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Josephus is a big debate. Some parts of it found in later manuscripts are considered forgeries, but as far as I can remember there are evidence that early manuscripts contain information about Jesus that have not been edited in. We also considered Tacitus. But the course mainly used Biblical...

Yeah, that article seems a bit weird, I just posted it to give you an abstract of his position. I have read the criteria and methodologies of the Jesus seminar, at least as they were presented in this book by Patterson Amazon.com: God of Jesus: The Historical Jesus and the Search for Meaning...

Judging from the experience I have from reading some selected articles by John Dominic Crossan and Stephen J. Patterson (fun fact: my avatar is on the cover of that book :D) I have mixed feelings about it. They make a decent case that there were a historical person named Jesus, mainly...

I hate to break to them, but the Lord Jesus Christ was not a white American protestant republican. They are so critical about John 8, but they maintain the authorship of Mark, Matthew, John and Luke when it comes to the gospels? Do they consider the deutero-Pauline epistles? I thought not, they...

This is shameful behavior by the Turkish government. It is a disaster to Christianity that the Turkish government seek out to destroy an ancient religious establishment like this. And it will be a disaster to history as well if we let this destroy one of the earliest Christian establishments...

Yes, I meant theologies in that sense. There is nothing wrong with doing theological studies (I am a student of theology myself :)

Of course they are. I might not agree with all of their theology, but in the end theological statements are mere attempts to capture the infinite and divine which is much grander than words can describe. Sometimes we should remember the words of Meister Echkhart: "God is nameless, for no man...

Namaste to you too Wil I do not really have any idea of what this thorn is. Considering he says it is a "thorn in the flesh" (skolops te sarki), I would guess that it is a physical ailment, perhaps a serious disease of some kind. He uses it as some kind of identification with Christ, a...

The question is: What is sin? The Greek word for sin does not mean breaking the law as many thinks, it means to miss the mark or to fall short of ones purpose. In short, sin is disconnection from God. In that way, Jesus does die for our sins by defeating death and enabling us to follow his path...

I never claimed that this was a saved world. I guess you are talking about the idea of universal salvation. Even in the idea of universal salvation, that does not mean that one expects the world to be perfect now. Universal salvation is originally called apokatastasis which means restoration of...

Since when is the Christian idea of salvation a guarantee for success in this life? Have you read the writings of St.Paul or the Acts of the Apostles? Are they what you would consider successful in terms of worldly standards? Paul is beaten, left for dead and thrown in prison, and he has what...

Septuagint is merely the Greek version of the Old Testament (as opposed to the Masoretic text). It is believed that the early Christians used the Septuagint when quoting from the Old Testament. But today both Catholics and Protestants use the Masoretic versions of the Old Testament, however the...

I'm a big fan of Tom Waits and I love this song: umslQIaX4pM

Personally, I agree with you. I only wanted to underline that the fact that it is a canon (although debated in its time as you said), and it being a canon makes many people consider it one unified work consisting of many books. Historically that case is hard to make of course, it is a position...

The Bible is indeed a library of books, but it is something more, it is a canon. It being a canon means that it is more than a collection of books, it implies that there is a relationship between the books or it should at least be read as if it were. That being said, it is fair to say that the...

Why would there be anything about the Kingdom in those verses? You asked for verses that talked about the centrality of the resurrection. Asking for specific verses on everything is a misunderstanding of how theology is made. The scriptures are coherent and together they form a total message...

If it were 200 years later it could be troubling. However, Pauls epistle to the Romans is written around 50AD, 1.Corinthians around 55AD. In those epistles (and others) Paul talks about having visited Peter, John and James in Jerusalem on 3 separate occasions to make sure that he preached the...

Jesus does not say so explicitly, but it is biblical theology. Acts 17:31 Romans 5:18, 6:4-11 and 6:20-22 1.Corinthians 15:20-23 2.Corinthians 4:13-14 1.Thessalonians 4:16-18 1.Peter 1:3-5 This is probably just some of it. This was just what came to mind first.

I believe the resurrection is absolutely essential to the Kingdom. Within the resurrection there is a promise, this promise is the hope that makes the Kingdom something that can be prepared on earth. We are called to discipleship in encounter with the grace of salvation. The discipleship is to...

Christianity is the way of the fool in human eyes. If Christianity is glorified by men or become mainstream, it has gone astray. I'm not sure I would call Christianity simple. It might be easy to understand, but it is not easy to accept. Kierkegaard has good perspective: The Bible is really...