IIDB BC&H FAQ, Version 0.4 [December 12, 2006]
"How can you expect me to be perfect...when I am full of contradictions?" - Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra
0. About this FAQ
This FAQ is the distilled wisdom of IIDB regulars concerning Biblical Criticism & History. It is rewritten monthly and posted as a sticky in the BC&H forum of IIDB, at this URL:
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/forumdisplay.php?f=60
Maintainers: Peter Kirby <peterkirby@gmail.com>
Copyright © 2006. All maintainers agree to dual license their work as
GFDL and
CC-by-sa.
1. The Bible in General and Errancy
1.1 Errors in the Bible
As you would expect of a set of documents compiled from five dozen authors, written over a span of about eight centuries, the Bible does contains error, even contradiction within itself.
1.1.1 Does the Bible say that pi is 3?
Not directly. For discussion, check the threads.
Threads: The Bible and Pi
1.2 Contradictions in the Bible
Threads: What is the GREATEST Bible contradiction?, Regarding Biblical Contradictions in the Library
1.3 Prophecy
Q: Prophecy in the Bible is often discussed: does the Bible contain accurate oracles, or have they been disconfirmed? What is prophecy anyway, and does what the NT authors count as prophecy actually originate as such?
A: Some argue that the Bible contains no accurate oracles. Some argue that what the NT authors take as messianic prophecy is not such.
Threads: Magus55: take the Prophecy Challenge!, Is Isaiah 7:14 a messianic prophecy?, Messianic Prophesies, Are there any messianic prophecies in the OT?, Another thread about christ in the old testament, Some Alleged Messianic Prophecies, Is Jesus the messiah of the OT?, Has any prophecies come true?, JimLarmore on Prophecy!
1.4 Eschatology
Q: What is eschatology?
A: Eschatology is the subject of the end of the world.
Threads: Layman's Dubious Interpretation of Hebrews 9:26
1.5 Salvation
Threads: Universalism is biblical
2. History in General and Religion
2.1 Metahistory
Q: What is historical criticism?
A: See my essay on Wikipedia about historical criticism.
Threads: Benefit of the Doubt, Realism and Biblical History
2.2 Minimalist debates
Q: What is minimalism?
A: Joel Ng had some good answers in this area before.
Threads: Biblical "Minimalism" vs "Maximalism", When did the Hebrews emerge as a separate people?, Minimalist recommendations and a few others
2.3 Zoroastrianism
Threads: Zoroastrianism as a Source For Christianity?
2.4 Judaism
Threads: Hippolytus on the Jewish Religion
2.5 Mystery religions
Threads: Help on crucifixion of Dyonisis
3. Jewish Scripture
3.1 Books of Jewish Scripture
3.1.1 Genesis
Genesis is the first book of the Bible.
3.1.2 Proverbs
Proverbs is a collection of advice on living.
Threads: The Value of Proverbs
3.1.3 Job
Threads: A fair and completely unbiased view of Job, Ending of the Book Of Job
3.1.4 Daniel
Threads: Daniel: Multiple authorship of Daniel
3.1.5 Dead Sea Scrolls
Threads: The Whitewashing of John Allegro
3.1.6 Talmud
Threads: What is the Talmud?
3.2 The Pentateuch and Authorship
Threads: Mosaic authorship of the Torah
4. Christian Scripture
4.1 Books of Christian Scripture
4.1.1 Matthew
Matthew is a Synoptic Gospel.
Threads: Is GMk 3:29 (cf. GLk 12:10) a get out of conversion free card?
4.1.2 Mark
Mark is a Synoptic Gospel.
Threads: From John to Capernaum: Mark 1:14-34
4.1.2.1 Ending of Mark?
Most scholars believe that the verses Mark 16:9-20 are unoriginal.
Threads: Mark's Ending, Does the original Mark end with 16:8, How did the Gospel of Mark end?
4.1.3 Luke
Luke is a Synoptic Gospel.
Threads: On Luke Redux
4.1.4 John
John is the maverick Gospel.
Threads: Johannine Sectarians
4.1.5 Acts
Acts is the story of the early Jerusalem church and of Paul.
