New Testament and the Lost Gospel
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Apocrypha on Jesus' Life in the Early Islamic Milieu: from Syriac Into Arabic
Apocrypha on Jesus’ Life in the Early Islamic Milieu: From Syriac into Arabic* Cornelia B. Horn Apocryphal traditions are narratives and stories about figures and events that feature some noticeable relationship to biblical traditions, but that are con- ceived and told in a way that clearly goes beyond the data that is found in the contemporary canonical texts.1 They are central texts and traditions, in which wider circles of Christians expressed their reception of and interaction with the core of the biblical message, that God worked and continued to work in their own history. In the eastern Christian world, apocrypha are often an integral part of traditions comprising hagiography and liturgical traditions as well.2 Apocryphal texts and traditions hold a key position right in the mid- dle and in-between the biblical and patristic writings anywhere in Oriental Christian literature and Christian literature more broadly. Christian literature in Arabic is no exception to this. In fact, Arabic apocrypha play a crucial role in the transmission of Oriental Christian traditions into a world, which in the Middle East from the seventh century onwards was increasingly dominated by a new religion, Islam.3 Christian apocryphal writings constitute a prominent reservoire of traditions that allow the modern researcher to trace connections between developping sacred scriptures beyond the boundaries of religions. At times, the trajectories of such interreligious connections are even traceable with chronological and geographical precision. For the study of the interaction of Christians and Muslims in the framework of apocryphal traditions, Christian Arabic witnesses ought to have a role of * The research and writing of this article occurred in part while I held a Heisenberg Fellowship (GZ HO 5221/1–1) and in part during my tenure as Heisenberg Professor of Languages and Cultures of the Christian Orient at the Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg (GZ HO 5221/2–1). -
The Post-Resurrection Appearances of Christ
Konis, P. (2006) “The Post-Resurrection Appearances of Christ. The case of the Chairete or ‘All Hail’”. Rosetta 1: 31-40 http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/Issue_01/Konis.htm Rosetta 1. http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/Issue_01/Konis.htm The Post-Resurrection Appearances of Christ. The case of the Chairete or ‘All Hail’ Polyvios Konis PhD Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham The post-resurrection appearances of Christ are a series of apparitions described in the four canonical Gospels and the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.1 In the absence of any canonical description about Christ’s actual moment of resurrection, these apparitions became a visual and literal synonym and evidently confirmed the reality of Christ’s resurrection. The details in such descriptions are not necessarily consistent: the number of angels and women differ in each Gospel; the time of Christ’s appearance to them differs as well; and while Paul mentions Peter as the first to see Christ resurrected, the Marys (or Myrrh-bearers) are the individuals described by the Gospels as first at the tomb.2 The most popular apparitions were: the Incredulity of Thomas, an event exclusive in John;3 the Appearance to the Eleven, described by all four Gospels and sometimes fused with the Mission of the Apostles; the Marys at the Tomb described with variations again by the four Gospels; and the Chairete. The Chairete is a unique event described by Matthew. According to the Evangelist, two women, namely Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (the mother of Jacob and Joses) discovered Christ’s empty tomb and when they saw the resurrected Christ, he hailed them. -
Female Prophets New Testament
Female Prophets New Testament Switch Rajeev usually rendezvous some putto or disguised negligibly. Enow Pincas renegates whereto. Holograph and violative Giffie always unbox tonelessly and wits his procurement. Marg has let every new testament or as the discussion provides both male in the many of this portrayal is the He has revealed but we see visions, their primary functionof childcare they have. Some say about to female prophetic revelation had been based on her sexual immorality, for seventy miles from them to take place over external adornment. Misfits Leaders Disciples and Prophets 12 Amazing Women from the Bible Part 1 Misfits by Rev Dr Eric Elnes April 2 2019 Each blow our major rooms at. It is that true candy for the sake of eight the spirits of the prophets are subject. But stillthe primary reason some female noteworthiness in the Bible is who. The 7 Prophetesses of Judaism Jewish History Chabadorg. 1 Corinthians 112-16 On Women Prophesying in Worship. Women interpret the Bible Anna CEPAD. And infamous has appointed in after church first apostles second prophets third teachers then miracles then gifts of healing. Her vision is easier not because they have made you are ready for he must not turn our blog cannot validate your prophet? Misfits Leaders Disciples and Prophets 12 Amazing Women. Sign up new testament all that post, following year to look to. The Twelve Old Testament Britannica. From female nudity would at least we comparing men, how specific situation to open to prophesy, or new testament ministry to ordain or tend to. Moses after elijah, be expected that would that prophesieth speaketh unto men? Huldah A Cunning Career Woman Brill. -
