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Archive for the ‘Pseudepigrapha’ Category

September 26th, 2011 by Joel

Google, I love you – Dead Sea Scrolls Digitized

Thanks to Robert, via facebook. See, Robert, I told you God invented Google.

The oldest known biblical manuscripts will be available online in a high-resolution format thanks to a partnership between Google and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project, to be launched today, features searchable, fast-loading images of five complete Israeli scrolls of the Second Temple Period, the time of the birth of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. The pictures come with explanatory videos and background information on the texts and their history.

….

“The Dead Sea Scrolls Project with the Israel Museum enriches and preserves an important part of world heritage by making it accessible to all on the internet,” said Professor Yossi Matias, Managing Director of Google’s R&D Center in Israel. Google has been involved in similar projects in the past, including the Google Art Project, Yad Vashem Holocaust Collection and the Prado Museum in Madrid. The scrolls are accessible online at http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/ .

Google digitises Dead Sea Scrolls – Telegraph.

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August 13th, 2011 by Joel

Scott’s about to Get all Jubilant!

Dr. Robert R. Cargill speaking about the Dead ...

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Scott, the filthy Canadian, is about to launch a series on the Book of Jubilees, and cautions his readers on two points about the notion of Jewish canon:

  1. Different Jewish Groups Considered Different Sacred Texts Authoritative. Probably one of the most difficult conceptual lenses for modern persons to remove from their understanding of ancient sacred texts is that of ‘canon’. However, not all of the different groups in ancient Judaism read or revered the same texts. Not only that, but…
  2. There are texts NOT in the ‘Canon’ that Were Treated As the Authoritative Words of God by some Groups. In short, there were texts considered sacred and the words of God, that never made it into ‘our’ canon, but nevertheless, were viewed, at the time, as the very words of God. Simply put: Not only do we have different groups in Second Temple Judaism but many of these groups considered different sacred texts as normative, formative, and authoritative. However, ancient caches such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and writers such as Josephus, demonstrate that some modern conceptions of ‘canon’ are wholly inadequate in understanding authoritative sacred texts from this time period.

via Jubilees and Second Temple Judaism(s) «.

It is difficult for the less-than-historically minded to understand that our Christian canon(s) is ‘new.’ Anyway, it looks to be an interesting series, which is surprising considering that it is coming from a Canadian and Scott Bailey.

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July 14th, 2011 by Joel

Torment In Enoch (1)

Dante and Virgil in Hell

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This is not meant to be all encompassing, but some of the passages in Enoch which allude to our notion of Hell. Enoch is an interesting book, and one of those circulating among the Jewish communities of the day. I have this in two parts, with one to be published later. It was been in my draft folder for a while, and I thought that I might go ahead and share, inviting discussion.

1st Enoch 10.13;

And to Michael he said: “Go and reveal to Semiaza and to those remaining with him who have mixed with the women, to defile themselves in their uncleanness.

“And when their sons will slay (one another) and they see the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth until the day of their judgment and consummation, until the judgment of the age of eternity is completed. Then they will be lead away into the chasm of fire and to the torture and to the prison of eternal confinement. And whoever will be burned up and destroyed from the present, they will be bound with them together until the end of the generation. (1EN 10:11-14 OPE)

First, there appears to be an intermediary state before the ultimate judgment. I don’t get the mixing of the two, those who suffer now and those who will suffer. But, it does appear that at least on, if not both, see the punishment as ending at the and of the”generation”.

48.8-10;

In these days downcast in countenance shall the kings of the earth have become, And the strong who possess the land because of the works of their hands,For on the day of their anguish and affliction they shall not (be able to) save themselves. And I will give them over into the hands of Mine elect: As straw in the fire so shall they burn before the face of the holy: As lead in the water shall they sink before the face of the righteous, And no trace of them shall any more be found. And on the day of their affliction there shall be rest on the earth, And before them they shall fall and not rise again:And there shall be no one to take them with his hands and raise them: For they have denied the Lord of Spirits and His Anointed. The name of the Lord of Spirits be blessed. (1EN 48:8-10 OTP)

Ahhhh annihilationism…

100.7-9;

Woe to you, Sinners, on the day of strong anguish, Ye who afflict the righteous and burn them with fire: Ye shall be requited according to your works.
Woe to you, ye obstinate of heart, Who watch in order to devise wickedness: Therefore shall fear come upon you And there shall be none to help you.
Woe to you, ye sinners, on account of the words of your mouth, And on account of the deeds of your hands which your godlessness has wrought, In blazing flames burning worse than fire shall ye burn. (1EN 100:7-9 OTP)

No end, but there is the since of fire, ain’t there?

