Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

If the Nazarenes/Nazareans were identical to or similar to the Ebionites, then that would explain it since the Ebionites were strongly pronomian and (according to Epiphanius) saw Paul as a heretical, anti-Jewish Hellenizer and a perverter of the Gospel. The Palestinian Jewish Jesus sects were Paul's...

Jesus seemed to think so. Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you..." (Mk. 4:244) The notion that "all sin is the same" is one of the most deplorable and cowardly aspects of Christian popular thinking (and even the ones...

what makes it spurious ace? GThomas? Are you serious? Do you believe all pseudepigraphical claims at face value? claims to authorship. do you have any idea what you are talking about? there is no claim to authorship. you are actual trying to say that the redactors didn't know who the leader of thei...

"Thomas" (Toma) is Aramaic for "Twin."

An argument can be made that the BD, internally, refers to Lazarus, but the author never claims to be the BD. That's an appendix added by others. It's also obvious that Lazarus is a fictional character - a liturgical device designed to be an exemplar of Christian conversion and salvation. He is a st...

I don't have an informed opinion on what is most probable as to etymology. Hebrew toponymy is not anything I feel qualified to comment on beyond maybe some basic vocabulary. This is Spin's territory, not mine. I would say that the name of a legendary founder could plausibly have been retrojected fro...

None can be ruled out is what I'm saying. A place name would be the most plausible guess without a word divisor - "Place [or Temple] of the Beloved" would probably be the tentative translation if no King David was known from the Bible. I'm not saying it can't refer to a Davidic dynasty, I'...

I don't know what you mean by "rendering found on the stele." The stele only renders it one way. Or are you talking about the actual reconstruction of the pieces.

It wouldn't be both a city and a dynasty, by the way. that's nonsensical.

I just gave you a rendering - "City of David." It's not so much a question of translation, but whether it's a family name or a place name. Is it BYTDWD or BYT.DWD? It could be either, and the lack of a divider usually means a place name. If we did not know of a King David from the Bible, B...

I'm saying a place name is equally plausible. "City of David" would be plausible.