Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

The JW interpretation really shouldn't work even for them, because it implies polytheism. Then you must not know the JWs very well. An analogy might be to compare them to Arians. Arians had no trouble imagining the Father god created a son "out of nothing" to serve a special function for ...

You, sir, are a cad and a bounder! When you have time later today, perhaps you can fill out the list of translations each book contains, and provide the name of the translator, and while you're at it, dufus, why not also list the publication date for individual books? Regards, Your evil twin, Skippy...

I find the T shape the most plausible, more so then the X. the t, not so much. I prefer the I shape. Elegant in its simplicity. Anyone for a tree-like Y? It seems to me that an X or a † poses exactly the same problem, lap-notches would have to be cut into both posts to allow them to interface at th...

I have the CCEL version of Hendrickson reprints of the Ante Nicene Fathers and the Nicene & Post Nicene Fathers series of volumes, which captures most all early Christian Fathers through about 400 CE or so, in Bibleworks (ver 8) software, which is difficult to search (it's buggy). While CCEL doe...

KK, This story line kind of reminds me of the "palace revolt" of several eunuchs in Diocletian's household after he had published an edict that everyone had to offer sacrifice as a symbol of loyalty or face serious sanctions and penalties. The "revolt" was a fire at Diocletian's ...

Why do these scholars propose 250-350 as the earliest period for Coptic versions of the New Testament, then? Coptic is actually the alphabetic writing used by Egyptians to write their language (the most common dialects are Sahidic or Bohairic) starting about then. Up to the end of the 1st and into ...

I wonder if the codex might have been more durable [than a roll?], and particularly the vellum codex, made from animal skins (as might be suggested from the long life of some particular ancient vellum codices that are quite famous). WRT rolls, I would think that the repeated physical act of unrolli...

I have no idea when rabbinical Judaism's rules regarding life-saving and Sabbath start getting written down (none of it before the Mishnah, of course), but reading the state of the debate in the Talmud back into New Testament times is something fraught with critical difficulties in its own right). ...

... there could be some truth to the material from the Historia Augusta in which he says Christians and Jews all actually worshipped Serapis. Perhaps not all, and from what I've gleaned, it would depend on the time period and where they were ie. what post-city (some had a greater % who followed Ser...

The mention of Serapis instead of Bacchus/Dionysus here seems unique to Julian's version. Εἷς Ζεύς, εἷς Ἀίδης, εἷς Ἥλιός ἐστι Σάραπις This sort of construction reminds me of Ephesians 4:5: one Lord, one faith, one baptism (εἷς κύριος, μία πίστις, ἓν βάπτισμα) Obviously there are differences (three ...