I 3300 51 apologetics modern worldviews

Principles of the Enlightenment
1. Human reason became primary source of knowledge

2. Human authority originates from society not God

3. Human and Natural Laws are absolute and universal

4. Diﬀerentiation between the secular and sacred

5. Inexplicable phenomena have rational explanations

6. Scripture is accessible and subject to inquiry

Modernity
1. Reliance on science and technology

2. Ability of reason and empiricism to explain all phenomena

3. Human mastery over their world

4. Optimism and civilization of all cultures

5. Supremacy of Western Culture

Scientism:
Rationalism v. Empericism

Rationalism
The view that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge.
Holding that reality itself has an inherently logical structure, the rationalist
asserts that a class of truths exists that the intellect can grasp directly. There
are, according to the rationalists, certain rational principles—especially in logic
and mathematics, and even in ethics and metaphysics—that are so
fundamental that to deny them is to fall into contradiction.
Blashard, Brand. 2015. “Rationalism” Encyclopedia Brittanica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/rationalism

If A -> B,
And B -> C,
The A -> C

Empiricism
Empiricism about a particular subject rejects thesis that all knowledge is
derived through logical means. Knowledge ultimately dependent upon sense
experience. Sense experience is our only source of ideas. They reject the
corresponding version of the Superiority of Reason thesis. Since reason alone
does not give us any knowledge, it certainly does not give us superior
knowledge. Empiricists generally reject the Indispensability of Reason thesis.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2004. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/#Empi

Scientific Method
1. Hypothesis

2. Propose experiment

3. Test the hypothesis

4. Observations

5. Conclusions

6. Revise hypothesis

Robert Lee Moore Bldg. University of Texas
32nd Floor Theoretical Physics, Astrophysics, Dept. of Mathematics
Basement Laboratories, “Tokomak” Fusion Generator,

Robert Lee Moore Bldg. University of Texas
32nd Floor Deductive - Findings from Theoretical derivations
Basement Emperical - Experimental findings

How does modern science inform
Apologetics & how we know things?

Deism
belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of
reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural
revelation (distinguished from theism).

belief in a God who created the world but has since
remained indiﬀerent to it

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/deism

Deism
According to deism, we can know by the natural light of
reason that the universe is created and governed by a
supreme intelligence; however, although this supreme
being has a plan for creation from the beginning, the
being does not interfere with creation; the deist typically
rejects miracles and reliance on special revelation as a
source of religious doctrine and belief, in favor of the
natural light of reason.
Bristow, William. 2017. “Enlightenment”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/enlightenment/

Deism
1. God is not knowable apart from general revelation

2. Spiritual world is unknowable

3. God does not interfere in our world (no miracles)

4. Since Miracles cannot be validated or don’t exist,
they cannot be sources of knowledge
Oxford Dictionary

Voltaire and Deism
“The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles
commend, what rogues teach and young children are made to
learn by heart” (Philosophical Dictionary, 1764). Believing that
“we are living in the twilight of Christianity” (op. cit.), Voltaire felt
the Christian faith would become extinct and the Bible only an
ancient relic. Ironically, years after his death, Christians
purchased Voltaire’s home and used his own printing press to
manufacture Bibles. While some have tried to classify this story
as only an urban legend, others have researched the case and
found it to be true.
https://www.gotquestions.org/who-Voltaire.html

Modernity and Religion
1. Separation between Secular and sacred

2. Separation between Heils Geschichte & Historisch
3. Jesus of history v. Jesus of faith

4. Religion serves the “God of the Gaps”

How has modernism shaped
human approach to Christianity?

Naturalism
Rejection of Miracles
1. All knowledge is derived from
empirical inquiry (observation)

Naturalism
2. Empirical inquiry can only observe
natural law

Naturalism
2. Empirical inquiry can only observe
natural law
3. Miracles, by definition, are a
violation of natural law
A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature;
and as a firm and unalterable experience has
established these laws, the proof against a
miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as
entire as any argument from experience can
possibly be imagined. Why is it more than
probable, that all men must die; that lead
cannot, of itself, remain suspended in the air;
that fire consumes wood, and is
extinguished by water; unless it be, that
these events are found agreeable to the laws
of nature, and there is required a violation of
these laws, or in other words, a miracle to
prevent them? Nothing is esteemed a
miracle, if it ever happen in the common
course of nature. (Hume, Sec X, Para. 90)
https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/43811/hume-on-miracles.htm

Naturalism
1. All knowledge is derived from empirical inquiry (observation)
2. Empirical inquiry can only observe natural law
3. Miracles, by definition, are a violation of natural law
4. Therefore, miracles cannot be validated

Naturalism
5. Miracles cannot be a source of knowledge

Naturalism
6. All Religions derive religious knowledge from miracles (Why validate only
Christianity?)

Naturalism
The many instances of forged miracles, and prophecies, and supernatural
events, which, in all ages, have either been detected by contrary evidence,
or which detect themselves by their absurdity… This is our natural way of
thinking, even with regard to the most common and most credible events.
For instance: There is no kind of report which rises so easily, and spreads so
quickly…as marriages…The pleasure of telling a piece of news so
interesting, of propagating it…Do not the same passions…incline mankind to
believe and report, with the greatest vehemence and assurance, all religious
miracles? (Hume, Sec X Para 93)

Naturalism
1. All knowledge is derived from empirical
inquiry (observation)


3. Miracles, by definition, are a violation of
natural law



6. All Religions derive religious knowledge from
miracles (Why validate only Christianity?)

7. Since miracles cannot be validated, religious
knowledge cannot be validated
It is acknowledged…that the
authority, either of the scripture or
of tradition, is founded merely in
the testimony of the apostles, who
were eye-witnesses to those
miracles of our Saviour, by which
he proved his divine mission. Our
evidence, then, for the truth of the
Christian religion is less than the
evidence for the truth of our
senses (Hume, Sec. X. Para 1)
https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/43811/hume-on-miracles.htm

Naturalism
6. All Religions derive religious knowledge from miracles (Why validate only Christianity?)
7. Since miracles cannot be validated, religious knowledge cannot be validated
8. Therefore, Biblical interpretation must disregard miracles and their truth claims

Naturalistic View of Religion
1. All phenomena have a natural explanation

De-Mythologizing the text
Rudolph Bultman (1884 - 1975)

The Christian belief that
Christ died, rose again, and
was a God-man originated
in Greek Gnosticism.
Rudolph Bultmann
(Bultmann, 1941, p. 8)
De-Mythologizing the text

Revising Authorship and Date
ex. Deutero-Isaiah
I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of liars and
makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their
knowledge foolish…who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of
the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’…who
says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation
shall be laid.’” (Isaiah 44:24–28 ESV)


2. Bifurcation of Knowledge

Bifurcation of Knowledge
Religious knowledge v. Empirical knowledge
To the liberal theological, there is a considerable diﬀerence
between viewing the Bible primarily through the eyes of faith
and being equally open to a cultural and historical
perspective. Historically, the resurrection of Jesus and the
virgin birth are at best ambiguous…[But] from the perspective
of faith they have quite a diﬀerent significance.
Miller. Donald. 1981. The Case for Liberal Christianity. Harper & Row. p. 36.


2. Bifurcation of Knowledge

3. Assumption that all religion evolved from superstitions
to modern moral institutions

Julius Wellhausen
the … emancipation [i.e. assimilation] of
the Jews must inevitably lead to the
extinction of Judaism wherever the
process is extended beyond the political
t o t h e s o c i a l s p h e r e . F o r t h e
accomplishment of this centuries may be
required.”
Wellhausen, Julius. , Sketch of the History of Israel and Judah, Third Edition. (London: Adam and Charles Black,1891)

Julius Wellhausen
The Jehovistic portion of the Pentateuch
also knows of no other kind of divine
worship besides the sacrificial, and does
not attach to it less importance than the
Priestly Code. The sacrificial system in
ancient Iis distinguished from all others by a
special form revealed to Moses, which
makes it the alone legitimate. Sacrifice is
sacrifice: when offered to Baal, it is
heathenish; when offered to Jehovah, it is
Israelite.
Wellhausen, Julius. , Prolegomena 1885. P. 54

Julius Wellhausen
Jesus casts ridicule on the Jewish law. the
washing of hands and vessels, the tithing
of mint and cummin, the abstinence even
from doing good on the Sabbath. Against
unfruitful self-sanctification He sets up a
different principle of morality, that of the
service of one’s neighbour… Just this
natural morality of self-surrender does He
call the law of God; that supernatural
morality that seeks to outbid this, He calls
the commandment of men
Wellhausen, Julius. , Prolegomena 1885. P. 510

Adolph Harnack
To reject the Old Testament in the second
century perhaps was a mistake which the
great Church refused rightfully…but to
conserve it after the nineteenth century as
a canonical text in Protestantism, was the
result of a religious and ecclesiastical
paralysis.
Harnack, Adolf. Marcion: Das Evangelium vom fremden Gott (Leipzig, 1921), p. 248

Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg dubbed the Old Testament a
collection of "stories of pimps and cattle traders"; but
the high school religion teacher and German Christian
agitator Reinhold Krause earned sustained applause
in November, 1933, when he repeated that phrase at
a rally of twenty thousand people. Like Rosenberg,
Krause viewed "liberation from the Old Testament" as
part of the current assault on Jews in Germany: "If we
National Socialists are ashamed to buy a tie from a
Jew," he told his audience, "how much more should
we be ashamed to accept from the Jew anything that
speaks to our soul, to our most intimate religious?
Bergen, Doris. The Twisted Cross. (North Carolina Press, 1996) p. 21

Response to Evolution of Religion

Primitive
Monotheism
Wilhelm Schmidt (1912)
Devolution of religion

Argument for Primitive Monotheism
1. Persistent story of a Creator God
2. Tie together similar stories in world cultures
3. No one has actually seen monotheism evolve
4. Have seen the devolution of religions

a. Most religions
have an original
belief in a creator
god
Temple to Heaven in Beijing

b. No one has
actually observed
the evolving of a
religion
Temple to Heaven in Beijing

c. The devolution
of Monotheism has
been readily
observed

d. Ubiquity of creation & flood
accounts

Ojibwe Flood Narrative
Long ago the world was filled with evil. Men and women lost respect for
each other. The Creator was unhappy about this and decided to cause
a great flood to purify the earth. A man named Waynaboozhoo
survived. He turned some floating sticks and a log into a raft for the
animals and himself. They floated around for a full moon waiting for the
water to go down. It didn't, so Waynaboozhoo decided to do something
about it. "Maang!" he called to the loon. "You are an excellent swimmer.
See if you can dive down to the Old World and bring back a lump of
mud in your bill. With mud, I will create a New World.”
Conners V. (University of Wisconsin College of Ed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZ7vrLZWwI

Naturalistic Bible Interpretation

Model of Bible Interpretation
Text Reader
Writer Language Translation
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Historical
Events
Writer
Describes
Audience
Exegete
is
Addressing
Premodern: Meaning mediated by Authority
Religious
Authority
Meaning
God
Rabbinic authority Oral Tradition Papal Authority

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Modern (Reformation): Meaning Begins in Text
Meaning
God

Text Reader
Copyist
Errors
Writer’s
Cultural
Milieu
Reader’s
Cultural
Milieu
Historical
Events
Writer
Describes
Modernism (Rationalism): Meaning in culture, history, community
Meaning
Meaning beyond the text

I believe in Science, not faith!
1. I only believe what can be reasonably shown to be true (rationalism)

2. I only believe what can be tested to be true (empiricism)

3. I only believe what can be scientifically understood (scientism/naturalism)

All empirical inquiry begins with
the hypotesis.

The experiments that exploded
modern science.

Classical Physics
Theory
1. Time is universally constant for all frames of reference

2. All motion follows Newtonian Laws

3. Distances are same for all frames of reference

4. Shortest distance between two points is a line

5. Law of conservation of mass

6. Gravity is the force of attraction between two bodies

Michaelson-Moreley Experiment (1887)

Ernest Rutherford Experiment (1909)

Davisson - Germer Electron Beam Experiment (1927)

Davisson and Germer Electron Beam Experiment (1927)

Bohr Model of Atom

(Standing Waves)

Conclusions
• Electrons behave like particles and waves!

• Matter behaves like particles and waves.

• End of the planetary model of the atom.

Modern Physics
Findings
1. Time proceeds diﬀerently for frames of reference

2. Shortest distance is a curve because space is warped by matter

3. Law of conservation of mass and energy

4. Gravity is the result of mass warping space-time

5. Universe consists of mass-energy

6. All matter behaves like waves AND particles

7. Uncertainty: cannot know with certainty the location & momentum at same time

Arguments for Existence of God

Traditional Arguments
Presentation by _______________

The Jews
And the Miracle of Israel

Scriptures foretold
1. Jews will be scattered

2. Jews will survive

3. Jews will be regathered

4. The Land will be restored

5. Jews will be redeemed

Scriptures foretold

Israel About to Enter Canaan (1400 BC)

If you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or
be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes
that I command you today, then all these curses shall
come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be
in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field…Cursed
shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you
be when you go out.
(Deut 28:15–19 ESV)

And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one
end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other
gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers
have known. And among these nations you shall find no rest,
and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot,
but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart…Your life
shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in
dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you
shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say,
‘If only it were morning!’
(Deut 28:64–67 ESV)

• Jews scattered worldwide
• Palestine is de Populated
• Hebrew No Longer Spoken
Jewish Diaspora

Scriptures foretold


Blaise Pascal (1866) Mark Twain (1899) Leo Tolstoy (1908)

Scriptures foretold



When all these things come upon you, the blessing and the
curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to
mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has
scattered you, and return to the LORD your God…then the
LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on
you,
(Deut 30:1–3 ESV)

The LORD your God will…have mercy on you, and he will
gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your
God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost
parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather
you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your
God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed,
that you may possess it. And he will make you more
prosperous and numerous than your fathers.
(Deut 30:3–5 ESV)

Before World War II
9.5 Million Jews lived in Europe

Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north, and
gather them from the farthest corners of the earth, among
them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman..a great
company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall
come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back…for I
am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. “Hear the
word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the
coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather
him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
(Jeremiah 31:8–10 ESV)

Ethiopia China Morocco
Mexico Baghdad Austin, Texas

Scriptures foretold




R. Moses Nachmanides v. Fr. Pablo Christiani
Barcelona (1263 AD)

R. Moses b Nachman
Nachmanides
Palestine, 1267 AD

Nachmanides
I cannot even find 9 Jews to
pray with! Many are Israel’s
forsaken places, and great is
their desolation. The more
sacred the place, the greater
the desolation. Jerusalem, is the
most desolate place of all!
(Jerusalem Post, Sep 2017)

Mark Twain
A desolate land whose soil is rich
enough, but is given over wholly to
weeds...a silent mournful expanse...
a desolation...we never saw a human
being on the whole route... hardly a
tree or shrub anywhere. Even the
olive tree and the cactus, those fast
friends of a worthless soil, had
deserted the country.
(Innocents Abroad, 1865, p. 361)

Year Muslims Christians Jews
1850 300,000 27,000 13,000
1860 325,000 31,000 13,000
1877 386,350 40,588 13,900
Population of Palestine

I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land
springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the
acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the
cypress, the plane and the pine together, that they may see
and know, may consider and understand together, that the
hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has
created it. (Isa 41:18–20 ESV)

9.3 million people
6.9 million Jews
1.9 million Arab Israelis
,
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/latest-population-statistics-for-israel

100th most populous country
28% 0 -14 yrs old
Average age is 28

Scriptures foretold




5. The Jews will be redeemed

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the
countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle
clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your
uncleannesses…And I will give you a new heart, and a new
spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone
from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put
my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes
and be careful to obey my rules.
(Ezek 36:24–27 ESV)

For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed
of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own
estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel
will be saved; just as it is written: “THE DELIVERER WILL
COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS
FROM JACOB.”
(Rom 11:25–26 NASV)

Through Israel’s trespass salvation has come to the
Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous…I magnify
my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow
Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if
their rejection means the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance mean but life from the
dead?
(Rom 11:11–15 ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone who
believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
(Rom 1:16 ESV)

1. Ignores scientists who believe the Bible
• Galilei Galileo 1564 - 1642

• Isaac Newton 1642 - 1746

• Robert Boyle 1627 – 1691

• Antoine Lavoisier 1743 – 1794

• Leonhard Euler 1707 – 1783

• Michael Faraday 1791 – 1867

• James Clerk Maxwell 1831 – 1879

• Gregor Mendel 1822 – 1884

• Arthur Compton 1892 – 1962

2. Disregards literary genre’
Prose, Poetry
He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find
refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the
terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence
that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
(Ps 91:4–6 ESV)

3. Presumes a Naturalist Epistemology
Recorded miracles are not possible
“I am the LORD, who made all things…who says of Jerusalem, ‘She
shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
and I will raise up their ruins’…who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my
shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem,
‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”
(Isa 44:24–28 ESV)

4. Denies validation of some Bible’s claims:
1. A Genetic Eve

2. A Global Flood

3. An origin of time and space

4. A universal force holding matter together

5. An intelligent designer (the eye of the octopus)

Allan Wilson Mark Stoneking
Rebecca Cann
Discovery of Mitochondrial Eve
The Journal Nature, 1987

2. Global Flood
Gilgamesh Epic

4. Universal force
holding matter
together

Eugene Wigner (1933)
Strong Forces

He is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation. For by him all things
were created, in heaven and on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or authorities—all things were created
through him and for him. And he is before all
things, and in him all things hold together.

(Col. 1:15–18 ESV)

Christians thought the earth
was flat!

Ancient Greeks knew the earth was spherical
• Pythagorus (570 - 490 BC) - Earth sphere, orbits around a central fire
• Plato (428 - 348 BC) - in Phaedo calculate diameter at 400,000 miles

• Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) - “The earth is circular, and of no great size” (On the Heavens)

• Aristarchus (310-230 BC) - Earth revolves around the Sun

• Eratosthenes (276 - 194 BC) - measured the earth to be 29,000 miles

Medieval Christians knew earth spherical
• Bishop Isidore of Seville (530 - 636) in Etymologies
• Church historian Bede (672 - 735) in Computus

• Anania Shirakatsi (610 - 685) - Earth is like an egg, clouds are the shell

• Aristarchus (310-230 BC) - Earth revolves around the Sun

• Eratosthenes (276 - 194 BC) - measured the earth to be 29,000 miles
• St. Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179) Liber Divinorum Operum a sphere
• Dante’s Divine Comedy (14th Century) - portrayed the earth as a sphere.

Christians Thought The Sun
orbited the earth!

Psalm 19:4-6 (18:5-7 Vulgate)
5 in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum
Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of
the world.

6 soli posuit tabernaculum in eis et ipse quasi sponsus procedens de thalamo
suo exultavit ut fortis ad currendam viam
He hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he as a bridegroom coming out of his
bridechamber, Hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way:

7 a summitate caeli egressus eius et cursus eius usque ad summitatem illius nec
est qui se abscondat a calore eius
His going out is from the end of heaven, And his circuit even to the end thereof:
and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat.

Context: Reaction to Reform & Aristotle
1. 16th century reaction to Aristotelian philosophy

2. Reaction to Reformation & critical exegesis

3. Shift from metaphorical to literal understanding of prose & poetry

4. Galileo was initially defended by Pope Urban VIII (1623 - 1644)

5. Galileo’s book Dialogue on Two World Systems (1632) received imprimatur

6. Urban was angered by a character in Galileo’s book names “Simpleton”
Russell, Jeﬀrey. 2012. Exposing Myths About Christianity. IVP. (p. 136). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Habermas, G. 2019. Evidence of the Afterlife

Journal of Near-Death Studies
https://iands.org/research/publications/journal-of-near-death-studies.html

Intelligent
Designer
Eye of the Octopus

Chordata
Cephalopod
Homo Sapien
NO EYE
Bilaterians
Molluscs

Vertebrates
Cephalopod
Homo Sapien
Bilaterians
Invertebrates
NO EYE EYE !

George: Response, Short
presentation

Jesus Never Claimed to be God
Text Discussion

Deity of Messiah in Hebrews
Text Discussion

Deity of Messiah in Gospels
Text Discussion

Deity of Messiah in Old Testament
Text Discussion

Deity of Messiah in Isaiah
Immanuel Sayings
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be
upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his
government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and
over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with
righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of
hosts will do this. (Isa 9:6–7 ESV)

Daniel 7:13-14
I Enoch 37-71
200 BCE - 100 CE

Pseudepigrapha
200 BCE - 100 CE

What is Pseudepigraphal Literature
200 BCE - 100 CE
• Second Temple (Pre 70 CE)

• Expansion on stories in the Old Testament

• Pseudegraphs - Fictionally attributed to OT characters

• Represented a religious community

• Apocalyptic Genre

What is Apocalyptic Literature?
Apocalypse’ is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative
framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly
being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality
which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological
salvation, and spatial, insofar as it involves another, supernatural
world, intended to interpret present, earthly circumstances in light
of the supernatural world and of the future, and to influence both
the understanding and the behaviour of the audience by means of
divine authority.
Collins, Adla. Ed. 1986. “Apocalypse” . Semeia: Journal for Biblical Criticism. Vol 36. p 2.

Book of Similitudes
• 1 Enoch 37-71
• Date (conserv) 40 BCE - 10 CE
• MSS in Ethiopian (Ge’ez)
• Originally Aramaic
(Bocaccini & Charlesworth, 2007)

Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one
like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of
Days and was presented before him. And to him was
given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all
peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall
not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be
destroyed. (Dan. 7:13–14 ESV)

Used exclusively in a religious context to
worship the God of Israel, or a pagan deity
TDOT, Gzella, 2018, p. 607
Dictionary Targumim, Jastrow, 1926, V. 2 p. 1178
Dictionary of Palestinian Aramaic, Sokoloff, 2002, p. 435
‫פלח‬ To Serve (Aramaic)

πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς κατὰ γένη καὶ πᾶσα δόξα αὐτῷ λατρεύουσα·
Every nation of the earth according to their offspring, and all
honor was worshipping him (Daniel 7:14, LXX-NETS)

To serve in religious contexts. Religious devotion. To serve
God or gods, idols (Ex. 3:12; 4:23; 7:16; 8:16; 10:26; 20:5;
Lev 18:20.
λατρεύουσα to Serve/worship (LXX)
Lust, J. Eyunikel, E. Hauspie, K. 2015. “λατρεύω” Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (3rd Ed.)

I saw the One to whom belongs the time before time. And his
head was white like wool, and there was with him another
individual, whose face was like that of a human being. His
countenance was full of grace like that of one among the holy
angels. And I asked the one—from among the angels—who
was going with me, and who had revealed to me all the secrets
regarding the One who was born of human beings, “Who is
this, and from whence is he who is going as the prototype of
the Before-Time?” And he answered me and said to me, “This
is the Son of Man, to whom belongs righteousness, and with
whom righteousness dwells (1Enoch 46:1–3 Charlesworth)

Before the creation of the sun, moon [and] stars, he was
named in the presence of the Lord….He is the light of the
gentiles and…the hope of those who are sick…All those who
dwell on earth shall fall and worship before him. (1Enoch 48:3–
5, Charlesworth)
On that Day when they see the Son of Man sitting on the
throne of his glory kings and governors, [will]…fall down before
him on their faces, and worship him. (1 Enoch 62:5–9,
Charlesworth)

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the
Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will
see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and
coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore
his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we
need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your
decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.
(Mark 14:61–64 ESV)

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand…”
(Psalm 110:1 ESV)
Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a
son of man,
(Daniel 7:13 ESV)

I 3300 51 apologetics modern worldviews

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