"Oppenheimer’s theory is that “ … the roots of the great flowering of civilisation in the fertile crescent of the Ancient Near East lay in the sinking shorelines of Southeast Asia. The Sumerians and Egyptians themselves wrote about the skilled wise men from the East, a fact often dismissed as the embellishment of a fertile imagination.” Purely as an aside, the infertility of the minds of some researchers protecting true knowledge can surely be offset against a true opposite, the imaginative minds of some lawyers in their role as protective inquisitors in an open court in the nations of the Anglo-West. "
Because of this prejudice, most scholars never did the necessary research to “sift out the historical element buried beneath levels of legend,” he says.
that statement could apply to any archeological area, the further back in time one goes, the stronger the prejudice.
Wise Men or just three pretty smart guys?
Which reminds me of the Pontius Pilate controversy. There is no contemporary mention of Pontius Pilate except in the Gospels. That led some “scholars” to conclude that he did not exist...that he was made up just to move the story along.
Then in 1961 the Pilate stone was found. There is now no doubt that Pontius Pilate existed, and that he was prefect of Judaea. Of course we Christians knew that all along.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilate_stone
I have never seen any evidence — in Scripture or otherwise — that there were exactly three Magi.
Well the wise men said they “saw his star in the east”.. The Nabateans were in the west so they could not have seen his star in the East. But Greeks and Egyptians could...
It was some wise guys from Sicily.
This will drive the Atheists and Agnostics heads as to . GOOD!!!
My bet is still with the magi being from the vicinity of Iraq/Persia rather than the Nabataeans living “next door”.
Here is some related very good news:
(Freepers with high school students, take note!)
Fact: There was no wondrous star reported to be present at the moment of Jesus' birth.
Fact: The Magoi arrived in Jerusalem some two years later, when Joseph, Mary, and little Jesus were living at a house in Bethlehem.
Fact: The men of wisdom were from Anatolia (the word translated "East" is the Greek word ανατολη, a location north of Israel, but east of Greece, an isthmus of Asia where all the wars with Persia were fought), now caled "Turkey."
o Fact: They were of Padan-Aram, the region of Ur of the Chaldee mountains, from which Abraham left his family and migrated to Canaan, to the south.
o Good hypothesis: Doubtless, they knew of the history, prophecies, and traditions of the Hebrews, since Jacob came back from Canaan for at least fourteen years, to get his wives and start his family. It was on the way back to the land given to his fathers, Isaac and Abraham, that he wrestled with a Christophany and was named "Israel" by God.
Take the story from there. Time for me to go to dinner . . .
A number of passages in the gospel of Luke seem to be Mary’s perspective. It mentions shepherds. But if Matthew says there were Magi, there were Magi.
Seminaries were long ago annexed by the Frankfurt School. So-called Biblical Scholars never go anywhere that will lead to the Truth.
Some of the most heretical and hypocritical “Christians” I have known are seminarians.
It is why I ultimately chose not to pay money to be subverted, even though both laity and clergy sought to recruit me.
I am content with the Word. The only real seminarian among the Apostles was the one born out of time, a conspirator in persecution and murder. The rest of them merely knew Jesus.
I feel more comfortable in the company of fishermen.
Decades ago, I read a science fiction story about exploring a dead planet (killed when its star went super nova) that had remains of a great and benevolent society. Nut of the story was that the exploding sun would have been visible on earth to guide the Magi.....no reason why the God that spoke the universe into being couldn't have arranged for a star to light up to guide folks to His Child's birth....(but I doubt He would have wiped out a race to do it unless they were less good than the story indicated)....
No. 1 - The bible does not give a number to the visitors.
No. 2 - Magi was a term sued to describe Zoroastrian priests, not Nabateans.
Where does he get this evidence? Personally, I believe the essence of the story, but not his interpretation as so superficially presented in the article.