Do you think that God added to the teachings of Jesus after His Ascencion?

[Thomas]

I know early Christians held slaves, but the church itself held a population of slaves?

All part of our not-too-illustrious history. as late as the late 1800s, the Jesuits in America sold their slaves to raise funds for the Smithsonian.

 

[Thomas]

That's not an ending. There must have been more

That's the question.

The final 12 verses as we have them are not in the oldest manuscripts we hold. In the 4th century, both Eusebius and Jerome stated that nearly all the known Greek manuscripts end the Gospel at v8.

There are also at least two endings. The common one is the short one, and both of them are stylistically and syntactically different to the rest of the Gospel. For these reasons scholars generally accept that the Gospel ended at v8. All modern Bible translations somehow indicate a break between v8 and v9-20.

If, as Hart suggests (and others agree) Mark was written to be performed more than to be read, then the abrupt ending serves a purpose – Don't go home, happy and satisfied with having heard a stirring tale, go on. The last words of the tomb are to the disciples "he precedes you into Galilee, there you will see him" – the story doesn't end here, go where the story leads, now your journey begins – it's a dynamic ending, and the whole text is a dynamic tale, written with the average person in mind.

 

[Thomas]

Your double negative is confusing. Are you saying that the last verses came from the author of 'Mark'?

No, they didn't.

....or the true Temporal account?

Well here we part ways, I think, as I see the temporal and the spiritual dimension – if Jesus was anything he was an apocalyptic prophet firsrt and foremost, his social polity was determined by that.

Herod Agrippa talking with Paul happens some considerable time after that Passover Festival. That's a weak piece of deduction.

I made a mistake here – I was talking about the use of the term 'Christian' to describe the followers of Christ.
The first recorded use is Acts 11, in Antioch, around 44CE.
Agrippa talked with Paul in Caesarea Maritima around 59-60CE (Acts 28).

For any who would read it.

Bit vague ...

But I get your point of view.

 

[Thomas]

Professors, scholars and translators are completely at odds with each other.

Well not all, and not all the time ... that's a bit of an exaggeration.

I'll be that you don't support the deductions of Geza Vermes, Dominic Crosson or Bart Erhman.

Some I do, some I don't.

I tend to look at their evidence and not necessarily rest on their conclusions – a discipline I was taught at a very 'traditional' Catholic institution when I studied for my degree. I was not allowed to harbour my prejudices simply because they believe differently.

Vermes, for example, who has done sterling work to recover 'the Jewishness of Jesus' (as have many, many scholars in recent decades) believes in the Resurrection. Ehrman does not... nor does Crosson, except in a psychological sense ... they are all views to take into account.