108.4-7;

And I saw there something like an invisible cloud; for by reason of its depth I could not look over, and I saw a flame of fire blazing brightly, and things like shining mountains circling and sweeping to and fro.

And I asked one of the holy angels who was with me and said unto him: ‘What is this shining thing ? for it is not a heaven but only the flame of a blazing fire, and the voice of weeping and crying and lamentation and strong pain.’

And he said unto me: ‘This place which thou seest–here are cast the spirits of sinners and blasphemers, and of those who work wickedness, and of those who pervert everything that the Lord hath spoken through the mouth of the prophets–(even) the things that shall be.

For some of them are written and inscribed above in the heaven, in order that the angels may read them and know that which shall befall the sinners,and the spirits of the humble, and of those who have afflicted their bodies, and been recompensed (1EN 108:4-7 OTP)

Good. Hell again, but… what about the “recompense”. If you have afflicted your body for 70 years, would you suffer hell for all eternity?

We know that Enoch was used by the early Church writers, especially Tertullian who no doubt drew heavily from it, at least spiritually.

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June 9th, 2011 by Joel

Did PETA write the Book of Jubilees?

Rosa Celeste: Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the...

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And on that day was closed the mouth of all beasts, and of cattle, and of birds, and of whatever walks, and of whatever moves, so that they could no longer speak: for they had all spoken one with another with one lip and with one tongue. (JUB 3:28 OTP)

Not only did the Angels in Heaven speak Hebrew, but so did Adam…. and the animals. In the Garden, according the Jubilant Author, Merry, the animals spoke to Adam and his Woman in Hebrew. (Since Hebrew was the first tongue, and animals spoke words, then they have to speak Hebrew).

I’m sure glad this happened. There is nothing better than a fine piece of steak – medium rare, of course and I’d had to have it ruined with a little calf standing at my window asking me if its mommy or daddy tasted good.

On the other hand, I’d say veal would become real popular…

Ummmm…. veal…..

Note the connection between the talking animals here and Balaam’s donkey.

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June 9th, 2011 by Joel

A Jubilant Adam – The Mythical Man in the Book of Jubilees

Jason is going to look at Adam in the Apocrypha (which one?) but I thought that I might give a look at Adam in the Book of Jubilees. This is not in depth and nor is it meant to be. It is just a few snippets of the book which has been used by Christians – and still is in some parts of the world:

There (were) two and twenty heads of mankind from Adam to Jacob, and two and twenty kinds of work were made until the seventh day; this is blessed and holy; and the former also is blessed and holy; and this one serves with that one for sanctification and blessing. (JUB 2:23 OTP)

Interesting… So the genealogy is representative of kings or dynasties. So why not Adam in some what? After all, the Jubilant author is using other traditions to write his work. He may be trying to redact earlier traditions to reflect his theological understanding or the polemical nature of his work. It has been proposed by current Christian thinkers that the genealogy of Genesis should represent dynasties. I don’t see a real reason why not (although there may in fact be good reasons why not).

—-

OPE  Jubilees 3:9 On the forty-sixth day of the creation of the world, on the fourth day of the seventh week, Pachon fourteenth, May ninth, the sun being in Taurus and the moon in Scorpio, according to diameter, in the rising of Pleiades, God led Adam into Paradise on the fortieth day since his creation. On the eighth day of the making of the world, on the forty-fourth day of the making of Adam, on the Lord’s Day, Pachon eighteenth, May thirteenth, after three days since his entrance into Paradise, the sun being in Taurus and the moon in Capricorn, God commanded Adam to avoid eating from the Tree of Knowledge. On the ninety-third day of creation, on the second day of the fourteenth week, during the summer season, the sun and moon being in Cancer, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of June, Epeiph first, Eve, helper of Adam, was led by God into Paradise, on the eightieth day since her creation.

