Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
This post follows on from four earlier ones that are archived here. (That is, it’s take on the Gospel of Matthew is entirely my understanding of Paul Louis Couchoud’s analysis of this gospel as a reaction to what he believes to have been the original Gospel produced by Marcion. Quotation page references are from Couchoud’s … Continue reading “The earliest gospels 4 – Matthew (according to P L Couchoud)”
Couchoud’s take on the Gospel of Mark follows. This post should be seen as a continuation of the previous three. (That is, its take on the Gospel of Mark is entirely my understanding of Paul Louis Couchoud’s analysis of this gospel as a reaction to what he believes to have been the original Gospel produced … Continue reading “The earliest gospels 3 — Gospel of Mark (according to P.L. Couchoud)”
The Gospel of Marcion, continues Paul Louis Couchoud, was fascinating reading but received outside Marcionite churches only after appropriate corrections. The first of these was in Alexandria by the gnostic philosopher Basilides. The works of Basilides have been lost. We know they consisted of 24 books making up his Gospel and Commentaries. From Hegemonius we … Continue reading “The earliest gospels 2 — the Gospel of Basilides (according to P.L. Couchoud)”
This post follows on from the previous one outlining Couchoud’s thoughts on Gospel origins. It starts with highlights from what he believes (generally following Harnack) Marcion‘s Gospel contained; looks at the next Gospel written apparently by Basilides; then at the way our canonical Gospel of Mark took shape and why, followed by the Gospels of … Continue reading “The earliest gospels 1 — Marcion’s gospel (according to P.L. Couchoud)”
In his review of Maurice Goguel‘s attack on Jesus mythicism Earl Doherty writes (with my emphasis): It was at the opening of the 20th century that the first serious presentations of the Jesus Myth theory appeared. The earliest efforts by such as Robertson, Drews, Jensen and Smith were, from a modern point of view, less … Continue reading “Earl Doherty’s forerunner? Paul-Louis Couchoud and the birth of Christ”
Continuing and concluding….. Peter Kirby cites an argument for interpolation not from a source agreeing with the argument but rather from a source disposing of it. He quotes Robert Webb: A second argument is that the nouns used for ‘baptism’ in this text (βαπτισμός and βάπτισις, Ant. 18.117) are not found elsewhere in the Josephan … Continue reading “Where does John the Baptist fit in History? — The Evidence of Josephus, Pt 7”
I post here an interesting “Farewell to Christianity” statement by Paul-Louis Couchoud. I have relied heavily on ChatGPT to translate the original French text that appeared in Théophile ou L’étudiant des religions (1928), a compilation of his thoughts on a wide range of religious topics. For other posts relating to Couchoud, see the posts listed … Continue reading “A FAREWELL TO CHRISTIANITY”
In Canada, Attorney Murphy brought a case against Mr. Ernest-Victor Slerry of Toronto, accused of writing the following lines: The God of the Bible is portrayed as someone who walks in the Garden of Eden, talks to a woman, curses a snake, sews skins to make clothing, prefers the taste of roasted chops to the … Continue reading “Two Months Jail for Writing God Prefers Grilled Chops to Boiled Cabbage”
I’ve added another batch of English translations of “past masters” to this site. See the new page Turmel/Delafosse works translated into English. It’s listed with others in the right margin of this blog. Joseph Turmel was brought to my attention by Roger Parvus a decade ago. Parvus engages with Turmel’s thoughts and offers his own … Continue reading “Translations of Works by Joseph Turmel (=Henri Delafosse) Now Available”
I have added a new page in the right column under Archives By Topic to allow easy access to the complete list of recent posts on Revelation presenting Thomas Witulski’s second century date for the work. The page also includes all other posts that have discussed Revelation from various perspectives. But since we’re here right … Continue reading “List of Vridar Posts on the Book of Revelation”
Annotated list of Vridar posts on the Book of Revelation Bruce Malina and Revelation as an Astral prophecy Born of a woman in heaven: cosmic origin of the Messiah 2011-06-05 Discussing Professor Bruce J. Malina’s book On The Genre And Message Of Revelation: Star Visions and Sky Journeys He sets out a case for the … Continue reading “Book of Revelation — Annotated List of Posts“
Another work by a French scholar (I have posted on quite a few* on this blog), and one that I am regretting not having engaged with sooner, is Simeon The Just: The Forgotten Author Of The Hebrew Bible. Author: Bernard Barc. The Preface to the book is online so I am confident in being permitted … Continue reading “Simeon The Just: The Forgotten Author Of The Hebrew Bible”
“Memory studies” have become the “new thing” among scholars seeking to identify our earliest indicators of the historical Jesus. Before memory studies there were the “criteria of authenticity” that were used as a tool to identify the more reliable or original pieces of the gospel narratives. Those criteria have not been completely replaced, certainly not … Continue reading “Oral Traditions Behind the Gospels Lack Historical Foundations. A Sociologist’s View”
The point of this post is to demonstrate how easy it is to read documents from the perspective of commonly accepted knowledge and mistakenly misread them, thinking they say what we have always assumed they say, and to fail to register that the original texts are not quite as clear in their meaning — nor … Continue reading “Getting History for Atheists Wrong (Again) — #4”