Gospel of Thomas Is the Most Important Manuscript Discovery Ever Made
Introduction For those interested in Jesus of Nazareth and the origins of Christianity, the Gospel of Thomas is the most important manuscript discovery ever made. Apart from the canonical scriptures and a few scattered sayings, the Gospel of Thomas is our only historically valuable source for the teach- ings of Jesus. Although it has been available in European languages since the 1950s, it is still subject to intense scrutiny and debate by biblical schol- ars. The Gospel of Thomas is roughly the same age as the canonical New Testament gospels, but it contains sayings of Jesus that present very dif- ferent views on religion and on the nature of humanity and salvation, and it thereby raises the question whether the New Testament’s version of Jesus’ teachings is entirely accurate and complete. In late 1945, an Egyptian peasant named Mohammed Ali al-Samman Mohammad Khalifa rode his camel to the base of a cliff, hoping to find fertilizer to sell in the nearby village of Nag Hammadi. He found, instead, a large sealed pottery jar buried in the sand. He feared it might contain a genie that would haunt or attack him, and he hoped it might contain a treasure. Gathering his courage, he smashed open the jar and discov- ered only a collection of twelve old books. Suspecting that they might have value on the antiquities market, he kept the books and eventually sold them for a small sum. The books gradually came into the hands of scholars in Cairo, Europe, and America. Today those books are known as the Nag Hammadi library, a collection that is generally considered to be the most important archaeological discovery of the twentieth cen- tury for research into the New Testament and early Christianity. -
Adult Sunday School Lesson Nassau Bay Baptist Church December 6, 2020
Adult Sunday School Lesson Nassau Bay Baptist Church December 6, 2020 In this beginning of the Gospel According to Luke, we learn why Luke wrote this account and to whom it was written. Then we learn about the birth of John the Baptist and the experience of his parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth. Read Luke 1:1-4 Luke tells us that many have tried to write a narrative of Jesus’ redemptive life, called a gospel. Attached to these notes is a list of gospels written.1 The dates of these gospels span from ancient to modern, and this list only includes those about which we know or which have survived the millennia. Canon The Canon of Scripture is the list of books that have been received as the text that was inspired by the Holy Spirit and given to the church by God. The New Testament canon was not “closed” officially until about A.D. 400, but the churches already long had focused on books that are now included in our New Testament. Time has proven the value of the Canon. Only four gospels made it into the New Testament Canon, but as Luke tells us, many others were written. Twenty-seven books total were “canonized” and became “canonical” in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, thirty-nine books are included as canonical. Canonical Standards Generally, three standards were held up for inclusion in the Canon. • Apostolicity—Written by an Apostle or very close associate to an Apostle. Luke was a close associate of Paul. • Orthodoxy—Does not contradict previously revealed Scripture, such as the Old Testament. -
Apocrypha, Part 1
Understanding Apocrypha, Part 1 Sources: Scripture Alone, James R. White, 112-119 The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origin and Development of the Bible, Paul D. Wegner, 101-130 The Doctrine of the Word of God, John M. Frame, 118-139 Can We Still Believe the Bible? An Evangelical Engagement with Contemporary Questions, by Craig L. Blomberg, 43-54 How We Got the Bible, Neil R. Lightfoot, 152-156 “The Old Testament Canon, Josephus, and Cognitive Environment” by Stephen G. Dempster, in The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures, D.A. Carson, editor, 321-361 “Reflections on Jesus’ View of the Old Testament” by Craig L. Blomberg, in The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures, D.A. Carson, editor, 669-701 “The Canon of the Old Testament” by R.T. Beckwith, in The Origin of the Bible, edited by F.F. Bruce, J.I. Packer, Philip Comfort, Carl F.H. Henry, 51-64 “Do We Have the Right Canon?” by Paul D. Wegner, Terry L. Wilder, and Darrell L. Bock, in In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture, edited by Steven B. Cowan and Terry L. Wilder, 393-404 Can I Really Trust the Bible?, Barry Cooper, 49-53 Establishing Our Time Frame What are apocryphal books? The word “apocrypha” refers to something hidden (Protestants and Catholics differ on why the term is applied to particular books). It is a general term often used for books not in the biblical canon (apocryphal books), but is also used by Protestants as a specific term for the books officially canonized by the Roman Catholic Church (The Apocrypha). -
