Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Unfortunately this is not my favourite chapter in Couchoud’s book The Creation Of Christ. But I’ve set myself a target and I have to get through this one to finish the book, so here goes. (The series is archived here.) (I personally suspect the stories in Acts are inspired more by Old Testament and Classical … Continue reading “Earliest divisions in the Christian movement (Couchoud continued)”
The previous three posts in this series covered section one of P. L. Couchoud’s The Creation of Christ: An Outline of the Beginnings of Christianity that was headed The Apocalypses (168 B.C. – A. D. 40): Pre-Christian Foundations John the Baptist and the Foundation of Christianity First Signs of Christianity These posts covered the first … Continue reading “The Swarming of the Prophets (A.D. 40 — A.D. 130) — Couchoud contd.”
Couchoud thought that John the Baptist epitomized and popularized the Jewish hopes for a coming Judge from Heaven — as shown in my previous post in this series (the entire series is archived here). Christianity was born of the travail of the days of John. The Baptist gave it two talismans with which to bind … Continue reading “The First Signs of Christianity: Couchoud continued”
In the next chapter of this series we read the view that John the Baptist was a key figure in sparking the movement that became Christianity. Couchoud takes the date for John from Josephus — that is, towards the end of Pilate’s office in 36 c.e. Couchoud believes strongly that there was a fervent expectation … Continue reading “John the Baptist and the Foundations of Christianity (Couchoud)”
Having traced Couchoud’s argument for the development of the New Testament it’s time I returned to the beginning of his two volume work, The Creation of Christ, and outline his views on the development of Christianity itself. (The entire series is archived here.) I once posted links to pdf version of Couchoud’s opening chapters: Foreword … Continue reading “Pre-Christian Foundations of Christianity (Couchoud)”
Continuing the series archived at Couchoud: The Creation of Christ – – – (Couchoud argues that our “editor” – Clement? – compiled 28 books, one more than our current 27 that make up our New Testament and this post concludes the section where Couchoud discusses the origin of our New Testament books.) The perfect balance … Continue reading “2 Peters, 1 Jude and 2 Revelations: the first New Testament (Couchoud)”
My Couchoud series posts (outlines of his work discussing the beginnings of Christianity, The Creation of Christ) are archived here. This post continues the series. The churches in Clement’s day, and in particular the Church of Rome, were governed by Elders. Paul, of course, knew of no such institution. The heads of the various churches … Continue reading “The Pastorals, a remedy for a grave defect in Paul’s epistles (Couchoud)”
This post continues notes from Couchoud’s The Creation of Christ — all posts are archived in Couchoud: Creation of Christ. Paul-Louis Couchoud, by the way, gets several nods in W. O. Walker’s Interpolations in the Pauline Letters (so, more than once, does Hermann Detering) — See the GoogleBooks–Interpolations in the Pauline Letters. From there do … Continue reading “Epistle to the Galatians — Couchoud’s view”
I continue here the series covering Paul Louis Couchoud’s argument for the creation of the canonical New Testament literature from the 1939 English translation of his The Creation of Christ: An Outline of the Beginnings of Christianity. The series is archived here — scroll to the bottom for the first posts where the overall purpose … Continue reading “Paul’s Letter to the Romans – the creation of the canonical edition according to Couchoud”
I’ll try to complete Paul-Louis Couchoud’s explanations for the second-century productions of the canonical New Testament literature starting here with his discussion of Acts. For those who enjoy the stimulation of new (even if old) ideas to spark fresh thoughts, read on. I left off my earlier series on Couchoud’s thoughts on Gospel origins with … Continue reading “Couchoud on Acts of the Apostles”
Continuing the series archived here: (I have also marked the name Josephus in bold for easy reference for any interested in the study of Luke’s use of Josephus.) Irenaeus is the first to speak of Luke as the author of our Gospel and Acts dedicated to Theophilus (Haer. iii.1,2). Before Irenaeus we read in Colossians … Continue reading “The earliest gospels 6(c) – Luke’s Gospel (Couchoud)”
Continuing with the series archived here. Couchoud suggests that the author of the Gospel we attribute to Luke may quite likely have been Clement of Rome. But he sees the contribution of this person as of far greater significance than the simple composition of the works we know as Luke and Acts. First, however, the … Continue reading “The earliest gospels 6(b) – Luke (à la Couchoud)”
Now this time I might add more detail than usual since I find Couchoud’s views on the Gospel according to Saint Luke (at least as covered across several posts here and not necessarily confined to any one in particular) not very distant in many respects from the notions I have been thinking about, though not … Continue reading “The earliest gospels 6(a) – on the cusp of Luke (à la Couchoud)”
Continuing here with Couchoud’s views of second-century gospel origins. Earlier posts, including explanations for the reasons etc for these posts, are archived here. C’s story of John’s gospel begins with a setting in Ephesus, two generations after the feverish hopes for the coming of the Lord that produced the Book of Revelation. The church at … Continue reading “The earliest gospels 5 – Gospel of John (according to P L Couchoud)”