The Historical Jesus III

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None of this has the least relevance. I assert that Pontius Pilate and Aretas are mentioned in the "Bible" and that we have unimpeachable evidence for the existence of both persons.

What a bizarre "strawman" statement!!!

Do you also have unimpeachable evidence for Jesus the Transfiguring Water walker, Satan and the angels?

Satan and the angels were in the company of Jesus of Nazareth the Transfiguring Water Walker in the time of Pontius Pilate.
 
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That's the sort of question you put from time to time dejudge, that makes me wonder if we are on the same planet. Paul was never in Lugdunum and still less was he obliged to adapt his teaching to what might (very much later!) have been preached by Christians there.

What bizarre nonsense!! I never claimed the authors of the Pauline Corpus were in Lugdunum.

Which Paul are you talking about?

The PAULINE Corpus is the product of an ANONYMOUS GROUP--NOT a single person.
 
maximara found my sentence here, amusing at best, incomprehensible at worst. I have to agree, it is ambiguous. Let me try again, to explain what I had been attempting to ask the forum.
Is there anything in Islamic literature that attests to the existence of Paul's epistles before they are mentioned by Irenaeus at the end of the second century?
I had asked about the Muslims because I think simplest is best. For me, the simplest explanation is that Paul's letters were written mid to late second century, ten or twenty years, after Mark's gospel, which I suppose appeared on the scene about 150 CE. What do the Muslims argue, in contesting Christian revision of orthodox Jewish doctrine? Do they highlight Paul? Do they explain when he lived and wrote? When do they assert creation of Mark's gospel? Does the Islamic world share the belief of the Christians, that Paul's epistles preceded the gospels? Does the Islamic literature point to an authority earlier than Irenaeus, as evidence that Paul's writings had played a significant role in the evolution of Christianity, prior to the appearance of the gospels?

I sought to elaborate Irenaeus' role in reinforcing the notion that Paul had appeared AFTER the gospels; I had cited a passage from 1 Timothy, which is almost an exact copy of a passage found in Luke, discussing "scripture".

I realize that some, perhaps including maximara, identify 1 Timothy as having been authored by someone else, not Paul. But, there are authorities who maintain the contrary point of view:
[url=http://biblehub.com/1_timothy/1-4.htm]Pulpit Commentary[/url] said:
...and so does Tertullian, who speaks of the seeds of the Gnostic heresies as already budding in St. Paul's days ('Advers Valentin.,' cap 3. and elsewhere), and Grotius supports thin explanation ('Comment.,' 1 Timothy 1:4). But it was very natural that Irenaeus and Tertullian, living when the heresies of Valentinus, Marcion, and others were at their height, should so accommodate St. Paul's words - which is all that Irenaeus does.
waters said:
Justin Martyr quotes extensively from the Hebrew old testament, and that doesn't mean that Justin disagreed with Paul's renunciation of the Road oft Traveled, but it is disconcerting to observe so many folks, today, who accept the notion of Paul having written those epistles (P46) before the Gospels (P45), given that Justin makes no reference to any of the epistles in his extant books.
Does p46 contain 1Timothy 5:18? No, it does not, but, here it is, from Codex Sinaiticus:
λεγει γραρ η γραφη .... αξιοϲ ο εργατηϲ του μιϲθου αυτου
English:
" states indeed the scripture .... worthy the workman of the wages of him"
Luke 10:7 (excerpt of second half)
................αξιοϲ γαρ ο εργατηϲ του μιϲθου αυτου
English:
.........."worthy indeed the workman of the wages of him"
So, "Paul's letter", 1 Timothy, regards Luke 10:7 as grafe, γραφη, i.e. "Scripture", and therefore quotes from it.
It is not easy to quote from something written one or two centuries after one's own text.
How likely was it, to proclaim something as having the same ecclesiastical weight, as texts attributed to Moses, and other old testament authors? How could such a declaration have escaped the critical eye of Justin Martyr? I think it is simply much more reasonable to assume, we have no proof of course, that Paul's epistles represented a reaction to the gospels. In essence, he had been a revisionist.

