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Was Lazarus the Beloved Disciple?

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  • Was Lazarus the Beloved Disciple?

    Ben Witherington seems to think so:

    https://www.beliefnet.com/columnists...-disciple.html

    I'm not sure it matters because Lazarus would have been an eyewitness.

    What do you all think?

    Thanks.

  • #2
    Lazarus was both someone who 'could have had access to Caiphas’ house, being a high status person known to Caiphas’ entourage' and also a leper, the son of a leper? The Jews wanted to kill him but he still had access to it?

    Academics.
    Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

    Comment


    • #3
      I think Ben Witherington is saying something controversial to get his name in the press.
      "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

      "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Thoughtful Monk View Post
        I think Ben Witherington is saying something controversial to get his name in the press.
        This is why, despite much valuable work that academic theologians do, you can't take them too seriously.
        Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Thoughtful Monk View Post
          I think Ben Witherington is saying something controversial to get his name in the press.
          Ben Witherington is a well-known and respected scholar and does not need an excuse "to get get his name in the press."

          Who do YOU think is the Beloved Disciple and back it up with evidence.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by demi-conservative View Post
            This is why, despite much valuable work that academic theologians do, you can't take them too seriously.
            Ben Witherington is a well-known and respected scholar and does not need an excuse "to get get his name in the press."

            Who do YOU think is the Beloved Disciple and back it up with evidence.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Christian3 View Post
              Who do YOU think is the Beloved Disciple and back it up with evidence.
              This is always a good sign of being triggered, as how valid a critique is does not depend on whether another alternative is proposed.
              Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

              Comment


              • #8
                Your response tells me that 2 Timothy 2:23 now applies.
                "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

                "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

                Comment


                • #9
                  Let's make this a teaching moment. To what extent are experts or authorities in a humanities field reliable?

                  Primarily, they are experts because they have a very good grasp of the primary sources, as well as the various commentaries and theories. Experts are at their most reliable when stating bare facts. Being expert does not mean that they are good at managing their own biases or good at logical reasoning. So they are less reliable when interpreting facts, and least of all when trying to construct a new theory. Here is where they are especially vulnerable to laypeople, who can be better at reasoning logically or at spotting how their biases affect the argument.

                  Therefore a bright twelve-year-old can embarrass a grizzled scholar by asking how a leper can be high status. I still have respect for Witherington and DA Carson as authorities in their field, but that doesn't stop me from critically evaluating and recognising that some of their arguments are embarrassingly bad.
                  Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Christian3 View Post
                    Ben Witherington is a well-known and respected scholar and does not need an excuse "to get get his name in the press."

                    Who do YOU think is the Beloved Disciple and back it up with evidence.
                    The press generally speaking is not interested in hearing from orthodox Christian theologians, so your first statement isn't true.

                    As for who the beloved disciple is? I have no particular interest in the issue.
                    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by demi-conservative View Post
                      Let's make this a teaching moment. To what extent are experts or authorities in a humanities field reliable?

                      Primarily, they are experts because they have a very good grasp of the primary sources, as well as the various commentaries and theories. Experts are at their most reliable when stating bare facts. Being expert does not mean that they are good at managing their own biases or good at logical reasoning. So they are less reliable when interpreting facts, and least of all when trying to construct a new theory. Here is where they are especially vulnerable to laypeople, who can be better at reasoning logically or at spotting how their biases affect the argument.

                      Therefore a bright twelve-year-old can embarrass a grizzled scholar by asking how a leper can be high status. I still have respect for Witherington and DA Carson as authorities in their field, but that doesn't stop me from critically evaluating and recognising that some of their arguments are embarrassingly bad.
                      I like a good intellectual discussion. However, not all intellectual discussions help me grow spiritually. In this case, who the beloved disciple is doesn't matter to my or probably anyone else's growth in Christ.
                      "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

                      "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        IIRC, Martin Luther was the first major figure to posit that the Beloved Disciple might have been Lazarus.

                        I'm always still in trouble again

                        "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                        "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                        "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Christian3 View Post
                          Ben Witherington is a well-known and respected scholar and does not need an excuse "to get get his name in the press."

                          Who do YOU think is the Beloved Disciple and back it up with evidence.
                          I always thought orthodox tradition was that it was John the disciple. I didn't think it was really that much in dispute in the fundamentalist circles.

                          Comment

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