Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Christ from XS (or XRS) ... The code for Christ is XS or sometimes XRS, which could as well indicate Christos, or even Chrestos. In Coptic it looks like this: XC, with a bar over the letters. X is the Greek letter chi and C is the Coptic S. Scholars fill in XC so that it reads “Christ,” never “Chri...

The early use of "nomina sacra" indicates a canon was recognized 1. The external identifying characteristics of the witnesses to the text of the Christian Bible -- the types of abbreviation of the nomina sacra , use of the codex, a common pattern of names for the individual books ("G...

The “nomina sacra“, a set of words given special treatment by copyists in ancient Christian manuscripts, continues to be a subject of debate about what the practice signifies and how it originated. The words in question are written in a unique abbreviated form with a curious horizontal stroke place...

. Could Nomina Sacra* hide the origins or etymology of at least some of the words that Nomina Sacra replaced or are intended to mean? Could they have been used to conflate words with similar form, but different meanings, to be presented as one word (wittingly or unwittingly) ?? eg. Χριστός (Christó...

I found the following on my computer that compares "Jesus Christ" with "Christ Jesus", probably based on the RSV, which follows Nestle-Aland GNT as opposed to the Majority or Byzantine textual reconstructions: .... I subtotaled the relative proportions to illustrate the real dif...

TedM wrote:...I welcome any discussion between Ben and Bernard ...

I think such a discussion would be interesting as long as Bernard does not revert to linking to his website, and provides his propositions and arguments fully within his posts to such a discussion on this forum.

... the Gospels ...came to be known / associated with the four evangelists, they came to be known that way by the second century, and as far as we know there was never any alternative attribution offered for any of them. Good point. But I wouldn't say that's "a strong and early tradition ...&q...

Many will come in my name, saying I am Christ, and will deceive many. This commentary notes that 'Christ' in Greek means 'anointed' (well, one version - Χριστός (Christós) - does) - So these false prophets who Jesus is warning about are not saying, "I am Jesus." They are saying what most ...

outhouse wrote: I like ...a Galilean Aramaic Jew who was taught by John and took over his movement when he was murdered ...

I presume you mean John the Baptist .. with John the Apostle being a different John (+/- other Johns)

Many will come in my name, saying I am Christ, and will deceive many. Is Jesus saying what we have been conditioned to believe him to be saying here, or is he saying nigh on the opposite? i.e., is he denying that he is the Christ? It's repeated in Matt 24:5, Mark 13:6,, & Luke 21:8. I take it t...