A Virtual File Cabinet for Our Studies of Christian Origins & Hebraic Faith
ChatGPT’s response to the Prompt: Are the writings by the apostolic fathers considered to be apocrypha? Short answer: No, the writings of the Apostolic Fathers are not considered “apocrypha” in the usual scholarly sense. They are a different category. What are the Apostolic Fathers? The term “Apostolic Fathers” refers to early Christian authors writing roughly […]
Continue ReadingFrom Bart Ehrman’s textbook The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (Oxford University Press). I now turn to the longest and apparently most widely read writing [of the Apostolic Fathers] in the collection, called The Shepherd, written by an otherwise virtually unknown Christian named Hermas. Like the book of Revelation in the New Testament, […]
Continue ReadingExtracts from Biblical Profile: The Birth of Noah by Jaap Doedens at BAR; Summer 2021. … During the reconstruction process, it was found that the fourth scroll contained stories, written in Aramaic, about the patriarchs known from the biblical Book of Genesis. The scroll enhances the biblical narratives with interesting details. Since the first parts of the […]
Continue ReadingExtracts from Bart Ehrman’s Blog post listed below. He takes info for the posts from his book Journeys to Heaven and Hell (Yale University Press, 2022); I discuss 1 Enoch there because it does indeed narrate a visit to the realms of the dead by a mere mortal – unlike anywhere in the Hebrew Bible. He uses […]
Continue ReadingThis page provides links to articles and extracts. “Lost Gospels”—Lost No More by Tony Burke published at BAR. See extracts below. The final shape of the canon was seemingly settled by 367 C.E. when Athanasius of Alexandria issued his annual letter for Easter. This 39th Festal Letter lists the 27 books of the New Testament as […]
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