Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
One more note on the medieval Cathars and their use of the Ascenion of Isaiah. . . . . Among the texts that they obtained from the Bogomils was the Vision of Isaiah (chapters 6-11 of Asc.Isa.), a Greek Gnostic text of the first century A.D., which presented a cosmic view of the creation that … Continue reading “Once more on The Ascension of Isaiah and the Cathars”
In a recently published volume on the Ascension of Isaiah is a chapter with these arresting words: It is the thesis of this paper that readers and authors of ancient oracular literature did not assume that meaning lies in the text, that the meaning is what the text says. Rather ancient revelatory authors wrote to … Continue reading “How to Read a Sacred Text (a lesson from Psalms and Ascension of Isaiah)”
Continuing from Ascension of Isaiah: Continuing Questions. . . . . . . In points 6, 7 and 8 of section III of James Barlow’s Commentary on the Vision of Isaiah we enter into detailed discussions of how to assess the priority of different manuscript lines based on comparing particular differences of wording across the … Continue reading “The Ascension of Isaiah: Another Set of Questions”
Continuing from Ascension of Isaiah: More Questions. . . . . . . In these posts I am reexamining the place that the Ascension of Isaiah has in those “Christ myth” arguments that use it as supporting evidence for an early Christian belief, perhaps even a pre-Pauline belief, that Jesus was crucified in a celestial world … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Continuing Questions”
James Barlow has granted permission for his full argument to be posted here. The best way to summarize his thesis is to quote a section of an email he sent me last year: I no longer remember when I began this project— sometime between eighteen months and two years ago. But it all began while … Continue reading ““The Ascension of Isaiah” and Paul – a case made by James Barlow”
The thirteenth-century Cathars in southern France that I compared with today’s political opposition in my previous post embraced the Ascension of Isaiah as one of their core texts. (The reason I was re-reading the Sibly translation of Peter’s chronicle of the crusade against them was to try to get a clearer picture of the history … Continue reading “Medieval “Christ Mythicists” and the Ascension of Isaiah”
Continuing from Ascension of Isaiah: Other Questions. . . . . . . In this post I address what some will consider is the strongest reason for doubting that the pocket gospel (11:2-22) portraying the birth of Jesus, his miracle working and crucifixion) was part of the original text. If it had not been part of … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: More Questions”
Continuing from Ascension of Isaiah: Other Questions. . . . . . . . Earl Doherty without doubt was the major contributor to the Jesus myth perspective from the 1990s through to the early 2000s. I highly respected his grasp of both the big picture and the detail, his clear-headed engagement with the scholarship, and his … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Questioning Three of Earl Doherty’s Arguments”
Continuing from Ascension of Isaiah: Questions. . . . . . . . Why is this topic of particular interest? The Asc. Isa. looks like it could have been known to, and even quoted by, Paul. The presence or otherwise of the pocket gospel then has several implications for Paul’s understanding of the death and … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Other Questions”
Some Jesus mythicists, following Earl Doherty and Richard Carrier, have taken a special interest in the Ascension of Isaiah [Asc. Isa.], an early Christian text that has been used to support (not establish, as some critics have asserted) the argument that Jesus was in an early stage of tradition believed to have been crucified by … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Questions”
I am posting here a worksheet I have prepared for my own ongoing reading around the Ascension of Isaiah. There are some good reasons to think that the “pocket gospel” in the Ascension of Isaiah, 11:2-22, is an interpolation and not part of the original text. But on the other hand there are others who … Continue reading “The Gospel According to The Ascension of Isaiah”
This post is long and technical and only for those who are serious about what we can learn from the Ascension of Isaiah about early beliefs about Jesus. Richard Carrier and before him Earl Doherty drew upon scholarship about the different manuscripts to conclude that the original text had Jesus crucified in the lower heaven … Continue reading “Crucified on Earth? — What Did the “Ascension of Isaiah” Originally Say?”
This is why people like me when you read Carrier’s book you think, What the f*ck are you talking about? — Tim O’Neill Response #1: Motives Response #2: No fame outside Galilee Tim spoke those words seconds before leading listeners to infer that he had checked the ancient text that Carrier was misrepresenting, the Ascension … Continue reading “Response #3: Non Sequitur’s Tim O’Neill presentation, The Ascension of Isaiah“
Continuing the series currently archived here . . . . There are more interesting questions than the one I addressed in the previous post about that bizarre “birth” of Jesus in the Ascension of Isaiah (Asc. Isa.). What is the point of creating such an odd explanation for how the Son of God made his … Continue reading “More on that very strange birth of Jesus in the Ascension of Isaiah”