Discussion:
The marriage of Paul and Phoebe - Acts 18:1-23
(too old to reply)
David
2008-11-11 00:53:15 UTC
Permalink
It has sometimes been said USENET is a
virtual world that should not be taken seriously.

I don't believe this.

In any case, below I provide an example of
real-life action. My email was to my pastor,
Darrell Minnich of Good Shepherd, and
Dick Csaplar, a lawyer and church elder.

--- Re: Eusebius, in H.E. 3, 30, 1 considered
the Apostle Paul married

Dear Dick and Darrell,

I apologize for being too succinct in my citation.

Nonetheless, the record between us must be
corrected, not so much to insist 100 % that
the Apostle Paul was married; rather, the case
for it may be very credibly argued as I now show.

Paul by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor - Page 64
http://books.google.com/books?id=yTddaMGsuWMC&pg=PA64&dq=%22Paul+himself+does+not+hesitate+in+one%22&lr=&ei=nLMYSfaSGJW0yQSjv9m7Ag#PPA64,M1

"According to Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria
claimed that she is alluded to in Philippians 4: 3,

Peter and Philip had families, and Philip gave
his daughters in marriage, while Paul himself
does not hesitate in one of his epistles
to address his yoke-fellow, whom he did not
take round with him for fear of hindering his
ministry. (78)

This long dominant interpretation has now rightly
fallen out of favor, for a simple grammatical reason.
Paul wrote 'gnesie', the masculine form of the
adjective meaning 'true, genuine'. Had he a woman
in mind he would have written 'gnesia'. (79)"

"78 History of the Church, 3, 30, 1, quoting Stromata
3, 6, 52; trans. Williamson
79 Lightfoot (1908), 159."

OTOH, Thomistguy argues persuasively by my
lights. My role is to make his argument available for you.

Blog by Thomistguy - Theology for Dummies
http://simplegodstuff.blogstream.com/v1/pid/234603.html?CP=

Extract -
Was Paul an example of celibacy? He speaks of the
firm Jewish ideal of marriage and Paul's repeated
claim that he failed in no religious duty. Thus, he must
have been married as a young man. He gives himself
as an example to the "unmarried and widows"—"it is
good for them if they remain even as I am" (1 Cor. 7:8,
NKJB). One tendency here is to see Paul as a widower,
serving the Lord rather than remarrying. But another
option is persuasive; he was using himself as an
example of sexual self-control (1 Cor. 7:7). "With
consent for a time" (1 Cor. 7:5) did he leave his
wife to pursue a dangerous mission at Ephesus?
Clement of Alexandria wrote about A.D. 200 and
responsibly worked from earlier sources. He claimed
knowledge of Paul's marriage, identifying his wife with
the "yokefellow" of Philippians 4:3: "Paul himself
does not hesitate in one of his letters to address
his yokefellow, whom he did not take about with him
in order to facilitate his mission."

The apostles as a group were examples of both
marriage and companionship in the ministry, for
Paul said that he had "power to lead about a sister,
a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the
brethren of the Lord, and Cephas" (1 Cor. 9:5).
That whole chapter argues that Paul could have
required the Corinthians to support him but didn't.
But Paul stresses his literal "authority" to ask for
support for self and for wife. Would he renounce
a right of support that was never a possibility?
(Dah?) That passage really takes for granted Paul's
marriage and the Corinthians' knowledge of it.

Was Paul giving regular rules for marriage? Paul
discourages marriage only "for the present distress"
(1 Cor. 7:26). Elsewhere in the Bible this last word
is "necessity" (anagke). Paul next says that "the
time is short" (1 Cor. 7:29), following with the
conclusion that normal marriage relationships and
business activity should be suspended. Commentators
quickly leap to Paul's supposed belief that Christ's
coming loomed on the horizon, which completely
violates what he said on the subject in 2
Thessalonians 2. Yet Paul is certainly concerned
about doing the Lord's work under a deadline,
whether that deadline is coming persecution, coming
apostasy, or just the "necessity" of facing the huge
task of reaching so many with such small resources.

--- my personal opinion (very controversial)

Dr. Thiering's critics (please see Wikipedia article on
her) have been unable to refute convincingly any aspect
of her radical thesis of Christian Origins. I hasten to
add that this is not the same thing as saying she is
right. (She was my scholastic mentor during 5 years
of association.)

On the matter at hand, I give two urls of hers out of
conviction that her opinion on Paul's marriage to
Phoebe and the surrounding circumstances should be
heard. I am at pains to instruct you not to let her
opinion that Jesus Christ is still alive prejudice your
judgment of the integrity of her chronology on Paul's
marital state and surrounding circumstances of his
mission. Again, if you have the opportunity to review
her urls, note very carefully her exact dates.

