Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
This post is based on some of the citations in the early pages of Hercules-Christus, a 1947 article by Dutch Radical Critic Gustaaf Adolf van den Bergh van Eysinga, translated into German by Frans-Joris Fabri and posted on Hermann Detering’s RadikalKritik webpage. I have supplemented some of van Eysinga’s references in places. Other posts addressing … Continue reading “Hercules, a Fitting Substitute for Jesus Christ”
Definitions, a necessary complement to the previous post and clarification for future posts. . . . Raphael Lataster asserts that he is “not a mythicist per se”, with the term “mythicist” meaning, in this context, “the view that Jesus did not exist.” He explains, I do not assert that Jesus did not exist. I am … Continue reading “Review part 2: Questioning the Historicity of Jesus / Lataster – Some Definitions”
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?”
If you still think that to say that “rulers of this age” (demons) crucified Jesus means that they crucified him in one of the heavens you have missed my recent post, What they used to say about Paul’s “rulers of this age” who crucified the “lord of glory”. More easily forgivable, you have also missed or … Continue reading ““Demons Crucified Jesus ON EARTH” – according to ancient sources and modern analysis”
For all posts in this series: Roger Parvus: A Simonian Origin for Christianity Previous post in this series: A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 14: Simon/Paul and the Law of Moses (continued) . The Apostle, in Gal. 3:7, asserted that “It is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” In Galatians the Apostle apparently viewed … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 15: Simon/Paul and the Law of Moses (continued)”
This post is based on the theme of a chapter in St. Paul versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions by Michael Goulder. I depart from Goulder’s own presentation in one significant respect: Goulder wrote as if 2 Thessalonians were a genuine letter by Paul (in which Paul writes about the future in a way he was … Continue reading “How a Spurious Letter “From Paul” Inspired the End Time Prophecies of the New Testament”
. In the previous post of the series I proposed that the Vision of Isaiah was the source of Simon/Paul’s gospel. This post will look at the place in the Vision that contains the major difference between the two branches of its textual tradition. Obviously, at least one of the readings is not authentic. But, … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 8: The Source of Simon/Paul’s Gospel (continued)”
I have devoted my two previous posts to the part of my hypothesis that concerns the Pauline letters: The earliest parts of the original collection of Pauline letters were written between CE 50 and 130 by Simon of Samaria and his successor, Menander. Simonians were secretive, so the collection was likely intended for their use … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 4: Excursus on Marcion, Valentinians, and the Pauline Letters”
When starting this post I had hoped it would complete my discussion of Robert M. Price’s chapter, “Does the Christ Myth Theory Require an Early Date for the Pauline Epistles?” in ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’. This was meant to address Price’s reasons for thinking that the gospel narratives of Jesus — or any stories … Continue reading “Early Christ Myth Theorists on Paul’s and the Gospels’ Jesus: ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’ ch. 6 continued.”
I and many other readers have been interested in Roger Parvus’s alternative explanations for some aspects of Earl Doherty’s arguments. Roger has posted a detailed comment on Earl’s Part 12 Response to Bart Ehrman but I am repeating it here as a post in its own right. Where Earl argues that the incipient docetism addressed … Continue reading “Debating the Place of the Ignatian Letters in Christian Origins: Doherty & Parvus”
This continues my series on Paul-Louis Couchoud‘s The Creation of Christ. Full set of posts are archived at Couchoud: Creation of Christ. The previous post was Couchoud’s discussion of view of Christ as a mystical and heavenly being according to early Christian literature, and how in the Epistle of the Hebrews we encounter the first … Continue reading “Christ Descends to Earth: Marcion’s contributions to Christianity (Couchoud continued)”
This post revises a hypothesis I proposed a few years ago in the Vridar series “A Simonian Origin for Christianity.” In those posts I argued for a scenario in which Paul was in reality Simon of Samaria, and the seven allegedly authentic Pauline letters were in fact letters of Simon that, in the early second … Continue reading “Revising the Series “A Simonian Origin for Christianity”, Part 1″
1. Are the “Rulers of the Age” in 1 Cor. 2:6-8 Human or Spiritual? – the sea change (2018-06-14) Up till the 1980s it was the accepted view that the “rulers of this age” who crucified the Lord of Glory were spirit beings. Several scholars explained that they crucified Jesus by influencing their earthly counterparts … Continue reading ““Rulers of this Age” in 1 Cor. 2:6-8“
For all posts in this series: Roger Parvus: A Simonian Origin for Christianity It has been more than a year since I wrote the previous installment in this series. I have some excuses: new location, new job, and separation from well-stocked libraries. And also, I must admit, something unexpected happened during the break: I started losing … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 16: Mark as Allegory”