husband is working on...

Some of my readers think my website should be there. Come on Bernard. If you had so many readers why are you wasting your time with us? We all know each other pretty well at this forum. I don't think you're stupid but let's be honest - you overstate your abilities (you have little or no familiarity...

I think religious scholarship works when it limits its focus to very specific minutiae. It's not so good at painting the big picture. I think the scholarship of a century ago was better with the big picture because I think the scholars themselves have become little office workers, holding on to thei...

Another example - all the scholars who've 'investigated' the Mar Saba document. Would we agree that predictable biases emerge there? What qualifications do any of these people have for determining what isn't and isn't possible to discover in a monastery, how likely it would be to replicate 18th cent...

Isn't this a little like asking "Is mainstream science biased in favor of physics and chemistry?" Duh ... YEAH! But surely you would agree DCH that 'mainstream science' in physics and chemistry can replicate its findings. With the gospel you have a book which is either: 1. filled with lie...

As a parallel issue one might wonder about the obsession with 'one God' that suddenly took over all the Palestinian religions in the late second century. What's the big deal about monotheism? Why would emphasizing a 'monarchy' in heaven under an Imperial political system (a monarchy on earth) have t...