In this “new insights into Acts” series, we are re-examining the text of the New Testament under the premise that Matthew was published coincident with the events of Acts 10–11, and that Mark was published shortly thereafter. Further, that these texts were immediately accepted as authoritative Scripture, as having been…
Tillemont was born in Paris in 1637 and became a priest in 1676. Shortly thereafter he retired to an abbey near Paris, but subsequently moved to his family estate (Tillemont) near Paris, where he completed two masterful works, one on ecclesiastical history and the other on the history of the…
Theologians of the 1800s wrote with a flowing eloquence and style which is foreign to the ears of our present generation. Upham begins chapter three, “The Received Date of the Gospels,” with a rebuke not only against unbelieving skeptics, but also against orthodox religious leaders, who undermine the Gospels not…
Elsewhere, I have argued that Matthew was published for the benefit of the Jews, coincident with the events of Acts 10–11, as Peter and Paul began preaching in Rome, the empire. And further, that Mark was published shortly thereafter, leveraging both Matthew’s Gospel and the sermons of Peter, at the…
Am starting to frame-up some ideas for another paper. The tentative question: If Matthew’s Gospel was indeed the first Gospel to be published, while the sequence of events was relatively fresh in the minds of many of its readers, then would Matthew not have been particularly concerned with presenting the…
To the chorus of those who assert that Matthew was written within a decade of the resurrection and ascension, I have added four more voices: Samuel Ellwood (1709), Samuel Humphreys (1746), Thomas Horne (1825), and Arthur Carr (1898). An extended excerpt from Horne has been included, which provides a nice…
In chapter 2, on the “Intent to Have a Written Gospel,” Upham begins with a quick allusion to Milton’s Paradise Lost: Surely it was not the “Archangel ruined” who deluded men into saying that the Witnesses [of Christ] never thought of putting their witness into writing! … The ancient genealogies…
Sitting atop one of my bookshelves is a collection of older works—some were treasures discovered at used bookstores and others were sought out. One of my favorites is a small hardback by Francis W. Upham, published in New York in 1881. This was almost 150 years ago! To put this…
What does it do to the trustworthiness of the witness testimony contained within the Gospels, when it is asserted that the Gospel of Matthew was not written until four, five, or six decades after the dialogues and events contained therein? First, I want to highlight the dating claims made by…
This is my first published book and I have to admit to feeling more than a little giddy with excitement. I’ve been quite distracted over the last couple weeks, as the typesetting was finished, then the cover design, and now the book is available through Christianbook, Amazon, Barnes and Noble,…