Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Professor Stevan Davies has re-published his book Jesus the Healer under a new and probably more appropriate title, Spirit Possession and the Origins of Christianity, a new introduction on the pentecostal origins of the Christian movement (including an account for comparative purposes of the origins of modern pentecostalism since 1906) and added a couple of … Continue reading “Evidence for a Pre-Christian “Christianity”?”
Recently I posted Paul the persecutor? in which I suggested that Paul’s confession in his epistle to the Galatians to having persecuted the Church did not necessarily imply that he literally jailed, beat and killed Christians before his journey to Damascus. J. C. O’Neill would have thought I was far too soft. Those passages in which Paul … Continue reading “Paul the Persecutor: The Case for Interpolation”
Proper indexing of my posts has fallen behind. One small step towards correcting this has been to collate all Vridar posts that have dealt with Galatians 4:4 and the famous “born of a woman” phrase. First I list persons whose various views have been presented here. Then . . . well, you can see how … Continue reading “The “Born of a Woman” / Galatians 4:4 INDEX”
J. C. O’Neill (1930-2004) was a well respected critical scholar with some controversial views and always offering stimulating argument. Possibly the most controversial was his Who Did Jesus Think He Was? in which he argued that Jesus did believe he was the Messiah and that even the doctrine of the Trinity could be detected in … Continue reading ““Born of a Woman” — Sober Scholarship Questioning the Authenticity of Galatians 4:4″
–o0o– All posts in this series are archived in the O’Neill-Fitzgerald Debate. –o0o– What a careful, honest or even just competent treatment of the subject would do would be to deal with all relevant positions throughout the analysis . . . . (O’Neill, 2013) . Tim O’Neill (TO) repeats, and repeats again and again in … Continue reading “O’Neill-Fitzgerald “Christ Myth” Debate, #8: Why should anyone have noticed Jesus?”
This is the second post in the series: A Simonian Origin for Christianity. Some argue that Paul’s theology just underwent a very rapid development. Or that he changed his position to suit changed circumstances. Others chalk up the inconsistency to his temperament. He was impulsive and wrote things in anger that he probably regretted later. … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 2: The Letters of Paul”
I have just stumbled across a blog that brings my university student days back to me with vivid memories of personalities and events that were affected me deeply at the time — forcing me to face up to how the world really works. I have since lamented the fading of radical and direct action from … Continue reading “Back in ’68 . . . . reminder of my old university days”
This is from pages 67 to 76 of Constructing Jesus (2010) by Dale C. Allison. Allison begins with the evidence for the twelve. 1 Corinthians 15:5 is the earliest reference we think we have to the twelve. The letter is usually dated to the mid-50s, twenty or twenty-five years after the usually accepted date of … Continue reading “The Twelve: Dale Allison’s argument for their historical reality”
5. Use of Paul’s Letters in Acts The following hyperlinked notes (continued from Tyson) outline evidence from Knox, O’Neill, Enslin, Walker, Leppa, Aejmelaeus, Goulder and Pervo for collectively “mounting a serious counterargument” that the author of Acts knew and used Paul’s letters.
In response to those who dismiss a priori the likelihood of interpolations in the letters of Paul, Walker lists the following:
5. The Twelve The role of named individuals in the formulation and transmission of traditions of Jesus’ words and deeds largely disappeared from the normal awareness of New Testament scholars as a result of the form-critical movement in Gospels scholarship in the early twentieth century. (p.93) Bauckham continues with Birger Gerhardsson’s dismissive tone of critics … Continue reading “Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Chapter 5a”