Recent content by Cosmos

Yeh, isn't he the dentist who died in the Upper Galilee trying to keep the Jews from loosing a settlement whose population consisted of 9 people or something?

In the OTL the British decision, or the British promise, to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine actually did come right after WWI. Then there was a mandatory period which lasted until May 1948, the date that the UN set for Israeli independence based on the vote to replace the British Mandate...

Kurdistan will become a nation state because I think that's what Kurds really want and right now the only thing keeping it from happening is the US staying there. Probably this will lead Turkey to invade northern Iraq (Kurdistan) in an attempt to stop it so that Kurds in eastern Turkey won't...

Well, the word oved does not have to mean slave. In common usage it simply means worker. Also, the overseers in the story are called sarei mis -officials of mis- which is interesting because in the story of Solomon and Rehavam, the north breaks away into a separate kingdom on account of...

That's my point. I don't think its historicity is important for Judaism, although considering historical kernals certainly is interesting. What's important for Jews is the lesson in the story. It wouldn't matter if it were 10/10ths of Egyptian history without slavery. The importance of the...

Ahhh. Did you know that the Dead Sea Scrolls speak of a religious leader, Yehoshua, also called Teacher of Righteousness, who gets crucified around 88 BCE? Seems to me that would fit your definition of an historical Jesus. But it is before the Romans get there, IOW when the Hashmonim are...

BTW, I never said that there weren't. In fact, I even given examples, earlier in the thread, of biblical characters who do seem to be based unequivically on historical figures. I wrote that King Ahab is historical and by now I think you can figure out that I think Moses is a maybe. But when...

The reign of Alexander Yanav (Janaeus), who crucified all of those people, comes prior to the arrival of Pompey, so during all of this the Romans aren't there yet. However, the writers of the Gospel narrative, or whatever led to it, set the story in a more recent era, one which was more...

I think people are missing my point here. Of course I think there is an historical basis for King Sargon. And Glen, I think it is plausible that Jesus is based on an historical figure or figures. What is not plausible, and what for this reason I think is indeed appropriate for this thread, is an...

Do you mean to suggest that non-Christians inserted the two sloppily written passages in an effort to frame Christians for falsifying documents? You are certainly welcome to believe that if you want, but you should know that the one who is usually blamed for tamporing with Josephus' work is...

Your analogy is absurd. The American Revolution and the Turks were documented all around the world. Jesus was not. Whether you or I have heard of a person has nothing to do with whether or not they existed. That's not how we decide if a figure is historical. That's not what I wrote. I...

Because when you study the Bible you find it is actually pretty clear that the writers of certain parts were motivated to write what they wrote and the way they wrote it on account of their particular political and economic circumstances. As one small example, consider the story of Aaron and...

First of all, it's not only "the ones about Jesus where people go on rants". But 2,000 years of "historical tradition" does not automatically constitute history. I say simply that the burdon of proof is on the Christians before the existence of a first century CE historical figure...

Reform Judaism is a phenomenon of the modern age. It was invented by Moses Mendelsonn in Germany as a way to adapt Jews to living in a Christian world. It's not something that would emerge in the stead of early Christianity. One could even argue that Reform Judaism is a somewhat Christianized...

sapiens neandertal were not taller but were bulkier and thus heavier with more muscle than sapiens sapies. It's not much of a difference but their brain were only slightly larger than ours.