Comments for Heavenly Tabernacle at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Fri, 24 May 2013 19:25:57 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/heavenly-tabernacle.html#comment-8966 Mr. Giunta, You'll have to take up the argument with Ambrose. At some point. -ABM - Brad Miner Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:08:07 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/heavenly-tabernacle.html#comment-8965 Brad Miner is one of my favoriItes on this site,next to Fr. Schall. - Matthew Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:04:51 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/heavenly-tabernacle.html#comment-8964 Mr Miner: And where did St Ambrose receive his information? It seems not from any Jewish sources, but from anachronistic Christian apocrypha. To my knowledge, the only consecrated virgins ever to have existed within Judaism were those that were members of the Therapeutae, a monastic order headquartered in Alexandria during late Second Temple Judaism. Mr Kainz: There are solid historical grounds for adopting the pre-Hieronymian understanding, that the "brothers" of Jesus were step-brothers from an earlier marriage (i.e., of Joseph). The great Protestant Biblical scholar Richard Bauckham defends this as a viable historical interpretation. - Eric Giunta Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:46:48 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/heavenly-tabernacle.html#comment-8957 There are difficulties with the apocryphal legend that Joseph was an old man who was somehow coerced by the priest to become a potential bridegroom in spite of his unwillingness. This leads to further problems with Jesus' "brothers," i.e. stepbrothers, who are for some reason passed over as caretakers for Mary when Jesus on the cross entrusts her to John. Other questions come up also. Did the stepbrothers travel to Bethlehem for Jesus' birth, to Egypt with the Holy family, etc. - Howard Kainz Mon, 21 Nov 2011 06:12:10 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/heavenly-tabernacle.html#comment-8956 Mr. Guinta, My source was an Orthodox website, and not directly from Josephus. Notwithstanding, there remains the fact that Pius XII cites Ambrose in support of the role of virgins in the Temple. -ABM - Brad Miner Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:55:55 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/heavenly-tabernacle.html#comment-8955 "[T]he historian Flavius Josephus also wrote of the temple virgins that 'there were many living quarters around the Temple, where dwelt those [virgins] dedicated to the service of God.'" Citation, please? This sounds like apocryphal pious piffle; I don't thik Josephus refers to such folks at all. - Eric Giunta Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:26:38 +0100