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This chapter argues that various factors of the mid-second century CE account for the creation of Pauline letters. The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE) had tremendous social and political consequences for Jews and Romans. The Jewish defeat by Rome resulted in the destruction of their temple and territory, deportation of Jews into slavery, and a significant loss of life. During this period, writer-intellectuals immigrated to Rome, established schools, and produced various religious writings, some of which directly reflected on the consequences of the recent Jewish revolt. Marcion’s Evangelion, considered by some as the first gospel, stems from this social-political context. At this same time, political and religious discourse attests to the reassessment of the Jewish rite of circumcision. The devaluation and non-necessity of circumcision for gentiles found within Pauline letters parallels discussions in writings of the post-Bar Kokhba period. Marcion is known in sources for having a singular interest in the Apostle Paul. He is also credited with the earliest known collection of ten Pauline letters (the Apostolikon). These combined factors contribute to the sense in which Marcion’s second-century Roman school is the likely location of the origination of Pauline letters.
Why are the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke so similar, yet different? Modern scholars have developed four main approaches to the synoptic problem: That the evangelists tapped into testimonies about Jesus, or drew from many written fragments, or used a common exemplar, or modified each other's work. The first three approaches find solid support in antiquity, yet ironically, the fourth approach dominates gospel scholarship, without producing any consensus. In this study, Paul A. Rainbow reclaims the discarded proto-gospel hypothesis of the earliest modern critics, based on a fresh reading of traditions recorded by Papias in the early second century CE. He challenges the Utilization hypotheses – that the synoptists adapted the work of each other, in various theoretical configurations – by offering an historically nuanced hypothesis of a proto-gospel, which the three evangelists independently translated into Greek from Hebrew and enriched with oral testimonies and written fragments available to them.
Justin continued to present himself as a philosopher after his conversion to Christianity, and to see himself as engaged in a common pursuit with other philosophers. This is evident in the audacity of his addressing himself to the emperor and his adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius, in the First Apology. There are only a few passages in Justin's works that contain a sustained discussion of philosophical topics. The most important of these is in the opening chapters of the Dialogue with Trypho where, after a brief initial discussion with Trypho about philosophy, Justin outlines his own philosophical education, and his encounter with 'an old man' who engages him in a dialogue about philosophy, a dialogue which is considerably more Socratic in tone than the Dialogue with Trypho itself. The Apologies contain discussions on fate and free will, and on the relationship between the teachings of philosophers such as Socrates and Christianity. The existence of God is axiomatic for Justin.
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