Cege

I might be laughed at for my ignorance, but is it possible that Joseph of Arimathaea referred to Joseph's father, name of Arimathaea?

Eddie Schultz

According to this writing, all accounts of the son of god (jesus) are hearsay. I have asked others on the board who have researched this, and they say it's pretty accurate.

Amazingly, the question of an actual historical Jesus rarely confronts the religious believer. The power of faith has so forcefully driven the minds of most believers, and even apologetic scholars, that the question of reliable evidence gets obscured by tradition, religious subterfuge, and outrageous claims. The following gives a brief outlook about the claims of a historical Jesus and why the evidence the Christians present us cannot serve as justification for reliable evidence for a historical Jesus
http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm

Eddie

Toto

Joseph the son of Arimathea would be Joseph ben Arimathea. But Arimathea is not known to be a Jewish name in any case.

There is speculation of all sorts:

link

stuart shepherd

"best disciple town" ...that certainly is staggering.
IMO the more carefully one examines the "Jesus story" the more it looks like fiction.

Stuart Shepherd

stuart shepherd

I doubt that Jesus was placed in a tomb.
I think that he was "buried" as the Apostle Paul wrote....

According to Paul's theology, Jesus rose as a spirit so an "empty tomb" was not needed.

Stuart Shepherd

Jeffrey Gibson

It does? I'll hanged if I know on what basis RC asserts this since, as far as I know (and as a TLG search confirms), there is no such Greek word as "matheia". Where specifically is it instanced, let alone used with the meaning that RC says it bears?

It is?

If so, one would be hard pressed to explain how ἀριστερός [ᾰ], ά, όν, means "left, on the left" and "erring" (see below).

And is there actually such a prefix in Greek as ἀρι?

And is "Arimathea" Greek? If not, what sense is there in trying to derive it's meaning from alleged Greek roots?

Speculation indeed.

Jeffrey


****

ἀριστερός [ᾰ], ά, όν, left, on the left, ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερά towards, i.e. on, the left, Il.2.526, al.; ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ χειρός Od.5.277; ἐπ᾽ ἀ. χειρῶν A.R.2.1266; ἐξ ἀριστερῶν Hp.Epid.2.4.1; ἐν τοῖσι ἀριστεροῖσι ibid., τούτου τοῦ ἡρῴου ἡ ἐν ἀριστ‹κ›ροῖς ‹κ›λείνη IEphes.3456; without a prep., neut. pl. adv., ἀριστερὰ εἰσιόντων Inscr.Délos1416Ai34 (ii b.c.).

b. ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ γράφειν write from right to left, Artem.3.25; ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ περιβεβλῆσθαι, have dressed leftwards, Id.3.2.4.

2. ἀριστερά (with or without χείρ), ἡ, left hand, ἐξ ἀριστερῆς χειρός on the left hand, Hdt.2.30; simply ἀριστερῆς χ. Id.4.34; ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς S.Ph.20, Pl.Ti.72c, etc.; οὑξ ἀριστερᾶς .. ναός S.El.7; ἐς ἀριστερὴν χεῖρα ἤιε, ἐν ἀριστερῇ ἔχειν, Hdt.7.42, simply ἀριστερᾶς, Inscr.Délos1441Aii95 (ii b.c.).

3. metaph., boding ill, ominous, because to a Greek, looking northward, unlucky signs came from the left, ἀ. ἤλυθεν ὄρνις Od.20.242.

4. awkward, erring, φρενόθεν ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ ἔβας turnedst to the leftward of thy mind, S.Aj.182 (lyr.); ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ εἴληφας τὸ πρᾶγμα in a sinister sense, Com.Adesp.22.67 D.; τῇ ἀριστερᾷ δ�*χεσθαι [λόγους] Plu.2.378b. (Prop. ‘better’, cf. ἄριστος; euphemism (cf. εὐώνυμος) to avoid ill-luck.)

Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., & McKenzie, R. (1996). A Greek-English lexicon. "With a revised supplement, 1996." (Rev. and augm. throughout) (240). Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press.

John Kesler

I've heard this claim before, but when I Google "arimathea 'best disciple,'" I get primarily hits at atheist Web sites--including threads here at IIDB which refer to Richard's statement. Is there any scholarly reference work which can verify this claim?

Ben C Smith

There is no conflict between buried and placed in a tomb.

Ben.

stuart shepherd

Could be?
The English language translations use grave, tomb, and sepulchre, interchangeably for three different Greek words.
I wonder why the translators were not consistent in using the same English words for the same Greek words.


Stuart Shepherd

andrewcriddle

One problem with this is that it is doubtful whether Joseph of Arimathea is regarded in Mark (the other Gospels may be different) as a disciple (strict sense) of Jesus.

Andrew Criddle