Sinking 'RAWFAITH'

[AntarcticPilot]

Would 'Ark' be the ante-diluvian equivalent of calling something a floating caravan? "I don't like these modern boats made out of bits of wood, you can't trust them. The only decent boats are hollowed out of a single log".

No, it probably meant quite literally a box!

Think liferafts, not navigation!

 

[VO5]

No; most of the rest of it (after about the book of Judges) can be correlated with history known from elsewhere and archaeology. The New Testament is firmly rooted in history, and events in it are mentioned by other (non-Christian) authors; notably Josephus.

Have you really ploughed through Josephus ?

Wow, I am impressed. It is at least 8 inches thick !

My grandfather who was an engineer, architect, surveyor and mechanical engineer and an amateur theologian, had a copy, which, until our last residence, was used as a very effective doorstop.

 

[VO5]

As a footnote, my mother...in wartime London...and dodging the Doodlebugs.....was asked by my grandfather, on her next visit to Central London, to go to Charing Cross Road (where all the classical booksellers had shops) to obtain for him a copy of Josephus...

My mother...went from shop to shop...in each of which...on enquiring about this voluminous tome...was met by sad denials to her enquiry...

Then she ventured into a truly dickensian establishment...in which there was an old boy sitting in a hooded chesterfield chair...whom....upon enquiry...in his excitement...banged his head on the hood as he stood up...pounced on a pile of them in a corner covered with cobwebs and dust which he quickly brushed away...and chirpily enquired..."And how many Josephuses would you want, My Dear ?

My mother coyly replied "only one...Please".

"Oh very well then, choose the one you like best".

"This one, leatherbound..."

"Ah yes, that will be One Shilling and Thuppence"

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Have you really ploughed through Josephus ?

Wow, I am impressed. It is at least 8 inches thick !

My grandfather who was an engineer, architect, surveyor and mechanical engineer and an amateur theologian, had a copy, which, until our last residence, was used as a very effective doorstop.

No, I haven't! As you say, life is too short. But is a common reference for Biblical studies, so I have read summaries of him, and the text for the relevant bits.

The whole history of the Jewish Wars and the arguments in favour the antiquity of Judaism are not mainstream interests for me - and that's what Josephus is mostly about. But he mentions events related to the New Testament in passing, and once you strip away later interpolations, they confirm the basic historical context of the gospels, and the historicity of their central figure. He's not the only non-Christian source for that period, but because he was interested in Israel and it's history, especially during the first century AD (basically, Josephus was a high-level commander of rebels in Judea in about 60-70 AD, who turned coat and went over to the Romans when he saw who was going to win!), he's a good cross-check for the New Testament.