Posted on 08/04/2005 10:22:42 PM PDT by BlackVeil
Real Old Stuff Ping.
I often think about Scribes hunched over copying manuscripts all day when I make Xerox copies. I can't wait to see this when it is available.
A picture of the Book of Esther, in the manuscript.
The above is almost certainly erroneous. Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Empire, but remained a 'pagan' himself, until very shortly before his death, when he conveniently 'converted'.
I suspect he was a hypocritical manipulator of the masses, but perhaps he simply didn't want to be dictated to by Church authorities during his worldly reign.
During his time, there was a lot of dissent, and alternative scriptures were being banned and buried, etc.
Yeshua...we love you (if only because you loved us first).
And imagine how long it took to transcribe pictures of their behinds at the office Christmas party pre-Xerox.
Looking up for errant lightning.
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Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Constantine was confronted with a situation where Christianity was in better shape than what was left of the Empire, and figured he and the Empire would be better off working with 'em rather than ag'in 'em. Also, the Roman Pantheon started to lose credibility when the Roman Senate started to vote on deification for the recently deceased emperors and whatnot. By the time of Constantine, it was a laughingstock.
Just wondering:
Dan. 12:4 (KJV)
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
I thought this might interest you.
Wow bump.
It does. I am interested in parts that have been left out - it mentions a part that is now apocrypha (doesn't that mean stories that aren't now considered bona fide?). I also want to read the Catholic Bible; until recently I didn't know it was a different one than the King James.
I am pretty ignorant about the Bible, just know some of it.
Except, of course, to more than 1 billion Roman and Eastern Orthodox Catholics.
Encarta Dictionary
A·poc·ry·pha
1. Biblical writings of disputed authenticity.
books of the Bible that are included in the Vulgate and Septuagint versions of the Christian Bible, but not in the Protestant Bible or the Hebrew canon
2. Early Christian writings.
a group of Christian writings dating from the early centuries ad that are not included in the Bible
The reason is that the Jews were not yet in agreement on exactly which books constituted their Bible when the early Christians assembled the Christian Bible.
The Jewish scholars who later assembled their Bible rejected some books accepted by the Christians. The books are: Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch; as well as parts of Esther and Daniel.
Many centuries later, some of the Protestant reformers also rejected these books, calling them Apocrypha, although the books were included in the original King James Bible as well as in Lutheran Bibles published in Germany.
Yes. I have read Eileen Pagal The Gnostic Gospels. Constantine surely wanted first and foremost to control and contain this upstart religious movement, because he knew he couldn't supress it. BTW, I have read that Christianity was still a minority religion as the time the Emperor elevated it to official status, and as you point out, one with many contending factions. The Empire faced enough external threats at the time without being torn apart internally by religious feuds. Still, the official sanction of Christianity and the 50 Bibles came before, not after Constantine's conversion.
Secularists like to have a good time blaming religion for all the evils of history, but I believe it is the mixing of religion with politics (ie, the hijacking of religion by political forces) that is to blame for the worst things that have happened 'in the name of religion'. Just look at the Islamic theocracies of today!
Stuff like this makes me love the stupid limeys.
A Greek manuscript of the Old and New Testaments, of the greatest antiquity and value; found on Mount Sinai, in St. Catherine's Monastery, by Constantine Tischendorf.
Codex Sinaiticus
Catholic Ping
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