A Virtual File Cabinet for Our Studies of Christian Origins & Hebraic Faith
At BAS LIbrary – Why Did the Israelites Make a Golden Calf? by John Drummond, April 09, 2025 Extract – Another possible reason for choosing a calf to represent Israel’s God might not have anything to do with Egyptian religion at all. Across the ancient Near East, cultures represented deities standing atop bovines. Often the depicted […]
Continue ReadingItalicized paragraphs below are extracts from Christine Elizabeth Hayes’ book Introduction to the Bible (The Open Yale Courses Series) (pp. 304-305). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. After 586 [BCE], some accepted the idea that the nation was suffering because of the accumulated guilt of previous generations (notably the Deuteronomistic historian), but for others the idea […]
Continue ReadingFrom Claude.ai on 2/24/2025. Reconciling Salvation Models in Luke and Acts: Critical Scholarship Perspectives When examining Luke-Acts as a two-volume work by the same author, scholars have long noted an apparent theological tension between the salvation models presented in each book. Luke’s Gospel often emphasizes salvation through redemption and ethical living, while Acts appears to […]
Continue ReadingFrom: “EarlyChirstianWritings.com – A Handbook of Patrology – FIRST PERIOD BEGINNING AND GROWTH OF EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE, THE FATHERS OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES, SECTION I, THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS” “Apostolic Fathers” is the name given to a certain number of writers or writings (several of which are anonymous) dating from the end of the first […]
Continue ReadingParagraphs below were extracted from https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/didache.html. There are many extracts from other scholars at the page. Burton Mack notes two interesting features of the text of the Didache. One concerns alms, and the other concerns the Eucharist. Of the first, Mack writes (Who Wrote the New Testament?, p. 240): “There are several interesting features of […]
Continue ReadingThe scholarly methodology that led to the positing of the existence of a Deuteronomistic school is redaction criticism. Redaction criticism grew out of a weariness with source criticism and other forms of biblical criticism that fragmented the text into older sources, genres, or tradition units in order to arrive at a history of Israelite religion, […]
Continue ReadingIn Christine Elizabeth Hayes’ book Introduction to the Bible, in the chapter about Deuteronomy, she points out instances where the writer revises the laws given in Exodus and Leviticus likely to fit his beliefs and the circumstances of his time. That is clearly evident in the revisions to how slaves and sacrifices are to be […]
Continue ReadingThe following italicized paragraphs were extracted from Christine Elizabeth Hayes’ Introduction to the Bible (The Open Yale Courses Series) (p. 168-171). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. Israel’s wanderings end on the plains of Moab on the east bank of the Jordan River, and it is there that the book of Deuteronomy opens. According to Exodus […]
Continue ReadingJoshua Replicates Moses The following paragraphs and bullet list are reformated paragraphs extracted from Christine Elizabeth Hayes’ book Introduction to the Bible (The Open Yale Courses Series) (pp. 167-168). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. In several ways, Joshua seems to replicate Moses (Coogan, Old Testament, 199–201): All of these parallels indicate the narrative importance of […]
Continue ReadingChatGPT???? Critical Bible scholars have identified several aspects in Romans chapters 6 through 8 that they argue diverge from the teachings of Jesus: These points of contention have been discussed by scholars such as Bart D. Ehrman in “Jesus, Interrupted,” where he explores contradictions within the New Testament. Additionally, early Christian figures like Marcion of […]
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