Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

In certain locations there were persecuted but there are signs that the Roman Church was not persecuted in the third century.

Instead of wasting your time on Bernard why not simply answer the question I have been raising time and again in this thread - doesn't your theory about dating for the gospel assume that it was openly published? A secretly transmitted book could have been written at any time.

And Celsus (Contr. Cels. Book 1) confirms that Christians were a secret association. So it becomes extremely unlikely IMHO that the gospel was ever 'openly published' before Irenaeus.

So in Syriac the hymn Sogdinan Mar, L-Alahootha, wal-Nashutha "We Bow o Lord, to your Divinity, and to your Humanity."

The same word alahota appears throughout the writings of Marqe especially where two powers are referenced: Divinity appeared and established the covenant; glory appeared and magnified what was good. The angels came to magnify what was glorious and they were all assembled for Adam. Divinity formed hi...

In Syriac Christianity there is a deep debate regarding the 'humanity' (= ˀnšw, ˀnšwtˀ [ˀĕ]nāšū, [ˀĕ]nāšūṯā, ) and the divinity (= alahutha). But isn't it obvious if - as I suggest - that at one time ish rather than enosh was the original terminology? Notice that even 'enosh' in Aramaic adds a yod t...

The Teaching of Addai has many of the basic features of Marcionism: Assemble me tomorrow all the city, and I will sow in it the word of life by the preaching which I will address to you— about the coming of Christ, in what manner it was; and about Him that sent Him, why and how He sent Him; and abou...

And for that matter - why do politically inclined people who pretend to you 'scientific evidence' to support theological/political ends continue to pretend that Jerusalem is a 'holy city'? It isn't mentioned in the Pentateuch and the original sacred place was Gerizim (or perhaps the meadow where Jac...

I actually think Ben's summary is fair and reasonable. One more thing though. I brought up the fact that IF one accepts the idea that the gospel was originally about Jewish gods or powers (Jesus/Ishu and Chrestos/something or other in Hebrew) and how 'the two were made one ... on the Cross' (Eph 2:1...

The question isn't so much why it was politicized but whether or not the government has embraced a forged text for political purposes.