GNOSIS and NAG HAMMADI Anne Mcguire
12 GNOSIS AND NAG HAMMADI Anne McGuire Introduction Introductory remarks on “gnosis” and “Gnosticism” “Gnosticism” is a modern European term that !rst appears in the seventeenth-century writings of Cambridge Platonist Henry More (1614–87). For More, “Gnosticism” designates one of the earliest Christian heresies, connected to controversies addressed in Revelation 2:18–29 and in his own day.1 The term “gnosis,” on the other hand, is one of several ancient Greek nouns for “knowledge,” speci!cally experiential or esoteric knowledge based on direct experience, which can be distinguished from mere perception, understanding, or skill. For Plato and other ancient thinkers, “gnosis” refers to that knowledge which enables perception of the underlying structures of reality, Being itself, or the divine.2 Such gnosis was valued highly in many early Christian communities,3 yet the claims of some early Christians to possess gnosis came under suspicion and critique in the post-Pauline letter of 1 Timothy, which urges its readers to “avoid the profane chatter and contradictions of falsely so-called gnosis.”4 With this began the polemical contrast between “false gnosis” and “true faith.” It is this polemical sense of “false gnosis” that Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons took up in the title of his major anti-heretical work: Refutation and Overthrow of Falsely So-Called Gnosis, or Against Heresies, written c. "# 180.5 Irenaeus used 1 Timothy’s phrase not only to designate his opponents’ gnosis as false, but, even more important, to construct a broad category of -
Nag Hammadi Codex II in Its Fourth
2 CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . 5 ABSTRACT . 8 DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT STATEMENT . 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . 10 1. INTRODUCTION . 11 The Nag Hammadi Codices after ‘Gnosticism’. 11 Order and Themes: Alternative Scripture? . 15 Pachomian Ownership? Arguments from Codicology . 21 Ideological Affinity? . 29 Introducing the Pachomian Sources . 29 Pachomian Ideology and Practice . 35 2. THE APOCRYPHON OF JOHN AS A THEMATIC PROLOGUE . 45 The Significance and Prominence of the Apocryphon of John . 45 The Narrative . 48 Sexual Complexity: Asceticism and Anti-Feminism? . 62 Carnal Union and Spiritual Unity . 64 Feminine Wiles: The Placement of Sexual Desire in Codex II . 67 Sex: Despicable or Distorted? . 72 Knowledge Revealed and Preserved . 77 The Struggle of the Soul . 79 3 3. ETHICS AND PRACTICE: ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE BODY, THE WORLD, AND OTHERS IN THE GOSPELS OF THOMAS AND PHILIP . 83 Defining ‘Asceticism’ . 83 The Gospel of Thomas . 86 Origins of the Text and the ‘Ascetic’ Argument . 86 The Counter Debate . 89 A More Nuanced Position? . 92 The Gospel of Philip . 108 Metaphorical Marriage? The Bridal Chamber . 108 ‘Appropriate’ Sexuality . 114 Social Responsibility and Attitudes towards Other Christians . 127 4. THE DEMISE OF COSMIC THREAT AND REWARD FOR THE DEVOTED: THE HYPOSTASIS OF THE ARCHONS AND ON THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD . 135 The Consequences of Earthly Actions . 135 The Hypostasis of the Archons . 138 Making a Mockery of Malice . 145 Sexuality: The Roles of Eve and Norea . 156 Reinterpreting the ‘Chosen Generation’ . 161 On the Origin of the World . 164 Eschatology Cosmic and Individual . 164 5. UNDERSTANDING AND LIBERATING THE SOUL: THE EXEGESIS ON THE SOUL AND THE BOOK OF THOMAS THE CONTENDER . -
Mary's Story from the Jame's Gospel from the Apochryphal Book, The
Mary’s Story from the Jame’s Gospel From the apochryphal book, the Infancy Gospel of James, written early in the second century. Mary’s parents: Anne, Joachin (prob. not authentic, taken from the Protoevangelicum [Infancy Gospel of James] ) Brothers: James, Joseph, Simon, Judas (Jude) (Matt 13:55) Sisters: not named but later Christian literature gives names Mary and Salome Full sibs or not? Helvidian view: yes, born of Mary after Jesus -- named for a 4th century Roman. Epiphanian view: no, born to Joseph and previous wife (named after 4th century bishop Epiphanius in Salamis, Cyprus). Supported by Infancy Gospel of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Peter. Hieronymian view: first cousins of Jesus (Jerome). Clopas (Cleopas), brother of Joseph, so Jesus’s uncle -- according to Hegesippus, quoted by Eusebius. And in John 19:25, Mary, Clopas’s wife, stood at the cross with Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. And in Luke 24:18, Jesus appeared to Cleopas and another (perhaps his wife Mary) on the road to Emmaus. Cousin Simon (son of Clopas) succeeded James in leading Jerusalem Chruch in 62 when James was martyred (stoned), and was in turn martyred (crucified) by Trajan circa 98 (according to Hegesippus). From the Infancy Gospel of James Mary’s parents were Joachim and Anna, a wealthy and prominent Jewish couple in Jerusalem. When God answered her prayers for a child, she named her Mary and dedicated her to God (James 4:2). For three years she remained at home, then was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem where she lived until she was twelve, being fed “like a dove, receiving her food from the hand of a heavenly messenger” (James 8;2). -