OTP  Jubilees 3:9 And after Adam had completed forty days in the land where he had been created we brought him into the garden of Eden to till and keep it, but his wife they brought in on the eightieth day,

I’ve included both manuscript traditions here. Note that the author doesn’t force Adam into the sixth day scheme, but, throughout this book, stretches the early accounts over years. There is no command here to be ‘literal’ and in fact, early Christian commentators referenced the Book of Jubilees.

—-

Jubilees 3:11 And for the birth of a female eighty days. Since also Adam in the fortieth day since his creation had been taken into Paradise, where for the sake of the things produced on the fortieth day they offer to the temple, according to the Law. But for a female she is unclean for eighty days, because of her entrance into Paradise on the eightieth day and on account of the uncleanness of the female in contrast to the male. (JUB 3:11 OPE)

Just some interesting views….

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May 17th, 2011 by Joel

Early Christian Interpretation of 1 Peter 3.18-4.6

Christ Leading the Patriarchs to Paradise. Ins...

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Hermes was connected to church at Rome, or at least Tradition tells us this. In this, he would have no doubt had a long standing access to Peter’s letter. While this may not be an exact interpretation of 1 Peter 3.18-4.6, Hermes most diffidently has a certain strain of Tradition in mind which may help us understand how the early Church thought of the ‘preaching to the dead.’

“Why, sir,” I asked, “did the forty stones also ascend with them out of the pit, having already received the seal?”

“Because,” he said, “these apostles and teachers who preached the name of the Son of God, after falling asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, preached it not only to those who were asleep, but themselves also gave them the seal of the preaching. Accordingly they descended with them into the water, and again ascended.|But these descended alive and rose up again alive; whereas they who had previously fallen asleep descended dead, but rose up again alive.¦ By these, then, were they quickened and made to know the name of the Son of God. For this reason also did they ascend with them, and were fitted along with them into the building of the tower, and, untouched by the chisel, were built in along with them. For they slept in righteousness and in great purity, but only they had not this seal. You have accordingly the explanation of these also.” (HSI 16:5-7 APE)

This is describing the Harrowing of Hell in which Christ (and by Hermes account, the Apostles) rescued from the hand of death those disobedient souls in prison.

Further, there is this notion from the 2nd century Gospel of Peter:

X. 38 opened and both of the young men entered in. When therefore those soldiers saw that, they waked up the centurion and the elders (for they also were there keeping 39 watch); and while they were yet telling them the things which they had seen, they saw again three men come out of the sepulchre, and two of them sustaining the other (lit. the 40 one), and a cross following, after them. And of the two they saw that their heads reached unto heaven, but of him that 41 was led by them that it overpassed the heavens. And they 42 heard a voice out of the heavens saying: Hast thou (or Thou hast) preached unto them that sleep And an answer was heard from the cross, saying: Yea.

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May 13th, 2011 by Joel

Nag Hammadi Archive

The site of discovery, Nag Hammadi in map of Egypt

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For all of you gnostic heretics out there -

The Nag Hammadi codices, ancient manuscripts containing over fifty religious and philosophical texts hidden in an earthenware jar for 1,600 years, were accidentally discovered in upper Egypt in the year 1945. A group of farmers came across an entire collection of books written in Coptic, the very language spoken by Egyptian Christians. The excavations, prepared by James M. Robinson, the former director of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity and Professor Emeritus at The Claremont Graduate School, did not occur until 1975 due to travel restrictions and a breakdown in political relations between the United States and Egypt.

This immensely important discovery included a large number of primary Gnostic scriptures. One text in particular received much attention – the Gospel according to Thomas, which was originally called ‘the secret words of Jesus written by Thomas’. These texts, scriptures such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Truth, were once thought to have been entirely destroyed during the early Christian struggle to define “orthodoxy.”  The discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi library, completed in the 1970′s, has provided momentum to a major reassessment of early Christian history and the nature of Gnosticism. The images in this collection record the environments surrounding excavations, visiting dignitaries, and the scholars working on the codices. Today, the codices are conserved at the Coptic Museum in Cairo and due to their antiquity and exposure are no longer completely legible. Photographs fortuitously taken in the late 1970′s are one of the only means of deciphering the writing contained in these ancient texts.

