Resurrection

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

Hello again, Derek!

At 12:28 PM 1/31/99 -0500, Derek Pomery wrote:

>> >> BAKKE

>> >> Establishing the location of a city is not the same things as

>> >> establishing the existence of a person who was supposedly from that

>> >> city.  For example, many people doubt the existence of Jesus of

>> >> Nazareth, but how many will doubt the existence of Nazareth?  Why should

>> >> it be any different with Joseph of Arimathea?  Certainly, the Gospel

>> >> writer(s) would know of the city and could weave it into their tale.

>> >> That does not give the existence of Joseph any more validity.

>> >

>> > POMERY 

>> > In some cases however, such as Matthew's use of Bethlehem, the writer may

>> > have been attempting to weave the city name into the story to make a case.

>> > The actual location, or even existence, of Bethlehem at that time is, I

>> > think, difficult to determine?  I do not have a source for this comment,

>> > to avoid the inevitable rejoinder.

>> 

>> BAKKE

>> I'm not aware of any controversies over either the existence or location

>> of Bethlehem.  Once again, such questions have little or no bearing on

>> the validity of any stories concerning purported individuals who are

>> associated in some way with that city.  After all, nobody has to argue

>> against the existence or location of London to argue that Sherlock

>> Holmes is a fictional character.



>POMERY

>It has relevancy due to the fact that Matthew is attempting to make Jesus

>a fulfillment of prophecy.  The fact that Bethlehem as a city might no

>longer have existed in Jesus' time certainly seems relevant to me.  I

>believe I will attempt a source after all.  Give me a few hours.



CREA
    According to the __Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near
East__, little in the way of excavations have been done in/near the modern
town of Bethlehem, except in the vicinity of the Church of the Nativity, but
these have revealed (along with even older materials) remains from an Iron
age town dating from the tenth-eighth centuries BCE  (see Sylvester J.
Saller's  "Iron Age Remains from the Site of a New School at Bethlehem", in
__Studium Biblicum Franciscanum/Liber Annus 18 [1968]: 153-180).   However,
sufficient data is lacking to defnitely tie the site with the OT town of
Bethlehem, which is reported to have a well and fortifications (2 Samuel
23:15;  2 Chronicles 11:5-6).  Current identification rests largely on
citations from Jerome (Epis. ad Paul 58.3) which reports that Hadrian
destroyed the Christian site which had developed there and built a shrine to
Adonis in its place.  Hope that this helps.


With Mettaa,

Joseph Crea
<Joseph.Crea@worldnet.att.net>

• Previous message: Resurrection
• Next message: Resurrection
• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]