Freethought & Rationalism Archive

aa5874 · 03-26-2011, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maryhelena

There is an interesting point made in the Wikipedia article on Agrippa I (a ruler who did not use the Herodian ‘Herod’ on his coinage...). “.....so the king described in the Bible may as well be an amalgam of several different royals”. If this is the case, then dating Paul in connection with Agrippa I is a dubious endeavour. If Acts is using “Herod” as an amalgam it would suggest that the time period covered by Acts is much wider than is generally supposed, ie Acts is condensing the actual historical time period that is relevant to the origins of Christianity. Hence, there would be no way to connect Paul to the reign of Agrippa I, a rule which ended around 44 ce.

Wikipedia's sources may lead back to the writings of Josephus and you don't trust Josephus.

Acts is history or folklore?

maryhelena · 03-26-2011, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aa5874

Quote:

Originally Posted by maryhelena

There is an interesting point made in the Wikipedia article on Agrippa I (a ruler who did not use the Herodian ‘Herod’ on his coinage...). “.....so the king described in the Bible may as well be an amalgam of several different royals”. If this is the case, then dating Paul in connection with Agrippa I is a dubious endeavour. If Acts is using “Herod” as an amalgam it would suggest that the time period covered by Acts is much wider than is generally supposed, ie Acts is condensing the actual historical time period that is relevant to the origins of Christianity. Hence, there would be no way to connect Paul to the reign of Agrippa I, a rule which ended around 44 ce.

Wikipedia's sources may lead back to the writings of Josephus and you don't trust Josephus.

Acts is history or folklore?

Trusting Josephus? That depends what he is writing about and if that writing can be confirmed by external evidence. So, in the case of Herod the Great and Agrippa I - there is the Herodian coins....thus Josephus gets top marks here!

Acts, history or folklore? How about Hasmonean/Jewish history re-told in code - you know, symbolism, allegory, fancy tall tales. Seems to me to be a bit like what Josephus gets up to when he puts his historian's hat aside and plonks on his prophetic one....ie replays the historical tape with new casting. History repeats itself you know...what goes around comes around - or something like that.

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