Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
This continues on from the earlier post, Ascension of Isaiah: Continuing Norelli’s Argument, in which I covered Norelli’s take on the opening verses of the very odd nativity scene in the Ascension of Isaiah. . . . In the Ascension of Isaiah (Asc. Isa.) there is a very strange tale of how Jesus came into the … Continue reading “A Very Strange “Birth” of Jesus (Ascension of Isaiah / Norelli)”
Last month I began posting on Enrico Norelli’s arguments concerning the Ascension of Isaiah: A New (Completely Revised) Look at the Ascension of Isaiah Ascension of Isaiah: Contents, Manuscripts and the Question of its Composition I am quite sure Norelli’s new perspective won’t be the final word. Before I can come to any view myself, … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Continuing Norelli’s Argument”
Hi Neil, I have a copy of Norelli’s Ascension d’Isaïe and I consulted it when I wrote parts 7 through 9 of my blog series on a Simonian origin for Christianity. In part 7 of the series I noted in passing that Norelli put the date of composition for the Vision of Isaiah at the end of the first … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Contents, Manuscripts and the Question of its Composition”
Earl Doherty and Richard Carrier have suggested that there is an ancient text outside the Bible that stands as direct evidence for some early Christians believing Asc. Isa.), believed to be a composite document whose earliest parts were quite likely authored as early as the late first century. Scholarly work on Asc. Isa. has been … Continue reading “A New (Completely Revised) Look at the Ascension of Isaiah”
Related pages: James McGrath’s review on Bible and Interpretation James McGrath’s discussion of review on ExploringOurMatrix After addressing the introduction to James McGrath’s initial post reviewing Richard Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus I now discuss his primary focus — the Ascension of Isaiah (Asc. Isa.I). I should be able to say that I will discuss McGrath’s treatment … Continue reading “McGrath Reviews Carrier: Part 2, Ascension of Isaiah“
In my previous post that began to address Dr McGrath’s “review” of a small section of Earl Doherty’s 10th chapter. I focussed on Dr McGrath’s opening assertion that the Ascension of Isaiah in its Christian version dates from the latter half of the second century and criticizing Doherty for failing to address this “conclusion” or … Continue reading “Dr McGrath: Doherty was right after all about the date for the Ascension of Isaiah”
This post continues a series I have been doing on the Ascension of Isaiah: the full set of posts are archived here. The Ascension of Isaiah describes a vision in which Isaiah is taken up through the firmament above the earth and then through seven heavens until he sees the Great Glory on his throne, … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah as a mystic-visionary salvation myth”
This post looks at M. A. Knibb’s discussion of the date of the Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah. It is taken from The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (v.2) edited by James H. Charlesworth, published 1985. I will skip here Knibb’s discussion of the various component parts that are generally thought to have been stitched together to … Continue reading “Date of Ascension of Isaiah (3: M.A. Knibb)”
I am not happy with my previous post. I had intended it to cover the arguments for dating by R.H. Charles, but the post only covered those particular paragraphs (and related references from other pages) that explicitly discussed the possible dates of the parts and whole of the (Martyrdom and) Ascension of Isaiah. But there … Continue reading “Date of the Ascension of Isaiah (2: H.F.D. Sparks)”
Earl Doherty discusses the Ascension of Isaiah’s relevance for his case that some early Christians thought of the Christ’s activity occurring entirely in a non-earthly realm. So the date of the document is significant. I had hoped to include with the following notes from R. H. Charles some discussions on dating found in more recent … Continue reading “The Date of the Ascension of Isaiah (1: R. H. Charles)”
Earl Doherty has argued that the New Testament epistles, unlike the Gospels, portray Jesus as a heavenly being who was crucified by demons in heavenly places, and that it was this event that was revealed to early Christian apostles such as Paul by visionary or mystical spiritual experiences or insights into their readings of Jewish … Continue reading “Jesus crucified by demons (not on earth): The Ascension of Isaiah in brief”
They say there is none so deaf as he who will not hear, and when it comes to Christ myth arguments there are biblical scholars who, despite their public protestations otherwise, regularly demonstrate an apparent inability to engage seriously with mythicist arguments. Once again a biblical scholar who has been informed on his blog why … Continue reading “Does the Ascension of Isaiah have any potential relevance for the study of origins of the Christ myth?”
In the Lives of the Prophets, a Jewish work from as early as the first century that has been supplemented with Christian additions, we read of the death of Isaiah: The image captured the imaginations of medieval manuscript decorators: There remains the problem, of which the reader must by now be thoroughly aware, of … Continue reading “Isaiah Sawn in Two — Origin of the Story”
See the Ascension of Isaiah archive for other posts on this source. I am sure over time more will be added and views will change. Roger Parvus posted comments relating to the relationship between Paul’s letters and some things we read in the Ascension of Isaiah. (Recall that the Ascension of Isaiah is a two … Continue reading “Paul’s and Isaiah’s Visions — A Possible Connection”