Comments on: Eusebius Vindicated?

By: Steynian 431rd « Free Canuckistan!

Steynian 431rd « Free Canuckistan! — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:58:44 +0000

[...] CONTRA ISLAM– Recent archeological finds suggest that Christianity arrived in Egypt much earlier than the [...]

By: David MacGuire

David MacGuire — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:55:58 +0000

This really isn’t news in the Orthodox Christian world, with some of our earliest Egyptian monasteries known to have been there well before the time of Constantine. I think the author got confused as to which way the remains were buried but that’s understandable. It is a given that there was a solid nucleus of Christians or proto-Christians in Jerusalem around the time of the rebellions @85 AD. We know this because they were being dealt with very firmly, by both the Jews and Romans. If they hadn’t been there they wouldn’t have needed persecuting. They were probably driven out of the city during the unrest and naturally made their way to Egypt as so many other refugees had before them.

In their zeal to discover the truths about their own tenets, which is proving to be elusively hard, Mormons have made some amazing discoveries that confirm Biblical anecdotes and history. In their efforts to recast themselves as Christians they may well end up more Catholic than the Pope. I like working with Mormons – if definitely not FOR them – because they are like Scottish engineers; they see everything but only warn you about the important things and then nag relentlessly until you make a decision about them.

By: Telemachus

Telemachus — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:11:53 +0000

“Crews also found detailed linen textiles wrapping the bodies, terra cotta figurines depicting a maternal, possibly Mary-like figure, and crosses and wooden fish appearing as amulets on necklaces.”

A “Mary-like” figure? Oh man, wouldn’t that be something. Non-Catholics would have some explaining to do, unless they are just going to go with the “immediate and complete apostasy following the Crucifixion” hypothesis.

On another note, is it eventual that Mormons will all convert to Catholicism en masse? I sort of wonder how BYU academics can make these finds, come to the correct conclusions about them, and yet not look at the Catholic Church and say “Hmmm… strikingly familiar!”

By: Taylor Marshall

Taylor Marshall — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:50:51 +0000

Wow, Mike. This is really cool. Thank you for sharing. I’ll “share this” post on Facebook.

ad Jesum per Mariam,
Taylor

By: Carl Sommer

Carl Sommer — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:43:54 +0000

Darrell, Dan, I did misread the passage Dan quoted. Sorry for the impertinence! But the “head-west” burials were at the bottom of the shaft, and the earliest graves at the site are dated to about 350 BC. There could not have been Christian burials before there were Christians! What’s going on? I suspect we are assuming that the burials at the bottom of the shaft would be the earliest, but it could be the other way around. The graves at the bottom of the shaft could have been the latest, if the cemetery operators simply deepened the shaft as needed, making niches for the people they buried. If the Christians continued this practice, they would have deepened and lengthened the shaft, making more niches for the people they buried. Thus, the Christian burials would have been at the bottom of the shaft, contrary to our twentieth century reasoning.

By: Mike Aquilina

Mike Aquilina — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:04:30 +0000

“The idea that Christianity didn’t take root in Egypt til after 300AD” may indeed be “preposterous,” but it’s academic orthodoxy. That’s the point of the article. What the archeologists have found seems to go against the received story line since Bauer — that Mark is legendary and the Gnostics held the day till the Catholics got the support of Constantine, that Clement and Origen represent a kind of via media, etc., etc.

By: kelso

kelso — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:44:11 +0000

Good comment Ryan. Thanks for setting the history right. Saint Paul in Romans says that their “voice” had reached the whole world. Andrew in Russia, Thomas in India, Matthew in Ethiopia, Peter and Paul in Rome. Mark, of course, in Egypt, taking over the See of Peter, who was the first patriarch of Antioch and Alexandria, before he went to Rome. And what about Saint Catherine of Alexandria, who was martyred in 305.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:47:37 +0000

The idea that Christianity didn’t take root in Egypt til after 300AD is preposterous. Clement of Alexandria and Origen were world reknowned Christian authors, and themselves teachers at an established school, by the early 200s AD, and the Desert ascetics (ie St Anthony) rose to prominence in Egypt in the latter half of the 3rd century. Moreover, Philo discusses holy groups called “Therapeutae” which though of disputed practices, point to a Christian community in the late 1st century. That said, the find is still interesting!

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:31:41 +0000

Darrell: agreed. Carl: that’s not what the story said: “A person buried with the head to the west would rise facing east, the direction from which the Christian Messiah is supposed to approach on Judgment Day, according to David Whitchurch, another professor of ancient scripture involved with BYU’s dig.”

I don’t know what’s going on here.

By: Carl Sommer

Carl Sommer — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 21:42:54 +0000

Mike this is a fantiastic find. Thanks for sharing it!