The Nag Hammadi codices images in this collection are the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity’s J-Series negatives taken by Basile Psiroukis in September 1973. They are an earlier and different set of photos than the ones published by E. J. Brill from 1973-79 as The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices. These earlier J-series negatives include the photographer’s notes and contain many differences, large and small, from the Brill photos. Every effort has been made to match these negatives to the later UNESCO photographs published by E. J. Brill. Additional series’ of the codices are soon to be digitized and will be added to the collection. The Nag Hammadi Archive is ongoing so please check back or subscribe to the RSS to see updates.

Index of terms in the Codex field

Index of terms in the Series field

Index by Subject

More here.

ht.

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April 7th, 2011 by Joel

Scratchpad: Parting of the Ways: Gentiles as Proof

The destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.

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This is a very old post, a very old thought process – and it has been sitting in my draft box for a very long time. I figured that I might try to post it and be done with it, especially since my interests are somewhere else at the moment.

Material

Nevertheless the temple of God will be in your portion, and the last (temple) will be more glorious than the first. And the twelve tribes will be gathered together there, and all the nations, until the Most High will send forth His salvation in the visitation of an only begotten prophet. (Test Ben 9:2 OPE)

so that nations will come from the ends of the earth to see his glory, bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted, and to see the glory of the Lord, with which God hath glorified her. (Pss 17:31 OPE)

From here (link is dead tho):

The later Rabbis seem to undermine the claim used by Gentile Christians to be Abraham’s seed in Sifre Deuteronomy (on Deut 32:9). - election is not on basis of descent from Abraham or Isaac because some of their descendants were unworthy (Ishmael, Esau), but the Lord claims the portion of his inheritance from Jacob’s offspring.  If such a tradition existed in Justin’s time, his counter is that Christians are also descendants of Jacob and Christ himself was surnamed Jacob and Israel and by extension Christians are the true Israelite genos (123:8-9) (Skarsaune 1987: 346-350).  Justin brings into sharp relief the difference between an association model where Gentiles join Israel through Christ (Rom 11:16-32) and a substitution model where Gentile Christians are Israel (Skarsaune 1987 326-327, 352-353).

Study Trains

  • Research pre-70 Jewish views on Gentiles and post-70 views.
  • Pre-Rabbinical views on Messiah, developing Rabbinical views on Messiah (age)
  • Jewish missionary activity in 2nd Temple
  • Flow to Zion. Third Temple. Messiah

Thoughts

There were many sects of Judaism post 30ad. Sadducees, Pharisees, Essennes, Qumran, The Way, others. They were united at the Temple (usually) but had different leaders and theological positions. The Way began to pull ahead by way of added membership of the Gentiles, who were not required to keep the ritual purity laws and worship at the Temple. When the Temple was destroy, the Christians (The Way) were protected because they had already started to move away from the Jerusalem Temple, maintaining that the individual/church was the new Temple.

As Judaism suffers loss after loss (70ad, Bar Kochba) and Christians gain, Jewish rhetoric turns against Gentile converts so instead of seeing Gentiles as a sign of the Messianic age, they are now ridiculed, etc… marking the Christian Judaism as false because they allow Gentiles in without enforcing upon them Jewish ritual laws.

For centuries, the flux of Gentiles into Judaism was seen as a sign of the Messiah. If all of these sects are fighting for vindication and validity, and then suddenly, the sect of Judaism which emerges with this sign is the one with the dead Messiah – what then?

Wouldn’t this say then that Christianity – evidenced by 2nd Temple Messianic signs – is the real Judaism? Rather, wouldn’t the influx of Gentiles allowed the new sect to claim for itself as the only valid Judaism?

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April 4th, 2011 by echristiedeman

Why Can’t We Study Extra-Canonical Texts?

