I've picked up the NRSVue and I'm enjoying it, but I'm having to type out and search for details to try and puzzle over them. Is there a good companion or annotation or something that will help me put all that I'm reading into historical and theological context?

*messed up the title, should omit "in"

Matthew 5

What is the author attempting to convey here? My reading is that it's saying the Matthew community should be holier than the rest of the world. Does this tie in with the Pauline viewpoint that the Mosaic laws were created because of the hardness of the children of Israel's hearts?

A set of councils have repeatedly been drawn up in the history of Christendom in order to make sense of theological matters, pastoral matters etc.

They are typically only deemed entirely authoritative if seen as "ecumenical" within the Church, and declared as such.

What makes such councils "ecumenical"? Is there a specific criteria?

And if so, how does that criteria differ between Orthodox & Roman Catholic traditions?

The Bible is full of people and placenames beginning with "J"--Jesus, Joshua, Jerusalem, the Jordan, etc. This is not present in the original text. I'm not even sure the Hebrew alphabet includes this sound, and in the Latin vulgate, these names are routinely spelled with an "I". As far as I can tell, the "J" was introduced when German Reformers began translating into their own language, and re-spelled these words accordingly ("J" in German being closer to the "Y" consonant in English).

English translators were apparently at some point faced with a choice: preserve the existing spelling but alter the pronunciation, or adapt the spelling but preserve the pronunciation. Early English translations like Tyndale's do the latter. For instance, in Luke 2:

2:21 And when ye eyght daye was come yt the chylde shuld be circucised his name was called Iesus which was named of the angell before he was conceaved in the wombe.

2:22 And when the tyme of their purificacio (after the lawe of Moyses) was come they brought him to Hierusalem to present hym to ye Lorde

But here we are today with "J"s everywhere. At some point the valence switched from Tyndale's (sensible) approach to rote copying of the German text. Who started this? When and why?

I'm curious why the concept that the Jewish people were once the Hyksos rulers of Egypt is often thrown aside and not studied in the slightest. I find it very odd considering that the Hyksos priest Apophis is almost a one for one stand-in for Moses, as well as the Hyksos people experiencing a good chunk of the biblical plagues with the eruption of Thera.

But it always seems like this theory is immediately discarded because... why?

The general consensus in academia is that yaweh and el merged together. But thing is, are there any characteristics that the biblical god retained from his pagan roots? If so, did that help historians when they tried reconstructing Yawehs ( biblical god) origin?

A reply would be appreciated

Some people will say that the Sadducees only accepted the "Torah" (first five books of the modern TaNaKh) in the Hebrew Bible. I have heard some mixed feelings about this. One person told me that this was based on a Christian misunderstanding of Josephus and that it was instead the Samaritans. While others have stated that figures like Origen and Jerome (who had access to Jewish communities) did not rely on Josephus yet came to similar conclusions. I have also heard of the Sadducees using Job?

Is there any scholarly insight to this? Did a group of Sadducees perhaps deny the authority of lesser books?

In Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus refers to adultery, or μοιχεύσεις. Is there evidence whether Jesus was referring to the Jewish conception of adultery, or alternatively the greek conception of the violation of the rights of a citizen male over a woman? TMK under mosaic law, it was not considered adultery for an unmarried woman to have sex with an unmarried man, but that would be considered moicheia by the Greeks.

I know it's debated whether or not Jesus preached in greek or aramaic, or whether the Gospels were written first in aramaic and translated or not, and I think the Jewish people sometimes used greek words differently than the Greeks used them.

So is there evidence that Jesus or the Disciples recording favored one meaning over the other?

Also, how do the Church Fathers tend to use the word in greek?

Luke 1:15

for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.

It doesn't make sense, Jesus the Son of God drank and distributed wine to his disciples, but his cousin John was not allowed to drink before he was born? Why?

The OT gives the story that Japheth was essentially given as a burnt offering to Yahweh due to an oath that "whatever I have, I shall sacrifice to the Lord."

The Pentateuch goes at great length to condemn the practice, but at the same time YHWH in certain instances (e.g here, or even the binding of Isaac) welcomes it as long as it is performed in devotion to YHWH.

TLDR: Read the title for what I'm basically asking.

I am aware that ego eimi is used in both the LXX of Exodus 3:14 and the “I am” statements (e.g. John 8:58). I also know that John’s reliability for information on the historical Jesus, at least compared to the Synoptics, has long been in doubt.

But for those scholars who have argued in favor of John’s reliability and the historicity of his account (be they conservative/fundamentalist or otherwise), have any of them actually attempted to figure out how Jesus might have delivered these statements in the Aramaic of his day? From what I understand, there are issues of how the Hebrew ehyeh asher ehyeh of Exodus 3:14 is to be understood (“I am what I am” vs. “I will be what I will be,” etc.) and if there are similar issues to this kind of language in Aramaic, I am curious if statements like “before Abraham was, I am” would have even made grammatical sense to Jesus’ hearers or gotten the same sense across to them that they do to Greek readers of John.

While this may appear off-topic I think it's entirely relevant to the sub since it's about the influence of biblical studies on the textual-critical study of the texts and origins of other religions and mythologies, some of which religions have biblical / Abrahamic links, others which don't but their study is still influenced by biblical studies, for better or worse. The application of historical methods created primarily for the study of Christianity to non-biblical areas has varied results and can tell us a lot about the methods used for biblical scholarship in the spirit of comparative religious studies.

Historical criticism and attempts to demythologize religious texts, myths, and folklore largely arose in the context of Post-Enlightenment Europe, so understandably there has been a disproportionate focus on Christianity and the Historical Jesus, and by extension Judaism (and also Islam and Greco-Roman mythology to a lesser extent). Textual / historical criticism has been applied to many other religious and mythical traditions, however relatively speaking there is much less attention and material on much of these, with much of the accessible literature being decades old.

This post is both a request for resources on the historical critical study of the texts and origins of non-biblical religions (as well as some non-religious mythology / folklore and legendary figures), and a compilation of the sources I've obtained so far that I invite people here to contribute to and discuss and criticise the topic. I'm particularly interested in sources for Zoroastrianism and Buddhism but pretty much anything is welcome.

General:

• Finsterbusch et al (eds.), The Comparative Textual Criticism of Religious Scriptures (2024)
• John Tolan (ed.), Geneses: A Comparative Study of the Historiographies of the Rise of Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, and Islam (2019)
• E.J. Michael Witzel, The Origins of the World's Mythologies (2012)
• Timothy J. Burbery, Geomythology: How Common Stories Reflect Earth Events (2021)
• Norman Cohn, Cosmos, Chaos, and the World to Come: The Ancient Origins of Apocalyptic Faith (2nd Edition, 2001)
• Konstan & Raaflauh (eds.), Epic and History (2009)
• Barry Wood, Invented History, Fabricated Power: The Narrative Shaping of Civilization and Culture (2020)

Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism

• Mary Boyce, A History of Zoroastrianism: Volumes 1-3 (1975-1991); Volumes 4-7 (Forthcoming, ed. Albert De Jong)
• Richard Foltz, The Religions of Iran: From Prehistory to the Present (2013)
• Stausberg et al (eds), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism (2015)
• Jean Kellens, Essays on Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism (2000)
• Prods Oktor Skærvø, Introduction to Zoroastrianism (2005)
• Amir Ahmadi, The Daeva Cult in the Gathas: An Ideological Archeology of Zoroastrianism (2015)
• Toby A. Cox, "Climate and Loss: Notions of Eco-Apocalypse in Zoroastrian Literature" (2023)
• Nicholas J. Baker-Brian, Manichaeism: An Ancient Faith Rediscovered (2011)
• Iain Gardner, The Founder of Manichaeism: Rethinking the Life of Mani (2020)

Indian Religions

• Asko Parpola, The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization (2015)
• Wendy Doniger, The Hindus: An Alternative History (2009)
• Paul Dundas, The Jains (2nd Edition, 2002)
• Jeffrey D. Long, Jainism: An Introduction (2009)
• Piotr Balcerowicz, Early Asceticism in India: Äjivikism and Jainism (2015)
• Bernard Faure, The Thousand and One Lives of the Buddha (2022)
• Richard H. Gombrich, What the Buddha Thought (2009); Buddhism and Pali (2018)
• Hans H. Penner, Rediscovering the Buddha: The Legends and Their Interpretations (2009)
• Hirakawa Akira, History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana (1990)
• A.K. Warder, Indian Buddhism (3rd edition, 2004)
• Mark Allon, "The Oral Composition and Transmission of Early Buddhist Texts*"*, in Indian Insights: Buddhism, Brahmanism and Bhakti (1997)
• L.S. Cousins, The Early Development of Buddhist Literature and Language in India (2013)
• Charles S. Prebish, "Cooking the Buddhist Books: The Implications of the New Dating of the Buddha for the History of Early Indian Buddhism" (2008)
• Richard Salomon, Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara: An Introduction with Selected Translations (2018)
• Sam Van Schaik, The Spirit of Zen (2013)

Abrahamic Outliers: Samaritans, Jewish Christians, Gnostics, and Mandaeans

• Gary N. Knoppers, Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations (2013)
• Reinhard Pummer, The Samaritans: A Profile (2015)
• Alan Saxby, James, Brother of Jesus, and the Jerusalem Church: A Radical Exploration of Christian Origins (2015)
• Ray A. Pritz, Nazarene Jewish Christianity: From The End of The New Testament Period Until its Disappearance in the Fourth Century (1988)
• Matt Jackson-McCabe (ed.), Jewish Christianity Reconsidered: Rethinking Ancient Groups And Texts (2007)
• Yuri Stoyanov, The Other God: Dualist Religions from Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy (2000)
• Stephen Haar, Simon Magus: The First Gnostic? (2001)
• M. David Litwa, Simon of Samaria and the Simonians: Contours of an Early Christian Movement (2024)
• James F. McGrath, John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptizer (2024)
• Edmondo Lupieri, The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics (2001)
• T. Kevin Van Bladel, From Sasanian Mandaeans to Şābians of the Marshes (2017)
• Sinasi Gunduz, The Knowledge of Life: The Origins and Early History of the Mandaeans and Their Relations to the Sabians of the Qur'an and to the Harranians (1994)
• Jorun Jacobsen Buckley, The Great Stem of Souls: Reconstructing Mandaean History (2006)

Greco-Roman Myths and Legends

• Richard Hope Simpson, Mycenaean Greece and Homeric Tradition (2018)
• Eric H. Cline, The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction (2013)
• Sherratt and Bennet (eds.), Archaeology and Homeric Epic (2016)
• James Whitley, "Homer and History", in The Cambridge Guide to Homer (2020)
• Barbara Graziosi, Inventing Homer: The Early Reception of Epic (2002)
• Bierl et al (eds.), "New Trends in Homeric Scholarship" in *Homer's Iliad: The Basel Commentary* (2015)
• M.L. West, "The Invention of Homer" (1999); "The Homeric Question Today" (2015)
• Gary B. Miles, Livy: Reconstructing Early Rome (1995)
• Jane F. Gardner, Roman Myths: The Legendary Past (1993)
• Alexandre Grandazzi, The Foundation of Rome: Myth and History (1997)
• Christoph Riedweg, Pythagoras: His Life, Teaching, and Influence (2011)
• Carl A. Huffman, A History of Pythagoreanism (2011)
• Debora Nails, "Early attempts to solve the Socratic problem" (2014)
• Louis André (2011). "The Rise and Fall of the Socratic Problem" in Donald R. Morrison (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Socrates
• Waterfield, Robin (2013). "Quest for the Historical Socrates" in Nicholas D. Smith (ed.), The Bloomsbury Companion to Socrates
• Maria Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana in Legend and History (1986)
• Ewen Lyall Bowie, "Apollonius of Tyana: Tradition and Reality" (1978)
• Francis, James A. (1998). "Truthful Fiction: New Questions to Old Answers on Philostratus' "Life of Apollonius"”

Other Myths and Legends

• Hammo Zhang, Authorship and Text-Making in Early China (2018)
• David Shephard Nivison, “The Classical Philosophical Writing” in The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC (1999)
• J.P. Mallory, In Search of the lrish Dreamtime: Archaeology and Early Irish Literature (2016)
• Nicholas J. Highham, King Arthur: The Making of the Legend (2018)
• Guy Halsall, Worlds of Arthur: Facts and Fictions of the Dark Ages (2013)
• Shami Ghosh, Writing the Barbarian Past: Studies in Early Medieval Historical Narrative (2015)
• John Bentley, The Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi: A New Examination of Texts, With a Translation And Commentary (2006)
• Ármann Jakobsson, The Critical Interpretation of the lcelandic Sagas (2013)
• Pierre Clastres, “Myths and Rites of South American Indians” in Archeology of Violence (1977)

Islam

• Mun’im Sirry, Controversies over Islamic Origins: An Introduction to Traditionalism and Revisionism (2021)
• Nicolai Sinai, The Qur’an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (2018)
• Francois Déroche, The One and the Many: The Early History of the Qur’an (2021)
• Sean W. Anthony, Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The Making of the Prophet of Islam (2020)
• Ayman S. Ibrahim, A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad (2022); Muhammad’s Military Expeditions: A Critical Reading in Original Muslim Sources (2024)
• Michael Muhammad Knight, Who Is Muhammad? (2023)
• Michael Lecker, Studies on the Life of Muhammad and the Dawn of Islam (2024)
• Fred Donner, Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam (2010)
• Joshua Little, “The Hadith of ʿĀʾišah’s Marital Age: A Study in the Evolution of Early Islamic Historical Memory” (2023)
• David S. Powers, Zayd (2014)
• Stephen J. Shoemaker, The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad’s Life and the Beginnings of Islam (2011); A Prophet Has Appeared: The Rise of Islam through Christian and Jewish Eyes (2021); The Quest for the Historical Muhammad (2024)
• Robert G. Hoyland, In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire (2014); Seeing Islam As Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam (1997)
• Farhad Daftary, The Isma’ilis: Their History and Doctrines (1992); The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma’ilis (1994)
• r/AcademicQuran

The Kingdom of Israel is recorded with other names throughout history (Kingdom of Samaria & House of Omri).

Did the Kingdom of Judah also have other names?

The only other one I know of would be "House of David".

Halo people! There's a question that has been sitting in my head for a long time, and I have not found a answer to it, and I decided to ask here. For a long time I have been interested in knowing what was the population of the Land of Israel was when Joshua and the Israelites entered the Land. In both hypotheses of entry:

-What was the population according to the biblical dating of the entry into the land around 1400 BC,

-what was the population of israel in 1200 bce, which is that time research say Exodus take plcae.

I read in the book 'Has archeology burried the bible' that in the 10 century bce, on the time of United Kingdom of solomon, the popultaion of the kingdom was like 100000 people. But it didnt mentioned the population of israel at time of 1200 or 1500.

If someone knwo, and have source, i will glad to know. Thanks!

I’ve been reading the apocryphal Acts literature recently and I’m just so struck by the radical emphasis on chastity. Take these works as containing real information about Christian activities (not saying you should) and you’d be left wondering if first century Christians were wandering around convincing wives to stop having sex with their husbands, to some success.

I assume the common view is that this was an idiosyncrasy of certain Christian communities in the second century.

But are there any scholars who argue that radical chastity may have been a big part of the message of the historical Jesus?

Thanks!

The first century is a time of low literacy rates and lack of rapid modes of transportation, and rural villagers would have been hindered by both of these greatly. Was it possible for a villager/peasant to know that the city existed and had religious significance? Did peasants 30 km from Jerusalem ever go to the city?

Academics generally seem to say that the worship of gods such as Baal and Asherah and household gods amongst ancient Hebrews was a continuation from ancient tradition going back to their earliest days and that monotheism came later, whereas modern day religious people claim that the ancient Hebrews were originally monotheistic and only incorporated worship of these other gods after becoming 'corrupted' after being exposed to it by their neighboring nations.

How do we know which view is correct?

What i want

i wish to learn about the history of the new testament, how much it has changed, when was it written, who were the actual writers, did Jesus ever meet them ect ect ect

please help me,

I recently got two books written and translated by Jeremy Payton one is a collection of Gnostic Gospels and the other is on the Gospel of Thomas. I have been struggling to find any information about him and his website keeps his credentials vague and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about him. I also searched for the photo of his on Amazon and I found a lot of similar stock photos so I'm a little concerned or confused.

I’m currently reading The Genesis 6 Conspiracy, Volume 1, which delves into the Nephilim narrative and explores how different religions, bloodlines, and secret societies trace their origins back to divine entities that supposedly bestowed knowledge upon them. It’s a fascinating read, and Gary Wayne has plenty of YouTube videos discussing these topics. His approach is somewhat similar to Michael Heiser’s, but I’ve noticed some questionable sources in his work.

For example, Michael Heiser, a PhD scholar, discredited the work of Zecharia Sitchin regarding the Anunnaki, yet Gary Wayne quotes Sitchin heavily, along with figures like Graham Hancock. While a PhD isn’t the sole measure of credibility, it certainly helps establish scholarly rigor, and some of Wayne’s sources make me question the reliability of his research.

Is anyone familiar with his work? He seems very knowledgeable but some of his sources trigger red flags.

That seems like a very stilted way of saying "do this in my memory" or "do this to remember me". I'm guessing it's to somehow emphasize "ἀνάμνησις"... but what is the context behind this choice?

This is a subject I find incredibly interesting. I am having trouble finding scholars who have studied and written on the topic. I have read the didache and Martin luther and st Augustine's writings on catechism asking with some dissertations I've found in my schools library. However, I'm hoping to find scholars that have done deeper research on the topic. So far I haven't come up with much.

Can anyone provide any recommendations?

Currently, On Youtube, there is currently a new type of apologetic content focused around using Church history to support their beliefs. Since it's' a trendy thing to talk about and prone to a lot of criticism and debate, I thought it would be a good idea to make a post where people can talk about potential inaccuracies. People could also give lists of good resources for individuals who want to learn more about early Church history. Also, people I read on the internet have anxiety because they are afraid over accurate Church history.

Goes without saying, but this isn't intended to be a theological thread, more of something to get people started to research good history. (especially since I don't believe I've ever seen any books about Church History cited by apologists appear in this subreddit)

Are these books and resources considered accurate for Church History? :

"Christianity First 3,000 Years" Diarmaid MacCulloch

"Through the eye of a Needle" Peter Brown

"When Christians were Jews" Paula Fredriksen

"'After the New Testament' Lectures and 'Lost Christianities'" Bart D Ehrman.

"The Early Christian Church" Lectures David Miano

I've recently been engaging in religious polemics to and fro in favour of the Biblical Exodus, well, a dumbed down version that practically eliminates the clearly exaggerated aspects of it (e.g 600k marching).

The repetitive statement I've heard from apologists is that only 1% of the Sinai has been excavated.

How true is this?

Hi, I have been getting into William Dever's books and am interested in how he points out potential anachronisms in the HB text found due to archeological work. I am wondering if any other books cover this topic. Are there commentaries on individual HB texts that mention the topic? Thanks

I struggled to read this a couple of years ago in college but a few weeks ago I saw that they'd released an audiobook version and I whizzed straight through it. I thought it was fantastic, beautifully read. Do you know if there are plans afoot for other Alter books?