maximara replied, without however, addressing my main point, i.e. whether or not this particular quote provides persuasive evidence that "Paul" wrote his epistles AFTER Mark's gospel. Instead he raised, what I consider, very interesting points (I tried and failed to find that list of authors, at the link provided....)
maximara said:
It was historical criticism that established that only 7 of the supposed 14 Pauline epistles likely came from Paul.
If you go back to the 19th century you will find the 1869 Biblical notes and queries which gives a comprehensive list of Church father that reference or even quote "Paul"'s writings.
Justin Martyr's Dial. p. 336 D seems to reference Second Epistle to The Thessalonians and Irenseus refers to it in Adv. Hcer. 3, 7, 2 So "Paul" in some form must have existed for those authors to either reference or use his ideas which agrees with what little we have.
So "Paul" existing at least by c140 seems to be given and historical criticism points to the Greek being as it is believe to existed in the mid 1st century to early 2nd century CE (given nearly every Epistle is actually two or more letters edited together and the amount of material from that time and place that is as fine as we can get)
Simply: how do you know that Justin quoted 2 Thessalonians, and not the other way around? Isn't 2 Thessalonians another highly contested letter, in terms of authorship?
 
The very fact that we have Greek manuscripts of the NT Canon then it can be easily shown that the Pauline Corpus is a LATE invention AFTER the Jesus story was ALREADY known and composed.

It is easily deduced that the conception and birth narratives in gMatthew and gLuke are LATER additions to the Jesus story.

Well, it can also be easily deduced that the POST-Resurrection narratives in the Pauline Corpus were LATER additions to the Jesus story.

In the Pauline Corpus, it is claimed OVER 500 persons was seen of the Resurrected Jesus which is UNKNOWN by all authors of the NT.

The post-Resurrection visits by Jesus was a LATER addition to the story of Jesus and is CONFIRMED when one examines the version of gMark in the Sinaiticus Codex and the version of gMark in the Alexandrinus Codex.

The Pauline Corpus is the very LAST version of the Jesus story in the Canon.

Even Christians sources ADMIT the Pauline writer KNEW of gLuke and that the letters to Churches were composed AFTER the Apocalypse of John [Revelation]

See Origen's Commentary on Matthew.

See Church History 6.

See the Muratorian Canon.

There is simply no CONTEMPORARY evidence from antiquity that Jesus and Paul in the NT
were figures of history.

The Pauline Corpus appear to have been written by a GROUP no earlier than c 180 CE or no earlier than "True Discourse" attributed to Celsus c 175 CE.
 
What on earth is the point of continually arguing for page after page about whether Paul's letters were written before or after any gospels?

Because whatever their date, there is no evidence in those letters of anyone claiming ever to have met a human Jesus.

And if no known people ever claimed to have met Jesus, then at the very best any reference to Jesus could be nothing more than hearsay.

And since nobody was ever named as the quoted source for ANY mention of Jesus in Paul's letters (except for Yahweh and "scripture"), that hearsay belief in the letters is also anonymous un-evidenced hearsay.

It was also hearsay which in the very little that Paul said about Jesus, claimed the impossible for him.

So those letters are certainly not evidence of anyone ever knowing a human Jesus, no matter what date they were written.

That does not “prove” Jesus never existed. And I’m not suggesting it proves any such thing. But what it does show is that Paul’s letters are not credible evidence of a human Jesus ever known to anyone ... and that is actually the point of this thread.
 
....So those letters are certainly not evidence of anyone ever knowing a human Jesus, no matter what date they were written.

That does not “prove” Jesus never existed. And I’m not suggesting it proves any such thing. But what it does show is that Paul’s letters are not credible evidence of a human Jesus ever known to anyone ... and that is actually the point of this thread.

The Pauline Corpus does not prove Jesus existed.

