Toto

Is there any reason for assigning Stephen's stoning to 41-44, other than a desire to place it in a period when Jewish law would have been in force?

Do you think that this was a historical event in any case?

ynquirer

I had just proposed a comparison of Jesus’ crucifixion with James’ stoning, and another user then suggested that comparing Jesus' with Stephen's was perhaps more appropriate because the latter was nearer in time. I wouldn’t object Acts as a source provided that there is no good reason to reject it.

As regards 41-44 as possible dates for Stephen’s stoning, well, I really don’t know. It might even have happened shortly after Pilate’s dismissal and Tiberius’ death. There was an interregnum, then. Caligula appointed one Marullus to be procurator (AJ 18.6.10), but Josephus never again mentions this man. It is probable indication that this procurator was a weak man, and a tool in the hands of Vitellius the proconsul of Syria – exactly what Pilate never yielded to be.

Vitellius had instigated the Emperor to dismiss Pilate after the Jews protested his heavy hand in Judaea. It would be only too natural that Vitellius turned a blind eye on the Jews’ stoning one unimportant Stephen. After all, authority to stone blasphemers was a permanent issue in the Roman politics in Judaea, and Vitellius might have thought such a concession to be a good quid pro quo to appease the Jewish nationalists stirred up by Pilate.

aa5874

All you have done is just make stuff up. This does not make any sense at all.

You cannot just make your own history.

You MUST corroborate your dates with some credible source.

Why not say Jesus died at 33 CE and Stephen was stoned at 36 CE? I do not understand what you are trying to acheive by just putting dates to suit your theories.

spamandham

For what it's worth to this discussion, perhaps too much is being made about Pilate. Crossan and Reed order the passion story in the Gospel of Peter (the end of chapter 5 of Excavating Jesus) as earlier than the similar story in the Gospel of Mark based on the Oxyrhynchus fragments.

In the Gospel of Peter, Pilate is depicted as a friend of Joseph (later to be known as Joseph of Arimathea) who intervenes on behalf of Joseph to recover Jesus' body. In this version of the story, Herod (unspecified which Herod) is the one responsible for the execution of Jesus.

Could the passion story have originated with the Passover massacre in 4 BCE under Herod's son Archelaus?

ynquirer

It makes a lot of sense, actually. What I need is a time window for Stephen’s stoning so as to render the legal framework I propose plausible. And I do have it in 37-44,

Corroboration is furnished by both Josephus and Tacitus.

Toto

The Passover massacre involved open armed conflict, 3000 Jews killed, but no recorded crucifixions. But a good story teller can transform events, I guess. . .:-/

Uprisings

andrewcriddle

If Paul's conversion to Christianity occurs sometime after Stephen's death, then, on the basis of the chronological information in Paul's letters and Acts, it is difficult to date the death of Stephen after 37 CE.

Andrew Criddle

ynquirer

When do you think Paul's conversion happened?

andrewcriddle

My guess would be c 35 CE.

One limit is that Acts sugests that Paul's escape from Damascus during the reign of King Aratus occurred shortly before his visit to Jerusalem three years after his conversion. (See 2 Corinthians 11:32-33 Galatians 1:17-18 Acts 9:23-27)

This requires Paul's comversion to occur some years before the death of Aratus II c 40 CE.

Andrew Criddle

ynquirer

As I understand the sources you mention, Paul escaped from Aretas and flew to Jerusalem three years after his conversion. Fourteen years after the first visit, he visited Jerusalem again and while in there was seized by the Sanhedrin and brought to Felix the Roman procurator in Cesarea. Felix kept him in prison for two years until Festus took office.

Now, Festus is supposed to have taken office as procurator of Judaea in 58. Paul’s conversion, according to sources, happened three plus fourteen plus two years before. That makes a total nineteen years before Festus arrived in Judaea, that is, 58 minus nineteen, or AD 39.

Stephen might have been stoned at any time in 37-39. Does it fit in your time window?