Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

2. Let's look at Enoch LXII once again : … If those Enoch verses inspired Herod to go to the springs for healing then it would suggest that the Parables of Enoch were written before his reign. I think this is most unlikely. Herod could find out about healing springs from other sources of informatio...

Therefore “you know that those who are recognised to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.” The question seems to be who is doing the recognising. Can it be general i.e. everyone recognised them.... Yes, it can. It is similar to saying, "Li...

Michael, spin is correct here. Any verbal force to be found in the participle has to belong to whatever/whomever the participle is modifying. In all three cases, the participle is modifying an understood "they/them", which is common for Greek participles. If anyone is "thinking"...

First, Paul states that there is only one gospel (Gal 1:6ff), so maybe they approved of his gospel, but Paul did not write about a gospel to the gentiles. There were not two gospels and presenting a gospel to the circumcised and a gospel to the uncircumcised is discounted by Paul. Gal 2:7b-8 which ...

1. Enochic Judiasm is about prophecy and the end times and not just about angels and demons. The Sadducees gained political strength under the Hasmonaean kingdom and were no believers in angels, demons, nor the resurrection: (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but...

However I still think the most likely date range for the Similitudes of Enoch is between 4 BCE and 70 CE. I would suggest that the oral tradition of the Parables of Enoch goes back to at least the 5th century B.C.E. and was more or less written down in the current form during the Hasmonean Dynasty ...

Paul writes, and I laid before them (but privately before those who were of repute) the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, lest somehow I should be running or had run in vain. Interesting to get the verse that demonstrates that Paul said nothing openly about Jesus. The one thing that sets hi...

Paul states he has given the Galatians “the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1.7). Paul implies that his gospel gives “freedom in Christ Jesus” (Gal 2.4) and that James, Cephas and John have approved of his gospel to the Gentiles (Gal 2.9). And these pillars who Paul plainly did not respect were probably hap...

I see no reason to think the Jerusalemites were christians. They evince no sign of being Jesus cultists, knowing nothing of Jesus's views of eating, and Paul doesn't indicate any discussion about Jesus with them. Would I be correct that you accept that Paul has joined the same group as James and Pe...

We disagree. I'll continue to refer to christianity as the religious movement that has an established corpus of texts and some notion of itself as a single entity. That is post-Pauline and probably past mid-2nd century. Indeed, but hopefully you will remember that I use the term Christianity to app...