Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

If we go by the dating given in Luke's Gospel (3:1), and estimate that the Baptizer John heard the call of God c.28 C.E., and accept that he began preaching the "good news" (Luke 3:18) of the kingdom of heaven (Matt 3:2), then we are faced with the question of why John heard the call and c...

Yes, "not salvation from hell but from death"..because in the earliest period the church's imminent eschatology led members to believe that the calamities of the end times were pending, but that the elect would survive them (Mark 13:20), so that "we shall not all die" (1Cor 15:51...

There may be no better example of early Christian communities judging in different ways, and maintaining different positions, than the way the Judaic and nomistic Matthew seems to polemicize against the antinomian teachings of Paul and the practices of the Pauline churches. Now scholars specializing...

Recent discussion has called my attention to the primitive-looking speeches contained in the early chapters of Acts, but I have decided to expand my original thread to include the entire issue of the remarkable (and near total) absence of atonement theology in Luke-Acts. These observations combined ...

*The skeptical, even cynical, sense of the TF may however not be limited to the report "he was believed/supposed to be the Christ". For in his use of the aorist "ephane"("to appear"), Josephus speaks of reputedly divine appearances where he questions the validity of th...

The traditions held by the Ebionites in the early third century looked back on James, the brother of Jesus, as having assigned Clement to follow Peter and to record Peter's reminiscences about the teachings of Jesus for the church at Jerusalem (1). Clement is among the earliest of the church fathers...

… This is perhaps the most decisive evidence we have that the Jerusalem religious establishment played no part in bringing Jesus to the cross. … Yet the arguments against the historicity of the Sanhedrin trial are formidable if not conclusive. … Most challenging perhaps to those who support the his...

However I am drawn to the speeches in the early chapters which have the look of the primitive kerygma of the church, and will gladly expound on the scholars who think they bear the look of authenticity, if you will only wait a little while.. I don’t disagree that there could be some historical data...

There are really no grounds for rejecting the idea that a visionary like Jesus was aware and believed that his enemies were quite capable of killing him during a Festival (John 7:1-9), since the Qumran scrolls complain that the Jerusalem high priesthood had tried to kill the Qumran community Teacher...

Yes, Dunn's position suits me just fine, the historicity of Acts is still controversial.. However I am drawn to the speeches in the early chapters which have the look of the primitive kerygma of the church, and will gladly expound on the scholars who think they bear the look of authenticity, if you ...