Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

This is what Paul said, according to 2 Cor 12:13-18 13In what way were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong! He made other Churches pay; the Corinthians didn't. 'Forgive me for not billing -sorry: tithe-ing- you like all the others.' Switc...

As an aside: according to other writings by Josephus, contemporary antisemites alleged the Jews worshiped an ass's head in the Temple (cf. Apion 2:80, 114, 120; Tacitus, Histories 5:4). Is this perhaps the bastardization of a Jewish critique against Sethians in Egypt (Egyptian Seth = Donkey/Ass)? Pr...

Thank you. I was aware of this, havent seen it; what is Niehoff's timeline, please? At least for DVC. Moritz Friedländer claimed DVC was written by a 'plagiarist' of Philo (perhaps a former scribe of his?), presumably a decade after his Essene work became known, c. 30 AD; I'm not persuaded by this t...

This passage from the Apocalypse of Adam And the eighth kingdom says of him that a cloud came upon the earth and enveloped a rock. He came from it. The angels who were above the cloud nourished him. He received glory and power there. And thus he came to the water. is probably derived from tradition...

Here is a table of the currently presumed dates of authorship. (I have not removed the duplicate texts) NHC # Est. Authorship DATE RANGE Nag Hammadi Texts [Sorted via Estimated Dates of Authorship] 5.5 BCE-3rd The Apocalypse of Adam 12.1 BCE-BCE The Sentences of Sextus 2.2 040-140 The Gospel of Tho...

Epiphanius Panarion 55 c.8: καὶ δεῖ ἡμᾶς αὐτῷ (sc. Μελχισεδὲκ) προσφέρειν, φασίν, ἵνα δι' αὐτοῦ προσενεχθῇ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν καὶ εὕρωμεν δι' αὐτοῦ ζωήν. καὶ Χριστὸς μέν, φησίν, ἐξελέγη, ἵνα ἡμᾶς καλέσῃ ἐκ πολλῶν ὁδῶν εἰς μίαν ταύτην τὴν γνῶσιν, ὑπὸ θεοῦ κεχρισμένος καὶ ἐκλεκτὸς γενόμενος, ἐπειδὴ ἀπέστρεψεν ...

No, Apollos (of Aquila & Pricilla, c.55 AD) isn't Apelles. Apollos is an absurdly common name: no need to conflate multiple variant spellings to imagine a single person in decades of history. I try to sort out the names & dates. Caveat lector! This is only my best effort, subject to change. ...

In Philip Alexander's opinion, "it [is] very likely that some of the similarities between Gnosticism and Merkavah Mysticism are due to the fact that both systems draw on the tradition of Palestinian Jewish apocalyptic, apocalyptic elements having been transmitted to them by Christianity and Ra...

I'm interested in this sort of thing, obv. "Apocalyptic and Sethian Trajectories and Melchizedek Speculations in Late Antique Egypt The Melchizedek Apocalypse from Nag Hammadi (NHC IX, 1) as a Test Case" 2008 PhD . Edit: I'm 55pp. into it; it's an EXCELLENT summary of relevant points in th...

Much appreciated!!!