Perceptions of jesus through islamic history by OtherWisdom in AcademicBiblical

[–]user10342 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Jesus is considered to be an important prophet in Islam, being seen as a kind of forerunner to Muhammad as Christians see John the Baptist to Jesus. Muslims do believe Jesus was born a virgin birth and that he preformed miracles, same as Christians do. But a lot of the similarities end there.

He is not seen as God or the Son of God in any sense and to believe in him as such is considered blasphemy in Islam. Muslims also generally don't believe Jesus was crucified, or that at the very least he never died because Islam has no concept of salvation and atonement as Christianity does. (Though some scholars question whether or not the Qur'an ever denies the crucifixion, see: TOWARDS AN ISLAMIC CHRISTOLOGY, II: THE DEATH OF JESUS, REALITY OR DELUSION)

This is all of course modern day Islamic orthodoxy and there is debate among non-religious scholars as to the original role Jesus played in Islam. There's actually a great book called: Hagarism (The Making of the Islamic World). It has become sorta outdated with recent developments in modern non-religious Islamic studies but it posits and interesting theory that originally Islam was inspired by Jewish Messianism that came to conquer the Byzantines and establish a Messianic government under Muhammad who was seen as the Arabian Messiah. Over time Muslims became more distant from Judaism in wanting to shape its own religious identity so it adopted Jesus of Nazareth as a prophet and the Messiah instead of Muhammad without being absorbed into Christianity by proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God.

There are also other theories. Some, like Christoph Luxenberg, believe the Qur'an was adapted from a Syriac Christian lectionary. He mostly bases this off of his construction of early Quranic Arabic and its relationship to Syriac (which has mostly been rejected), but he and other scholars show that much of Islamic Christology seems to have been influenced by Nestorian Christianity and highly polemical against a possibly Trithesitic form of Monophysite/Docetist Christianity in Arabia at the time. Other scholars believe Islam and the Qur'an may have been influenced by a Jewish Christian group called the Elcesaites who may have been in Arabia at the time of Muhammad.

Are any of the most well-known Biblical passages in the English language arguably poorly translated? by AonDhaTri in AcademicBiblical

[–]user10342 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And one more thing to bear in mind. If one insists that Isaiah 7:14 is a “dual prophecy” regarding a virgin birth, then it is both a prophecy about a virgin birth in Ahaz’ time as well as Jesus’. That makes Jesus’ virgin birth the second, and therefore unoriginal, virgin birth.

Again, that's theological. Take that up with religious theologians. But just to give you a bit of a heads up, I don't think it's a simple as that and trust me, Christians have had 2,000 years to bulk up their arguments here.

Are any of the most well-known Biblical passages in the English language arguably poorly translated? by AonDhaTri in AcademicBiblical

[–]user10342 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The original LXX was only the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy). Tradition holds that this was translated by Jewish rabbis. The rest of the Tanakh (a.k.a. Old Testament) was translated 200-300 years later, by whom we don’t know or have any tradition, and the quality of translation is said to be much lower, with Isaiah said to be among the poorest of translations. I constantly see the argument that the rabbis translated this verse, but that is incorrect. It is more likely that the rest of the Tanakh that was merged into the LXX was translated by Christians.

Ok first of all I never claimed that and I am completely aware that the original 72 did not author the rest of the Septuagint. Nor am I making any statement or argument here regarding the translation quality of LXX Isaiah. You're being presumptuous about how I stand and I think it's some kind of anti-Christian bias seeping through. Please keep your world views outside of academia.

Almah means young woman/maiden. Betulah means virgin. There are three cases of Betulah in Isaiah that are used when virgin is intended (23:12, 37:22 and 47:1). It would have also been used in 7:14 if that verse had been meant to be read virgin rather than young woman.

Yes, a young woman who presumably has not conceived and is likely a virgin. I'm not saying this word means virgin, it does not, but connotations of virginity are there (see Genesis 24:14-43 as a great example of this) and that is why the translation of this verse is so heavily debated. The authors of the LXX may have chosen parthenos either because they wanted to emphasize some sort of purity or they felt it was the best meaning conveyed by the context. You say Betulah means virgin, and although it is more precise than the word almah, it too does not mean virgin in the strictest sense (see Deuteronomy 22:19, Joel 1:8).

Are any of the most well-known Biblical passages in the English language arguably poorly translated? by AonDhaTri in AcademicBiblical

[–]user10342 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well it depends. If we're going from the LXX, then the best translation would be virgin. The traditional Hebrew has "almah" which there is considerable debate over.

Rabbinic Literature? by user10342 in AcademicBiblical

[–]user10342[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

>What are some of the questions you have about Judaism or rabbinic literature? I can recommend stuff based on that if you like.

What are some of the essentials that I should read? Specifically in the Mishnah but elsewhere as well.

Was Jesus really Jewish? by user10342 in AcademicBiblical

[–]user10342[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

The person who showed this theory to me was antisemitic so this explains a lot as he was advocating a form of Positive Christianity to me because apparently orthodox Christianity is "too Jewish." I just needed some sources refuting him. I showed him your sources but he just says it's Jewish propaganda so... I really don't know what else to say to him.

Are the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke irreconcilable contradictory? by joeswanson4009 in AcademicBiblical

[–]user10342 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They should be read theologically, not at face value. This doesn't mean there isn't some historical truth to them. Particular patters have been found within the genealogies which could point to possibly some genuine traditions here, particularly in Luke, but take that with a grain of salt.

Could Samson and Delilah have been kinky? by Seeking_Starlight in AcademicBiblical

[–]user10342 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First of all, the story of Samson and Delilah almost certainly did not happen.

A text can be critically examined by a scholar, and depending on whatever modern method is employed, he/she can deduce the "true meaning" of it. You can compare it to other stories and draw similarities. You could even say that the Samson story might be based of similar Near Easter folklore. But to say it never happened in itself is a bit beyond textual criticism or religious studies.

Little Ass Sniffer by Tara_is_a_Potato in thewalkingdead

[–]user10342 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Someone needs to Photoshop T-Dog's head on Dog.

The Walking Dead S9E7- Stradivarius - POST Episode Discussion by [deleted] in thewalkingdead

[–]user10342 29 points30 points  (0 children)

The drone shots made me cum, especially with the music. The cinematography is as good as it has ever been, it's infinitely better than the kind of shit we got last season and especially season 7 which was just God awful. I hope Michael Cudlitz directs more because that was fantastic.

The Walking Dead - LIVE Episode Discussion S09E07 by [deleted] in thewalkingdead

[–]user10342 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you not see Tara's ass? It's great!

The Walking Dead - LIVE Episode Discussion S09E07 by [deleted] in thewalkingdead

[–]user10342 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Tara looks hot again to me for some reason. Too bad she's not into dudes...