In my second year at Ball State University–go Cards!–I took a communications course. Essentially, it was a speech class. We had three major assignments which we had to perform in from of the entire class. For the first, I conducted a study of the first 5 seasons of American Idol and concluded that the southern portion of the country was having a disproportionate level of influence in choosing said American Idol. This had almost nothing to do with the fact that my favorite that year–Katherine McPhee–had lost out to Taylor Hicks, after giving a performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” that would have made Judy Garland proud. Enough sour grapes.

The speech I put the most time into was a study of extra-Biblical texts. I had just watched “Banned from the Bible”–a History Channel documentary–featuring favorites of the liberal theologian; such as Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. I had never heard of these texts before and the subject piqued my interest nearly immediately, and ever since. I had been a Christian for two decades, a pastor for 3 years, and I had never heard of these books.

I soon found out why. This special noted both the text and the reason for its exclusion from the cannon. What seemed to be the major reasons were lack of multiple sources and the fact that many of them were of the Gnostic tradition. “The book of Enoch” fills in the big branches on the family tree contained within Genesis. “The Infancy Gospel of Thomas” portrays Jesus as a cunning child who creates birds from clay and talks his friends into jumping from a roof–only to bring them back from the dead. “The Apocalypse of Peter”–considered Holy Scripture by Clement of Alexandria–had Gnostic origins and suggested that all would be saved. As Rob Bell has discovered, “Love Wins” only if you aren’t faithfully challenging orthodoxy.

I still have questions about this topic. Can we not learn something constructive about our faith from these texts? Could a mainline church study the contents of some of these extra-scriptural texts and still be considered orthodox? And the big one: why are we so scared to challenge our faith–even if it is with relics from our shared past.

I am relatively new to the faith–or the faith I have in its current form–and even newer to the faithful study of theology and Christian history. I am willing to concede some naïveté when it comes to some of the murkier portions of our history as believers. However, I cannot understand why these texts aren’t given more scrutiny. If for no other reason, we should study them to understand what we don’t believe–no matter how close it is to what we actually believe.

I’m not being self-deprecating when I say I await comments telling me how wrong I am. I have since ceased watching American Idol (as it has increasingly become unwatchable) but I continue to study and ponder this issue. Help me solidify my opinion.

@eChrisTiedeman
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March 18th, 2011 by Joel

The Testament of Solomon 17 and Mark 5.1-20

King Solomon in Old Age (1Kings 4:29-34)

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Just some quick work on my exegesis of Mark 5.1-20. I sorta think that maybe v1-13 is the story and v.14-20 is the preaching of it. More on that later, I guess.

And I commanded another spirit to appear to me. And there came a spirit of shadowy human form having glowing eyes. And I asked him, saying: “Who are you?”

He Said: “I am a lecherous spirit of a giant human who died in the slaughter in the time of the giants.”

And I said to him: “Tell me what you practice upon the earth and where you have a dwelling.”

He said to me: “My dwelling is in desolate places. My activity is this: I sit near dead men in the tombs and at midnight I assume the form of the dead and if I seize someone, immediately I kill him with the sword. And if I am not able to kill (him), I make him demonized and chew up his fleshly parts and make the juice of his jowls to flow downward.”

I said to him: “Fear the God of heaven and of earth tell me by what angel are you thwarted?”

He said to me: “The one who is about to descend as Savior thwarts me, whose element is in the forehead. If someone will write (it), he thwarts me and rebuked I turn away from him quickly. This is the sign of the cross.”

Having heard these things, I Solomon locked up the demon just as also the other demons. (TS1 17:1-5 OPE)

Doubtful that this actually has any real connection to Mark, unless maybe Mark influenced this section…

The pseudepigraphon is either a Jewish composition which was eventually reworked by a Christian (so Conybeare, pp. 11f.; Frey, col. 455; Ginzberg, Legende, vol. 6, p. 292; B. M. Metzger, no. 1365) or a Christian writing which incorporated some Jewish material (McCown, pp. 108f.). Clearly Christian passages are found in sections 54, 65, and 122 (cf. 71 and 104). These passages emphasize the cross and virgin birth.

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