Stuff Early Christians ReadGrace Church Bellingham

Rick BrannanMike Heiser

Doug MangumMatt Whitehead

On Faithlife.com:http://faithlife.com/stuff-early-christians-read

Why Even Bother?

What do you learn from reading books about the Bible, but aren’t the Bible?

What could we learn by reading stuff early Christians read?

How they understood and applied Biblical materialWhat they got rightWhat they got wrongCulture and method (both good and bad)

What Did They Read (or Hear)?

Early Christian LiteratureSeptuagintOld Testament PseudepigraphaNew Testament ApocryphaApostolic Fathers

Early Jewish LiteratureDead Sea ScrollsJudaica

But Before Then?

(Thanks Doug Mangum for the upcoming graphics)

Then What?

Septuagint (Rick Brannan)

Greek Translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)

Included full Hebrew Canon (our OT today)

But added stuff:

Additions to Esther, DanielApocrypha / Deuterocanon

Pseudepigrapha (Mike Heiser)Pseudepigrapha are “falsely attributed writings”

Pseud = “false”Epigraph = “writing”(Does not mean “fake pigs”)

Written as if from people known from the Bible, but not:

Enoch“Testaments” of Abraham, Job, PatriarchsLife of Adam and EveAssumption of Moses

Dead Sea Scrolls (Matt Whitehead)

Biblical and Sectarian Scrolls

“Biblical” Scrolls are transcriptions of the Biblical text e.g. the Great Isaiah Scroll, the oldest known edition of Isaiah

“Sectarian” Scrolls are non-Biblical material. This includes “pesher” (commentary on Biblical text) and other material like the Community Rule.

And after the New Testament?

Apostolic Fathers (Rick Brannan)

Writings of those with direct connection to Apostles

Epistles/Letters to churches and to peopleSermonsHandbooksMartyrdomApocalypse

New Testament Apocrypha(Rick Brannan)

AgraphaSayings attributed to Jesus, but not found in the four canonical gospels

FragmentsFragments of papyrus/parchment with gospel-like material, but not canonical

Noncanonical GospelsRecords of legendary and noncanonical acts and sayings of Jesus

Noncanonical Acts and LettersRecords of legendary acts of the Apostles, letters involving Apostles, etc.

And that Jewish stuff?

Judaica (Doug Mangum)

Why Include?Because Christianity began as an offshoot of Judaism, and in the early centuries the differences between the two were blurred.

What are they?TalmudsMishnahother material

How are we going to do this?

Each presenter will have their own way of introducing the material.

What follows is what Rick plans to do.

The Content

For each type of literature

What is it?

What is its relation to the Bible?Examples

Why did early Christians (or Jews) read it?Overview of ContentExamples, some large, of material.

Read sections

The Schedule(subject to change)

Session 1, October 3Introduction (Rick Brannan)Septuagint (Rick Brannan)

Session 2, October 10Judaica (Doug Mangum)Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls (Matt Whitehead)

Session 3, October 17Sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls (Matt Whitehead)Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Mike Heiser)

Session 4, October 24Apostolic Fathers (Rick Brannan)New Testament Apocrypha (Rick Brannan)

The End• Questions?

• Contact:Rick Brannanrick@logos.com