Freethought & Rationalism Archive

jakejonesiv · 04-26-2007, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Skeptic

How certain is it that most New Testament writings that are attributed to Paul were written in the 1st century?

This is often assumed, but without investigation. Even the so-called seven authentic epistles, but especially Romans an Galatians, are composite works of multiple authors.

aa5874 · 04-27-2007, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob117

It goes like this-

We have letters by someone calling himself Paul. His life, as gathered from the letters, follows that of the figure Paul from Acts. Add that to the fact that Christian authors from the mid-second century attest to both the letters and Acts and consistently connect them, unless you can give a reason why the authenticity of the entire corpus is suspect the most parsimonious explanation is that those epistles that do not show obvious signs of pseudonymy should be assumed authentic. Pseudonymy is proposed in response to evidence against authenticity, not the other way around.

Since the non-pastorals are the ones that Acts echoes, it would make sense that those are the authentic ones.

Then you now have to confirm the credibilty of Acts. It may well be that the non-pastorals and Acts did not reflect the true situation.

And by the way, what event, with respect to Paul in Acts, can you acknowleded to have occured?

There are some who regard Acts as fiction.

spin · 04-27-2007, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob117

And spin-

Damascus was transferred to Nabataean rule in 37 by Caligula.

It's just the usual conjecture on the matter. It is without any foundation. Try to find something tangible. Have fun.

spin

Toto · 04-27-2007, 01:35 PM

I recall researching the claim that Damascus was transferred to Nabatean rule the last time this issue came up, and it appears that the source was Acts, or Paul's letters. There is no confirmation in any other source.

There is a lot of material on this issue in the archives.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

04-27-2007, 01:35 PM	#24
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	I recall researching the claim that Damascus was transferred to Nabatean rule the last time this issue came up, and it appears that the source was Acts, or Paul's letters. There is no confirmation in any other source. There is a lot of material on this issue in the archives.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.