The Pauline Corpus does not prove there was a Jesus cult of Christians in the time of Aretas.

The Pauline Corpus are useless in the HJ argument.
 
What a bizarre "strawman" statement!!!

Do you also have unimpeachable evidence for Jesus the Transfiguring Water walker, Satan and the angels?

Satan and the angels were in the company of Jesus of Nazareth the Transfiguring Water Walker in the time of Pontius Pilate.
Nevertheless Pontius Pilate existed, and we even have an inscription in his name. Clue. PP is not described in the gospels as either an angel or as Satan. But some of the things stated about him in the text are improbable.
 
Nevertheless Pontius Pilate existed, and we even have an inscription in his name. Clue. PP is not described in the gospels as either an angel or as Satan. But some of the things stated about him in the text are improbable.

It was not the Christian Bible which provided the historical data for Pontius Pilate.

CLUE. The Christian Bible is a major source of fiction, discrepancies, contradiction, historical problems and improbabilities.

The Christian Bible claims Jesus the TRANSFIGURING WATER Walker [the TRUE Son of God] was on trial under Pontius Pilate.

Such a trial could NOT have happened as described.

The stories of Jesus are sources of PERJURY and historical garbage.
 
The stories of Jesus are sources of PERJURY and historical garbage.
This is a new development in your thinking, that I am watching with interest. Not only are they a forgery; the Christian scriptures are even perjury! Thus, they exist within the realm not merely of error but of crime.
 
Paul’s letters are not credible evidence of a human Jesus ever known to anyone ... and that is actually the point of this thread.


Paul says he met with Simon Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, or do you need a reliable, contemporaneous first-person account from someone who actually met JC in the flesh before you would entertain the idea that he existed?

And, as I've asked before, do you hold this same standard for other historical characters from the ancient world?
 
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This is a new development in your thinking, that I am watching with interest. Not only are they a forgery; the Christian scriptures are even perjury! Thus, they exist within the realm not merely of error but of crime.

Again, you display intellectual dishonesty.

It was known since at least the 4th century that writers under the name of Paul were LIARS.

"Against Hierocles"
--- the tales of Jesus have been vamped up by Peter and Paul and a few others of the kind,--men who were liars and devoid of education and wizards

The Apocritus
We conclude then that he is a liar and manifestly brought up in an atmosphere of lying.

The Christian Bible Jesus stories are products of LIARS.
 
Paul says he met with Simon Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, or do need a reliable, contemporaneous first-person account from someone who actually met JC in the flesh before you would entertain the idea that he existed?

And, as I've asked before, do you hold this same standard for other historical characters from the ancient world?

The very same Pauline Corpus says Jesus was the Lord from heaven, God's Own Son and that Jesus was God Creator.

Christian writers who made references to the Pauline Corpus ADMITTED their Jesus was Born of a Ghost and God of God.

Do you hold this same standard for other MYTH characters in the ancient world?

Jesus, Satan and Angels were together during the Temptation in gMark.
 
Again, you display intellectual dishonesty.

It was known since at least the 4th century that writers under the name of Paul were LIARS.

"Against Hierocles"

The Apocritus

The Christian Bible Jesus stories are products of LIARS.
You are now calling the New Testament "perjury" dejudge. It is a criminal document.
 
maximara replied, without however, addressing my main point, i.e. whether or not this particular quote provides persuasive evidence that "Paul" wrote his epistles AFTER Mark's gospel. Instead he raised, what I consider, very interesting points (I tried and failed to find that list of authors, at the link provided....)

Then you didn't look very hard in 1869 Biblical notes and queries.

On page 19 begins Patristic Testimony to the Canon of the Scripture which lists each NT book of the bible and which lists the people that either referenced or quoted that book:

"Paul Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written AD 53
Is is quoted or referred to by Clement AD 60-100; Ignatius 40-107; Polycarp 108-166; more clearly by Irenaeus, 100-190; Tertullian, 160-220; Clement of Alexandria, 150-220; Marcion, 140; Muratori, 180 & c."