Threads: Evolution of Acts - Additions from Euripides?, Discrepancies between Acts and Letters
4.1.5.1 What is the significance of the 'we passages' of Acts?
Threads: Are the "We-Passage" in Acts Literary Conventions for Describing Sea-Voyages?, Vernon K Robbins replies to Layman on We Passages in Acts, Confirmation and Correlation in Acts and the Pauline Epistles, Did the author of Acts have access to Paul's letters?, References on Acts Requested, First Person Perspective in Ancient Sea Travel
4.1.6 Galatians
Galatians is a letter of Paul.
Threads: Authenticity of Gal 1:19
4.1.7 Hebrews
Hebrews is an anonymous epistle.
Threads: Doherty's translation of Heb 8:4, Hebrews, MT, LXX and the Dead Sea Scrolls
4.1.8 Revelation
Revelation, the last book in the Bible, declares itself written by John of Patmos.
Threads: 666: What is supposed to really mean?, Explain Revelation, Mystery of 666, Why is Revelation's John so special?
4.1.9 Secret Mark
Also known as the "Gospel Hoax."
Threads: "Secret Mark", We know Smith wrote Secret Mark! Er, I think, update about the Secret Mark, Secret Mark is authentic: the evidence, Secret Mark is authentic: the evidence (Parts 3-4), Death knell begins to toll for "Secret Mark"
4.1.10 Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas is considered a "fifth gospel," as it is a widely celebrated collection of sayings of Jesus.
Threads: The Alleged Late Dating of GThomas
4.1.11 Aristides
Threads: Aristides in Syriac
4.1.12 Theophilus of Antioch
Theophilus was a church father.
Threads: Had Theophilus heard of Jesus?
4.2 Issues with the Gospels
4.2.1 Dating the Gospels
When were the gospels written? Your guess is as good as mine, within certain bounds.
Threads: Dating Matthew and Mark, Round tomb blocking stone as evidence for a late dating of Mark?, When were the gospels written, Gospel Author evidence, Did Jesus Really Exist?, Dating the Gospel of Thomas, Date and authorship of the Gospels, Jesus in the Talmud?, Were the Gospels written within the so called 'Eye Witness Period'?
4.2.2 Synoptic Problem
You'll find that the priority of Mark, the idea that Mark was the first Gospel written, is very popular on this board.
Threads: Unfamiliar or unusal words in Mark?, A statistical approach to the synoptic problem
4.2.3 Infancy Narratives
These are the contradictory stories of Jesus' nativity.
Threads: Census thing again!, King Herod, The credibility of Matthew
4.2.4 Instability of Texts
In other words, the way that the gospels changed over time.
Threads: Textual Evolution, Helmut Koester and What Josh Mcdowell Forgot to Tell us..., The Corrupted Text of Canonical Mark
4.3 Letters of Paul
Threads: Redating of p46 to ca. 85 CE
4.4 Textual Criticism of the New Testament
Threads: Missing verses in RSV, Luke 3:22, Adoptionists, and Bart Ehrman
4.5 Original Aramaic NT?
Threads: Mark 9:49. salted with fire?, Was Romans written in Aramaic?
4.6 Canon of Scripture
Sorry, the boys in funny hats didn't actually determine this by vote.
Threads: How did the Nicene Council influence the Bible?
5. Christian Origins
5.1 Historicity of Jesus
The phrase "the historicity of Jesus" refers to whether or not there was a man named Jesus known to his brother James, the apostle Peter, and other followers of Jesus.
5.1.1 Arguments against HJ
Threads: Today's Leaders, The Strange Silence of Samuel Rutherford, There ARE Echoes of Jesus in Earlier Myths, 7th Century crucifixion iconography - Why so late?, The origins of the Passion Narrative, The Passion Narrative and Philo, Philo, There was no historical Jesus, What's the best argument against historical Jesus?, Support for Doherty Please, Kata Sarka, Jesus' presence, Messianic Memorabillia
5.1.2 Arguments for HJ
Threads: Doherty's Dubious Analysis of Hebrews 13:11-13, Doherty's Dubious Interpretation of Hebrews 9:27-28, How Do We Know When Jesus Lived?, Is Gmark the product of the fictionalization of a heavenly Christ myth?, What is the conclusive, historical evidence for the existence of Jesus?, A Good Indication That Jesus Existed, Crossan's First Stratum, They don't make dying/rising savior gods like they used to!, Evidence for Jesus existence is solid, Jesus Variants, Jesus Was Born of a Woman = Jesus was a Human Being, Doherty's Erroneous Approach to the Apostolic Tradition
5.1.3 Methodology and the Historicity of Jesus
Threads: New XTALK article blasts Meier on Multiple Attestation
5.1.4 Books about the Historicity of Jesus
Threads: Book Review: The Jesus Myth (Wells) and Deconstructing Jesus (Price), Crossan's The Historical Jesus: A Review, The Jesus the Jews Never Knew: Book Review By Earl Doherty of Zindler's New Book
5.1.5 Polls about the Historicity of Jesus
Threads: Are you a HJer, JMer, or agnostic on the issue?, Was there a Historical Jesus? The IIDB Poll, Which Major Religious Figures do You Think Existed
