Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
In both 1 Enoch and the Gospel of Mark the location of God’s revelation is in Galilee, and especially upper Galilee in the Tel Dan region extending through Caesarea Philippi to Mount Hermon. It was outside Caesarea Philippi that Jesus was acknowledged as the Christ, and at a nearby mountain where he was transfigured. In … Continue reading “Galilee, Where Angels Fell and Jesus Came; and Where the Temple Was Condemned”
The “little apocalypse” or “Olivet prophecy” of Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Luke 21 is often cited as a key passage for dating the gospels. The idea is to match the events described in this passage with what seems to be the best fit historically. Others have questioned whether we are right to attempt to … Continue reading “The little apocalypse of Mark 13 – historical or creative prophecy?”
Margaret Barker wrote an interesting book, The Great Angel: A Study of Israel’s Second God, a few years back, in which she argued that prior to the rabbinic Judaism that emerged after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. the Jewish concept of God was not so monolithic as understood today. A bit of serendipitous … Continue reading “Israel’s second God. 1: The Son of God”
This post is nothing more than a bit of idle trivia per se. But maybe Kakadu Dreamtime wisdom somewhere says “Clever bower bird can find something among trivia to relocate so it has power to attract a mate.” The data comes primarily (not exclusively) from two sources: The Gospel of Mark as Midrash on Earlier … Continue reading “The Twelve Disciples: their names, name-meanings, associations, etc”
This post concludes the series outlining key aspects of Levenson’s argument that the Christian narrative of the atoning and saving death and resurrection of the Beloved (Only) Son was borrowed from late Second Temple Jewish midrashic interpretations of their scriptures about Isaac, Joseph and others. While the cosmic significance of this event is attributed to … Continue reading “The Isaac and Joseph Christologies; & rivalry for Scripture & Father”
Continuing the series the evolution of the offering of Isaac into a Jesus story; earlier posts here. Levenson argues that much of the early christology derives from a midrashic combination of verses associated with Isaac, the beloved son of Abraham, the suffering servant in Isaiah who went, like Isaac, willingly to his slaughter, another miraculous … Continue reading “Jesus displaces Isaac: midrashic creation of the biblical Jesus . . . (Offering of Isaac . . . #6)”
Revised May 8 2008 Continuing from a previous post: Wright argues that the narratives of the resurrection appearances in our canonical gospels are based on traditions that were set and hardened well before the gospels came to be written. Discussed one in previous post and attached comments. Two more to go: the different gospel accounts … Continue reading “Resurrection: Response to Wright, 4”
I have no intention of committing myself to a chapter by chapter detailed response to Durham Bishop N. T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God as I did for Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, but since Wright has (at least in discussions with me) been touted as a touchstone of scholarly authority among … Continue reading “Resurrection: more responses to Bishop Wright’s study”
Marcion’s “heresy” was justifiably seen as the main threat to Christian “proto-orthodoxy” in the second century, but I suspect the reason had less to do with his doctrine of two gods and some form of docetism and more to do with what might have been branded his “Jewish error”. That will sound like nonsense to … Continue reading “Literal and allegorical Scriptures in Orthodoxy and Heresy”
A late date and anti-Marcionite context for Luke-Acts not only has the power to explain why Luke may have rejected Matthew’s story of the birth of Jesus, but even more directly why Luke’s genealogy of Jesus is so different from Matthew’s. (The common belief that Luke records Mary’s family line and Matthew Joseph’s is a … Continue reading “The Jesus Genealogies: their different theological significances”
We have 5 literary sources for the life of Alexander the Great (late 4th century bce): Diodorus Siculus (1st century bce): 17th book of Universal History Quintus Curtius Rufus (1st century ce): History of Alexander Plutarch (2nd century ce): Life of Alexander Flavius Arrianus Xenophon (Arrian) (2nd century ce): Campaigns of Alexander M. Junianus Justinus … Continue reading “Comparing the sources for Alexander and Jesus”
In response to those who dismiss a priori the likelihood of interpolations in the letters of Paul, Walker lists the following: