stephan huller

There is an odd similarity in the stark opening of the (assumed) Marcionite gospel and that of the Judaizing community. According to Eusebius:

But as Clement - and I think - Ephrem notes, the Gospel of Luke originally began:

I just find it interesting that both 'beginnings' of these gospels are now found in Luke. First Luke 1:5

Then Luke 3:1

How is it possible to believe that the community of the Gospel of the Ebionites and the Marcionites stole from a common source? The more likely possibility has to be that Luke 'sucked up' material from two different gospel sources. Isn't that what Luke says at the very beginning?

Bernard Muller

to Stephan,
A big mistake: there was no king of Judea during the high priesthood of Caiaphas. But they got the name right for the high priest, Caiaphas, and only him (which could have been sourced from gMatthew or Josephus' Antiquities).
Clement did not say the gospel of Luke began that way (in Strom 1.21), just that it is written (in gLuke). And Clement might have snipped a chunk (3:1b-2a) because it was not necessary in order to make his point. So I do not see any problem with that.

However the assumed gospel of the Ebionites (or to the Hebrews) seems to me another mashup.

Cordially, Bernard

stephan huller

But I've noted before that there is a consistent 'confusion' (= disagreement) between all our ancient witnesses and what we assume to be reality with respect to Herod. Celsus identifies 'the tetrarch Herod' to have been the ruler during the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem. This is by no means the only such reference. As I demonstrated in a previous post, there is no argument outside of a dogmatic fixation on Josephus to solve all the problems in our sources. For instance - no coin ever identifies Herod as 'the king of Jews.' I noticed the reference to 'king Herod' too. I don't know how to explain it outside - as I just noted - to make Josephus the arbiter of all things ancient, something I don't think anyone should do given the disagreement in all our sources outside of him.