How 'Romans' got to Rome
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qumran_origin/message/2078

Click Acts 18:1-23*
The marriage of Paul and Tamar - Acts 18:1-23
http://www.pesherofchrist.infinitesoulutions.com/index_WFW_verse.html

Yours in Christ,
David Christainsen
David
2008-11-13 21:59:51 UTC
Permalink
Post by David
...
In any case, below I provide an example of
real-life action.  My email was to my pastor,
Darrell Minnich of Good Shepherd, and
Dick Csaplar, a lawyer and church elder.
--- Re: Eusebius, in H.E. 3, 30, 1 considered
the Apostle Paul married
...
Titus 2:15

15 These, then, are the things you should teach.
Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not
let anyone despise you.

----- Original Message ----
From: Richard C. Csaplar
To: philip christainsen
Cc: darrell
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 4:00:03 PM
Subject: RE: Eusebius, in H.E. 3, 30, 1 considered
the Apostle Paul married

David What I am trying to get across to you is that almost
every passage has some fool of a blogger (I am too polite
to call these bloggers by their true name i.e. self centered
fool of blogger) out to show Christianity to be false.
-----
Dick As a blogger, Thomistguy is not out to show
Christianity false.
-----
When you indicate that there is some possibility of that someone
somewhere might have something worth listening to, you lead the
class to consider foolish (i.e. stupid) time wasting wrong theories
which interfere seriously with the goals of our class.
-----
I never did this in the context of our class. What I wrote you as
email stands on its own.
-----
You do NOT have a self appointed role "to make ... argument[s]
available to" anyone in a class that is not studying arguments
that are merely your "personal opinion (very controversial)" on
collateral unimportant issues.
-----
This has never been my behaviour.
-----
Citations to articles
from thoroughly discredited Wickipedia about a person who
has a "radical" crackpot "thesis" that Christ is still alive whom
you state, having, you assert, having read every single word on
the subject (pro and con) for the last 1,960 years, have been
unable to refute her. Stop and think about how your mind works.
-----
Dick Over the decades I have studied all the critics of Dr. Thiering
had to offer. Because of my technical schooling, I have always
realized the significance of her seminal 1981 article (signs of
Essene solar calendar in the New Testament, cited in Wikipedia).
-----
I tell you that my great-great grandfather is not dead but
still alive and no one has been able to refute this. Do you think
we should debate this in the middle of our next class? I have wasted
this time on your issues solely in the hope that any future classes
will not have to waste valuable time on other red herrings.
-----
You are not thinking clearly what I actually said in class; I did NOT
mention Barbara Thiering.
-----
David you are more than welcome (indeed you are invited) to come
to these classes. But attendance (by anybody, me included) is
conditioned on the attendee wanting to study the word as it appears
in the Bible. David, I love you. As you remember it was me who
invited you to attend our church. But I assumed you were a
searcher after truth not a searcher after minutia.

Dick
-----
For me - in the USENET arena I currently challenge any Thiering
critics to refute her timeline in her Chronology Appendix in her 2006
book, pgs 365-368 for 51-54 AD concerning Paul's marriage to
Phoebe, available at the public library. Please note that my
focus is on NT historical events with dates with no challenge to
traditional Christian theological understandings.

Dave

BTW I have not taught Thiering pesher, her methodology, in years.
Were I to take it up again, at least half a year would be required for
the student to master it.
Paul Murray
2008-11-14 09:48:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by David
BTW I have not taught Thiering pesher, her methodology, in years.
Were I to take it up again, at least half a year would be required for
the student to master it.
Dr Thiering on David:
"I am prepared to say that David Christainsen does indeed have a
problem of obsessiveness, and in fact is not a fully reliable source
on the detail of the pesher. ... You may quote my opinion."
David
2008-11-14 16:06:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Paul Murray
Post by David
BTW I have not taught Thiering pesher, her methodology, in years.
Were I to take it up again, at least half a year would be required for
the student to master it.
"I am prepared to say that David Christainsen does indeed have a
problem of obsessiveness, and in fact is not a fully reliable source
on the detail of the pesher. ... You may quote my opinion."
As I have repeatedly explained on USENET (and you
should know it, Paul) -

for the past 2 years I have rarely deviated from my self-imposed
rule to couch my USENET Thiering posts to consist largely
of extracts from her own articles IN HER OWN WORDS.

By the evidence, Barbara received communication from Ian
of SRQ, complaining of the freedom of my commentary on
Christian Origins. Before she gave her opinion, she failed
to check on the exact nature of my posts.

---

Were there any readers now interested in substance, instead of
distraction -

my suggestion for understanding the Apostle Paul's
dynastic marriage to Phoebe is to run thru all index
entries to NAZARITE in the 2006 Thiering book. Also, try
pgs 201-202 for narrative and pgs 365-368 for textual
apparatus.

---

Surprise quiz question -

what historical source gives the identification of John of
Zebedee as Aquila?

David Christainsen

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