A Virtual File Cabinet for Our Studies of Christian Origins & Hebraic Faith
Part One: Jesus and the Kingdom of God The Dominant Critical-Scholarly View: Jesus as Apocalyptic Prophet The majority critical position, associated with Bart Ehrman, E.P. Sanders, Paula Fredriksen, Dale Allison, and Albert Schweitzer before them, is that Jesus preached the Kingdom of God as an imminent, earthly, divine intervention — not a purely spiritual or […]
Continue ReadingNote from me – This response was a follow-up to one that asked for a list of beliefs that Paul taught as well as Jesus. Claude cited 6-8, but at least three did not “fit” with what I heard taught. So this is Claude’s correction that made a good stand-alone post. In the original response, […]
Continue ReadingFrom Claude.ai on 3/31/2026. This response also contains info related to the origins of the Last Supper. Critical scholars do not broadly support the Last Supper as a point of continuity between Jesus and Paul. Here is what the scholarship actually says: The Core Problem: Paul Is the Only Primary Source The first written description […]
Continue ReadingBy Claude.ai on 3/31/2026. That is one of the genuine tensions that critical scholars themselves debate. This is actually a point where critical scholars themselves identify a significant discontinuity. Here is what the scholarship actually says: The Forgiveness Problem: Ehrman’s Direct Assessment The most direct critical-scholarly voice on this is Bart Ehrman. Ehrman argues that […]
Continue ReadingNote from me – This response was the original response (now with updates) to the prompt below that asked for a list of beliefs that Paul taught as well as Jesus; i.e. where Paul agreed with Jesus. Claude cited seven, but three did not “fit” with what I heard taught. When I separately asked Claude […]
Continue ReadingThis post contains questions raised by Bart Ehrman in the intro text to his course “Paul and Jesus: The Great Divide” at BSA. Reformatting is mine.
Continue ReadingFrom Claude.ai on 3/31/2026. Prompt: Provide a list of Jesus’ disciples and their occupations. Identify the gospels with the names and the differences recognized by critical bible scholars. cite the names or positions of any family members. This could be reported in a table format that will fit comfortably in a WordPress web post. The […]
Continue ReadingThe post contains Claude.ai’s summary of the BAS article titled “Red Sea or Reed Sea? How the mistake was made and what yam sûp really means” by Bernard F. Batto. A pdf of the article is in his directory in Dropbox. The article challenges the popular scholarly view that yam sûp — the body of […]
Continue ReadingFrom Claude.ai on 3/30/2026, based on the prompt: Provide a timeline of the evolution of Biblical Hebrew as a language and when writing began, up to when prose was being composed. Cite all sources. Claude first produced the second timeline in this post where there is more info about each period. Immediately below is a […]
Continue ReadingFrom Claude.ai in response to the prompt: Provide the different positions of critical Bible scholars on Where did the God of Israel Come From? This is a rich and important topic in critical biblical studies. Here is a comprehensive overview of the major scholarly positions on the origins of the God of Israel. Where Did […]
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