Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
If the gospels were known at all anytime in the first century through to the middle of the second century why did no-one seem to write about them or mention the story in them? Why did they even write about Jesus’ life on earth in ways that directly contradict what we read in the Gospels? … Continue reading “Did no-one know about the Gospels before half way through the second century?”
The historicity of Jesus’ baptism is asserted on grounds that the event would not have been told unless it were true, because it implies views of Jesus that no Christian would invent: that John was up till that point superior to Jesus, and/or that Jesus had sins to be buried in the Jordan River. This … Continue reading “Why early Christians would create the story of Jesus’ baptism – and more evidence the gospels were very late”
Of all the debates and controversies surrounding the Gospel of Mark, the one I find the most teasing is its absence from the record when it was supposed to be present. No explicit clues till the mid-second century There is no explicit hint that it was known to anyone until around 140 c.e. when Justin … Continue reading “The Missing Testimony of the Earliest Gospel”
I listened in on a Good Friday service in St Joseph’s church in Singapore last night, while standing amidst hundreds of others holding magic or holy candles, and during the reading of the Gospel of John’s passion narrative I was struck to suddenly hear echoes of thematic details also found in the apocryphal Gospel of … Continue reading “Rival gospel traditions: Herod or Pilate the executioner of Christ?”
A little while ago while trying to trace the evidence for Christian origins one block in the scholarship that frustrated me was the lack of dedicated studies to what was known of the gospel narrative in the mid-second century. There was no lack of resources on the asserted “sayings of Jesus” and supposed “canonical gospel” … Continue reading “Justin Martyr and the 2nd century gospel story”
I took time out last night to follow up a comment left on Vridar and listen to Derek Lambert’s MythVision interview with Tim O’Neill, author of the blog History for Atheists. If one sets aside the revealing psychological portrait that emerges from the incidental comments O’Neill lets drop about himself throughout the interview and focuses … Continue reading “Bad History for Atheists (1) — Louis Feldman on Justin’s Trypho and “proving Jesus existed””
We return here to the question of the Testimonium Flavianum, the passage about Jesus found in our copies of Antiquities of the Jews by the first century Jewish historian Josephus. Not many years back Earl Doherty wrote for this blog: Trypho Finally, there is the question of what is meant by Trypho’s remark in Justin’s … Continue reading “Justin Martyr Answers a Second Century Jesus Christ Mythicist”
While we have “sacred space” and religious violence in our thoughts, it’s high time I posted one more detail I wish the scholars who know better would themselves make more widely known. The population of Judea was not exiled at the conclusion of the war with Rome when the second temple was destroyed in 70 … Continue reading “The Myth of Judean Exile 70 CE”
One of the most fundamental plot details of the narrative of the gospels is that Jesus held a final ritual meal with his disciples in the night hours before he was betrayed, tried and crucified. That final meal was the beginning of the eucharist rite that is celebrated in most churches in some form ever … Continue reading “Was the Last Supper/Eucharist “originally given” by Jesus AFTER his resurrection?”
Revised: added Self-Opening Doors and P.S. In the following I am not suggesting that the gospel resurrection appearance scenes were directly borrowed from ancient sources. Rather, that when we read of similar scenes in pagan literature we can recognize them as patently mythical. This is Robert M. Price‘s argument (Deconstructing Jesus, p.39), although Charles … Continue reading “Resurrection Appearances and Ancient Myths”
The three rejects — Paul Paul in his letter to the Galatians equates the namesakes of the three leading apostles in Mark (Cephas/Peter?, James and John) as holding an unimpressive rank in his eyes (Gal. 2:6), and who became the leaders of the hypocrites at Antioch (Gal. 2:13), and were thus cursed teachers of “another … Continue reading “Tracing the evolution of the Twelve Apostles from monkey rejects to angelic pillars.”
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”
My last post on Bauckham and Justin found myself repeating conclusions I had come to some years ago but with a niggling back of my mind awareness that there is new information that I have read since and that I need to rethink the whole Justin and the gospels thing. And something I wrote in … Continue reading “Moving to a more conservative view of Justin”
Richard Bauckham writes in “Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: the Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony” that the Twelve had been companions with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry and were chosen to be an authoritative body to act as eyewitness guarantors of the preservation and transmission of message of his life and resurrection. This is a … Continue reading “The Twelve: Justin Martyr vs Richard Bauckham”