Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

The Origins of the Koran The stereotypic image of the Muslim holy warrior with a sword in one hand and the Koran in the other would only be plausible if he was left handed, since no devout Muslim should or would touch a Koran with his left hand which is reserved for dirty chores. All Muslims revere...

Back to the origins of the Koran, there are others who have proposed an Aramaic connection. What the Koran Really Says , Ibn Warraq, ed. has a lot of discussion of various linguistic features of the Koran and speculations as to its sources. It contains: Section 3.1, "Syriac Influence on the Sty...

I'd like to see titles for all these links, and also short descriptions of them. Christoph Luxenberg (a pseudonym) has written The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran ( Book Review: Die Syro-Aramaische Lesart des Koran by Christopher Luxenberg ). He has proposed that much of the Koran was originally M...

Be careful about context. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You...

Moses as a lawgiver? There are numerous legendary lawgivers and city founders from premodern societies. Here are some Greco-Roman ones: Minos: Crete Theseus: Athens Lycurgus: Sparta Cadmus: Thebes Perseus: Mycenae Romulus: Rome Numa Pompilius: Rome Some of them even claimed to have gotten their laws...

Titled link: Infancy Gospel of James, or Protevangelium (Roberts-Donaldson translation) That only bumps Jesus Christ's score higher, it must be said -- she was both royal and a virgin. Gospel of Philip (Wesley W. Isenberg's translation) It supports the notion that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene had...

Here is my pet theory about Moses. The Exodus I think was a rather mangled memory of the Hyksos, the "rulers of foreign lands". They were Canaanites who had overrun northern Egypt around 1650 BCE and who were expelled around 1550 BCE. The Ten Plagues of Egypt sort of fit the calamities cau...

Where do they do that? Do you have any links to online copies? I don't want to go on a wild text chase.

Getting back to the main subject, let us consider broader issues. I'd written about this in detail in Genesis creation stories - Atheism , but I hope it's OK to repeat it here. The two creation stories have a *lot* of differences. Not just in the order of creation, but in various stylistic features....

Here goes: 1. Hero’s mother is a royal virgin; She's not called the Virgin Mary for nothing, though she has undistinguished ancestry. However, the two genealogies in Matthew and Luke are sometimes retconned by supposing one of them to be of Mary, though I find that rather weak. Mt: 1/2 Mk: 0 Lk: 1/2...