5.2 Non-Christian Sources
5.2.1 Josephus on Jesus?
Threads: Kirby on the Testimonium Flavianum (1), Kirby on the Testimonium Flavanium (2), Kirby on the Testimonium Flavianum (3), Kirby on the Testimonium (4), Ant. 20.9.1 (for Bede), Open Discussion on Arguments for TF, The Christ Passage in Josephus, "called Christ" ONLY was added to Ant. 20.200.
5.2.2 Philo on Jesus?
Threads: Philo and "Christ"
5.2.3 The Talmud on Jesus?
Threads: Jesus in the Talmud?
5.2.4 Thallus on Jesus?
Threads: Did They See That Darkness?
5.2.5 Seneca on Jesus?
Threads: Possible Historical Reference to Jesus in Seneca?
5.2.6 Modern Fake Texts on Jesus?
Threads: Letter from Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar??
5.3 Entheogenic Theory
Threads: Jesus Used Cannabis
5.4 Resurrection
Jesus is dead.
Threads: resurrection debates, Proof Of The Resurrection?, Easter Account Contradictions, The truth about the empty tomb, Wright anyone?, The Historicity of the Empty Tomb Evaluated, Paul's Belief in a Bodily Resurrection, Peter Kirby and Empty Tombs
5.5 Apostles
They must have died somehow...the question is how.
Threads: Evidence for the historical apostles?, Apostolic Martyrdom, Matthew wasn't martyred
5.6 Christology
Threads: The messiah as son of David
5.7 Jesus as 'Nazarene'
Threads: The Hometown of Jesus
5.8 James Brother of Jesus Ossuary
And the world spins on, a few reputations bruised, and brain cells wasted.
Threads: First Century Archeological Evidence for the Existence of Jesus?, First Century Relic Laughed at by Christians, Inscription To Be Publically Displayed and Tested Again, The First Century Jesus Inscription (a compliation of relevant information), a crack through Jesus, Ossuary was genuine, inscription was faked, Experts Question Authenticity of Bone Box for `Brother of Jesus', Aerospace engineer's examination of the ossuary, Israeli Geological Service's statement on the ossuary, Updates on the ossuary, Fitzmyer's position regarding authenticity of the ossuary, Ossuary, ossuary, who's got the ossuary?, Oded Golan (ossuary owner), Response to Robert Turkel on the authenticity of the ossuary, Response to Turkel on the ossuary, part 2, More ossuary nonsense, Discovery Channel on the Ossuary of James, Make your own ancient artifact! a How-to Guide, New in BAR, XTALK just posted: Ossuary reportedly determined fake..., Jehoash Tablet reportedly judged a forgery, Israeli Antiquities Authority says ''James Ossuary'' inscription a fake, The Ossuary and The Committee, Altman's Latest Devastation of the Ossuary, Shanks: "I'm still not convinced", BAR article, Jul/Aug 2003: New tests bolster case for authenticity of ossuary, Please help save our reputation, Ossuary Owner Arrested for Fraud, Final Reports on the Yehoash Inscription and James Ossuary from the Israeli Antiquities Authority, Slouching toward Lemaire..., Shanks has not conceded on the Ossuary, New Ossuary Article at BibInterp
6. Islam
No, I won't be writing "peace be upon him" after the name Muhammad.
Threads: Quest for the Historical Muhammad?, What do we know about Muhammad?, External References to Islam
...
I'm currently working on November 2003's posts--if I missed any from before November 2003, please let me know.
--
Peter Kirby
12-12-2006, 01:31 PM