Of course given the age of this I did cross check some of these which is how I was able to get more precise references of 'Justin Martyr's Dial. p. 336 D seems to reference Second Epistle to The Thessalonians and Irenseus refers to it in Adv. Hcer. 3, 7, 2'.

The 'traditional' dates for Mark, Matthew, Luke and John are currently c70, c80, c90, and c100 respectively though Luke could be as young as the 110s and John in the 140s.

As I have mentioned there is no reference to any of our Gospels (not even a sentence) by Church Fathers until the 130s (supposed references before that date are supposed quotes of an earlier Church Father such as is the case with Papias...NONE of his actual work survives) and yet as the sampling above shows we do have references to Paul before that date.

Searching around I found a reference to this:

Rodney Werline (1999). The Transformation of Pauline Arguments in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho. Harvard Theological Review, 92, pp 79-93. doi:10.1017/S0017816000017867.

Here is what the abstract says:

"In his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin extensively quotes the Jewish scriptures and includes several citations of logia of Jesus. Furthermore, while explicit citations from Paul are peculiarly absent from the text, Justin, writing from Rome, certainly knows Paul's writings in detail and uses them. Indeed, it seems that the Dialogue provides a perfect occasion for him to employ Paul because in it he addresses the relationship between Judaism and the church, a central topic in both Romans and Galatians. Besides the appearance of Pauline quotations, several of Justin's arguments directly rely on Paul's thinking. For example, Justin probably has Galatians 3 before him as he composes Dialogue 95–96. Oskar Skarsaune's analysis of Justin's writing also indicates that Romans is one of Justin's preferred sources for quotations of the Jewish scriptures; that is, he sometimes quotes the Jewish scriptures as they appear in Paul rather the LXX. He draws especially from the Jewish scriptures quoted in Romans 2–4 and 9–11 because the chapters examine the problem of Torah and the Jews' rejection of the gospel, also two important issues in the Dialogue."

So the claim Justin Martyr did not cite or know Paul is...not accurate.

Sadly as I have pointed out before our list of possible 1st century Christian works are the letters that became the seven epistles Paul, a supposed letter of Clement of Rome, and the writings of Ignatius. Not much to work with.
 
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Sadly as I have pointed out before our list of possible 1st century Christian works are the letters that became the seven epistles Paul, a supposed letter of Clement of Rome, and the writings of Ignatius. Not much to work with.
The Synoptics, especially Mark, are also possible, although Mt and Lk barely so. Wiki suggests this possibility also for Revelation - again, barely.
Early Church tradition dates the book to end of the emperor Domitian (reigned 81-96 CE), and most modern scholars agree, although the author may have written a first version under Vespasian (69-79 CE) and updated it under Domitian.
 
And, as I've asked before, do you hold this same standard for other historical characters from the ancient world?


You asked me that before. And I answered you immediately, and in detail. Do you not read replies when you ask for them?


Paul says he met with Simon Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, or do you need a reliable, contemporaneous first-person account from someone who actually met JC in the flesh before you would entertain the idea that he existed?


I don't think Paul's letters do say that. Please quote where any of the supposedly genuine letters of "Paul" say that anyone he met claimed to be the "brother of Jesus".

If you are going to try to re-run the same argument about one single never again repeated 10 word half-sentence saying "other apostles saw I none, save James, the Lords brother", then please be aware that we have been over those few words at least 100 times before in this thread (literally over 100 times!), and in great detail, and there are numerous reasons why it is extremely unwise to assume those few words meant that Paul believed this person "James" to be a family brother of a normal human person known as "Jesus".

I am not going to spell all that out for you again for the 138th time. Please go back and check all of the very obvious reasons why that particular ultra-brief never again repeated one-time remark in one particular letter, is very doubtful as a reference to any real human Jesus who was ever claimed to be the human family brother of anyone.
 
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