BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – VIII. The Completion of the New Testament Literature

345/346 VIII. The Completion of the New Testament Literature. 1. A Great History and a Late Poem. In a series of images, we have seen the fate of the Empire, the nationalities, and the social classes of the first two centuries of our era unfold before us. As diverse as the figures were that moved … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – VIII. The Completion of the New Testament Literature”


BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – VII. The Time of Marcus Aurelius

318 VII. The Time of Marcus Aurelius. We come to a conclusion and say farewell to the Caesars who ruled the world alongside the gradual rise of Christianity. They all contributed to the formation of the new faith and, in their individuality, depicted with expressive force a feature of the image in which the dissatisfied … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – VII. The Time of Marcus Aurelius”


BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – VI. Hadrian and Christian Gnosis

276 VI. Hadrian and Christian Gnosis. 1. The Empowered Nero. Among the five emperors who, after the fall of the last Flavian, allowed the Senate free hand in legislation, Hadrian occupies the same position as Nero in the line of Julio-Claudian princes. Those five had risen above the embittered mood with which the first emperors … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – VI. Hadrian and Christian Gnosis”


BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – V. Trajan and the Emergence of Christianity

244 V. Trajan and the Emergence of Christianity 1. The Happiest Epoch for Humanity in Roman History. This is the title of an essay that has brought the admiration for Trajan, Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius from the previous century to the present, and presents itself to us as an explanatory guide upon entering a memorable … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – V. Trajan and the Emergence of Christianity”


BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – III. Nero’s and Seneca’s Downfall

126 III. Nero’s and Seneca’s downfall. 1. The Cosmopolitan on the Throne. Nero was no longer a Roman national patriot in that exclusive sense in which the ancient Roman, in pride of his blood, claimed the privilege of superiority over the peoples of the earth. Virgil had expressed this sense of nationalism once more in … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – III. Nero’s and Seneca’s Downfall”


BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – II. Seneca as teacher and minister of Nero

66 II. Seneca as teacher and minister of Nero. 1. The dissolution of Roman particularism. With Nero’s self-inflicted fall, the Julian dynasty disappeared from the world stage. The empire, established by the great Julius and his adopted nephew Augustus through the force of arms, was considered the inheritance of a family that intimidated doubters of … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – II. Seneca as teacher and minister of Nero”


BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – I. Seneca’s Religious Foundation

11 I. Seneca’s Religious Foundation. Before we begin, we will present the reader with the dismissive judgments passed by a newer school of history on Stoicism, the starting point of Seneca, for examination. 1. Recent judgments on Stoicism. One of the signs of the impending imperialism that dominates our present time is a fraction of … Continue reading “BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars – I. Seneca’s Religious Foundation”


Israel’s Origins – before Palestine

For earlier posts where I indicated the importance of some of Garbini’s approaches, see Testing (or not) Historical Sources for Reliability and Interview with Thomas L. Thompson #1. The current post follows on from the previous one where we outlined the identification as “forerunners” of Israel the Banu Yamina (Benjamin) with their “davids” in the … Continue reading “Israel’s Origins – before Palestine”


Ch 1 – The Raising of Lazarus

1. Die Auferweckung des Lazarus. 1. The raising of Lazarus. 165/166 Noch Einmal macht der Vierte eine verzweifelte Anstrengung, um die Ueberlegenheit seiner Darstellung über den synoptischen Geschichtskreis zu beweisen — das schien ihm viel zu einfach und gewöhnlich, wie hier, nachdem Zesus den jüdischen Herrschern den Bruch erklärt hatte, die Katastrophe eintritt, die Hohenpriester … Continue reading “Ch 1 – The Raising of Lazarus”


Could Plato Really have Influenced Judaism and the Bible?

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. — Karl Marx We call that a ridiculous state of intellect in a man, Socrates, which is concerned only with divine knowledge. — Plato Stranger Every architect, too, is a ruler of workmen, not a workman himself. Younger Socrates Yes. Stranger … Continue reading “Could Plato Really have Influenced Judaism and the Bible?”


Ch 3 – The controversy over the authority of Jesus

122 3. Der Streit über die Berechtigung Jesu. 3. The controversy over the authority of Jesus. 122/123 Natürlich ist Matthäus, nachdem seine Hohenpriester und Schriftgelehrten nach der Lempelreiuigung bereits mit ihrem Bedenken über das Hosiannarufen der Kinder aufgetreten sind, und wenn sie nun nach der Verfluchung des Feigenbaums die Frage auf-werfen, die sich auf die … Continue reading “Ch 3 – The controversy over the authority of Jesus”


When Yahweh was at Peace with Other Gods — [Biblical Creation Accounts/Plato’s Timaeus-Critias – 7e]

When we read the Bible we assume that its references to God or Lord all mean the same idea: the deity of Judeo-Christian belief. So when we (non-scholars) read that the Bible’s references to the God of the Patriarchs were originally names of various local deities it can be a difficult pill to swallow. But … Continue reading “When Yahweh was at Peace with Other Gods — [Biblical Creation Accounts/Plato’s Timaeus-Critias – 7e]”