Thecla Article
The Paradox of Women in the Early Church: 1 Timothy and the Acts of Paul and Thecla 1 Timothy and the Acts of Paul and Thecla have frequently been portrayed as opposite responses to women’s roles and authority within the church. Thecla presents a woman who travels to teach and preach the gospel, roles that depart from culturally accepted norms for women. By contrast, 1 Timothy advocates women returning to socially acceptable, passive roles.1 To take one example from a popular textbook, Bart Ehrman writes the following about attitudes toward women in the early church: “The Pastoral epistles present a stark contrast to the views set forth in The Acts of Paul and 1 In the 1980’s, MacDonald argued that 1 Timothy represents a community’s rejection of the active leadership of women found in the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Dennis Ronald MacDonald, The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983). See also the works in this period by Virginia Burrus, Chastity as Autonomy: Women in the Stories of Apocryphal Acts (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1987); Stevan L. Davies, The Revolt of the Widows: The Social World of the Apocryphal Acts (Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980). More recently, scholars tend to see Thecla and 1 Timothy as independent literary works, but affirm that they take opposite stances regarding the roles of women and the emerging church structure. E.g., James W. Aageson, Paul, the Pastoral Epistles, and the Early Church (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 206. -
What Is Biblical Prophecy?
What is Biblical Prophecy? What Biblical Prophecy is NOT, and What It Really IS: Contrary to what many fundamentalist preachers or late-night radio hosts would have you believe, biblical prophecy is not primarily about “predicting the future” or finding clues in the Bible that correspond to people or events in our own day and age! The prophets of Ancient Israel did not look into some kind of crystal ball and see events happening thousands of years after their own lifetimes. The books they wrote do not contain hidden coded messages for people living in the 20th or 21st centuries! Rather, biblical prophets were mainly speaking to and writing for the people of their own time. They were challenging people of their own world, especially their political rulers, to remain faithful to God’s commandments and/or to repent and turn back to God if they had strayed. They were conveying messages from God, who had called or commissioned them, rather than speaking on their own initiative or authority. However, because the biblical prophets were transmitting messages on behalf of God (as Jews and Christians believe), much of what they wrote for their own time is clearly also relevant for people living in the modern world. The overall message of faith and repentance is timeless and applicable in all ages and cultures. To understand what biblical prophecy really is, let’s look more closely at the origins, definitions, and uses of some key biblical words. In the Hebrew Bible, the word for “prophet” is usually nabi’ (lit. “spokesperson”; used over 300 times!), while the related feminine noun nebi’ah (“prophetess”) occurs only rarely. -
The Apocrypha1!Deuterocanonical Books: an Evangelical View
XIV lated widely in the Hellenistic church, many have argued that (a) the Septuagint represents an Alexandrian (as opposed to a Palestinian) canon, and that (b) the early church, using a Greek Bible, there fore clearly bought into this alternative canon. In any case, (c) the Hebrew canon was not "closed" until Jamnia (around 85 C.E.), so the earliest Christians could not have thought in terms of a closed Hebrew The Apocrypha1!Deuterocanonical Books: canon. "It seems therefore that the Protestant position must be judged a failure on historical grounds."2 An Evangelical View But serious objections are raised by traditional Protestants, including evangelicals, against these points. (a) Although the LXX translations were undertaken before Christ, the LXX evidence that has D. A. CARSON come down to us is both late and mixed. An important early manuscript like Codex Vaticanus (4th cent.) includes all the Apocrypha except 1 and 2 Maccabees; Codex Sinaiticus (4th cent.) has Tobit, Judith, Evangelicalism is on many points so diverse a movement that it would be presumptuous to speak of the 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus; another, Codex Alexandrinus (5th cent.) boasts all the evangelical view of the Apocrypha. Two axes of evangelical diversity are particularly important for the apocryphal books plus 3 and 4 Maccabees and the Psalms of Solomon. In other words, there is no evi subject at hand. First, while many evangelicals belong to independent and/or congregational churches, dence here for a well-delineated set of additional canonical books. (b) More importantly, as the LXX has many others belong to movements within national or mainline churches.