The Origins of Christianity in the Calendar Wars of the Second Century BCE
By (author) Alfred Osborne
This clearly-argued work uses the 364-day liturgical calendar and its followers the Notsrim to link together Jesus and the earliest Christians, the Jewish civil war prompted by calendrical change in the mid second century BCE, the Maccabees and Hasmonaean kings, the revolt against Rome in 66-70 CE, and the curse on the no?rim in the
In the Gospels Jesus is called a ‘Nazarene’ or ‘Nazoraean’. Does this mean he came from Nazareth? Basing himself on Lidzbarski’s analysis of the Hebrew/Aramaic origins of the Greek terms Nazarenos and Nazoraios Dr Osborne proposes that these epithets indicate that Jesus was a nosri, a ‘(Strict) Keeper/Guardian (of the Law)’. This meant he was a follower of the 364-day liturgical calendar known to us from 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and Qumran. An examination of the passages where these terms appear shows that this hypothesis leads to a deeper understanding of the circumstances in which the first Christian communities arose and clarifies greatly the background of Jesus’ crucifixion as Yesu ha-Nosri. The book then traces the influence of the nosrim on the history of Israel from their origin in the ‘calendar wars’ that tore apart the Jewish nation from 172-163 BCE. These broke out after the lunisolar calendar was introduced into the temple liturgy by Menelaus the high priest, and only came to an end when the 364-day calendar was reintroduced under his successor, Alcimus. In 151 BCE, however, Jonathan Maccabaeus was appointed high priest and reintroduced the lunisolar calendar. The nosrim were suppressed and forced to emigrate or go underground. They reappear as leaders of Jewish resistance to Roman occupation after Pompey incorporated Judaea into the empire in 63 BCE. Eventually they became the chief instigators of the revolt against Rome that led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Osborne argues that the no?rim thought to have been included in the Twelfth Benediction of the Amidah at Yavneh around 90 CE are these same ‘(Strict) Keepers/Guardians (of the Law)’.
- By (author) Alfred Osborne
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The Rhetoric and Hermeneutics of Meditation in Hugh of Saint-Victor, Guigo II, and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio
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The Evidence of Willibald of Eichstatt (700-787 CE)
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Through the Bone and Marrow
Re-examining Theological Encounters with Dance in Medieval Europe
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Removing Masculine Layers to Reveal a Holy Womanhood
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Saints and Sinners in Early Christian Ireland
Moral Theology in the Lives of Saints Brigit and Columba
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The Spirit, the World and the Trinity
Origen's and Augustine's Understanding of the Gospel of John
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‘The loss of a minute is just so much loss of life’
Edward Robinson and Eli Smith in the Holy Land
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Healing not Punishment. Penitentials in the Insular Church
Historical and Pastoral Networking of the Penitentials between the Sixth and the Eighth Centuries
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Agents in Liturgy, Charity and Communication
The Tasks of Female Deacons in the Apostolic Constitutions
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Computus and its Cultural Context in the Latin West, AD 300-1200
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, Galway, 14-16 July, 2006
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The Christology of Theodore of Tarsus
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‘Lest She Pollute the Sanctuary’
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