Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Perhaps it parallels a similar theme in Mark 9: [37] Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. [38] And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth ...

appearances on earth Don't the epistles imply that Paul saw Jesus in visions? It sounds like the visions would necessarily make him an apparition of some kind, even if they're mundane in comparison to the Book of Revelation. Here I am differentiating between "vision" and "appearance&...

Visions of individuals are not subject to organizational control. They are good for getting things started but they cannot be allowed to continue for reasons explained in the article. Christianity's visions in the orthodox catholic branch were controlled as founding events in the gospels and Acts: ...

What do you expect a vision of a heavely Jesus to look like? I was thinking about appearances on earth, like we had at Lourdes and Fatima of the Virgin Mary. I know that some speculate that the 'old man' in Justin Martyr's "Dialogue with Trypho" was supposed to be Jesus in a different for...

Its central saviour figure, Amitabha Buddha, is not alleged by any person to have been upon the Earth, yet millions of people throughout history, inspired by the so-called Pure Land Sutras, have developed faith in Amitabha Buddha as their heavenly saviour ruling from Sukhavati (the Western Pure Lan...

There is a thread that I created here a few years back that goes over the issues of what was in the different extant versions: https://earlywritings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4640 The extant versions, with an English translation of the Ethiopic. can be found in R.H. Roberts' The Ascension of...

Re: What is rhetorical function of Paul's claim, "I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood"? It is useful to reflect on how Jerome struggles with this question. Jerome's views are probably reflective of the views of Origin, but he puts his own stamp on it. In particular he is mo...

In my view (and Gmirkin's view I think), if a Christian text symphatizes with the Zealots of the besieged and expugned Jerusalem (see Gmirkin's comments for the argument), then that Christian text is evidence of Jewish-Christians going deliberately against the Pax Romana , and not only against the ...

Inspired in part by my recent reading about why Justin Martyr may have not mentioned Judas, I recently readed again portions from Earl Doherty discussing other second century CE Christian apologists. Doherty claims that several of these men, such as Athenagoras of Athens, wrote lengthy treatises de...

Well, by presenting Nero/the Roman Emperors as wicked, demonic beasts, and by allegorically conflating Rome and Babylon (a city whose defeat is presented as a good thing within the Jewish scriptures over all - excepting Ezekiel), the Revelation to John is implicitly anti-Roman. Explicit anti-Roman ...