Gospel of the Ebionites is the conventional name given to an apocryphal
gospel believed to have been used by a Jewish Christian sect known as
the Ebionites. All that is known of the gospel consists of seven brief
quotations found in a heresiology known as the Panarion, written by
Epiphanius of Salamis (pictured); he believed it to be a truncated and
modified version of the Gospel of Matthew. The quotations were used as
part of a polemic to point out inconsistencies in the beliefs and
practices of the Ebionites relative to Nicene orthodoxy. The text is a
gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels, composed in Greek with various
changes reflecting the writer's theology. It is believed to have been
composed some time during the middle of the 2nd century. Distinctive
features include the absence of the virgin birth and genealogy of Jesus,
an Adoptionist Christology in which Jesus is chosen to be God's Son at
the time of his Baptism, Jesus' appointed task of abolishing the Jewish
sacrifices, and an advocacy of vegetarianism. Although the gospel was
said to be used by "Ebionites" during the time of the early church, the
identity of the group or groups that used it remains a matter of
conjecture.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_the_Ebionites>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
756:
Emperor Xuanzong fled the Tang capital Chang'an as An Lushan's
forces advance toward the city during the An Lushan Rebellion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Xuanzong_of_Tang>
1769:
Spanish soldier Gaspar de Portolá led the first European land
expedition to present-day California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portol%C3%A1_expedition>
1933:
With the enactment of the Law for the Prevention of
Hereditarily Diseased Offspring, the Nazi Party began its eugenics
program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_for_the_Prevention_of_Hereditarily_Diseased_Offspring>
1965:
The NASA spacecraft Mariner 4 flew past Mars, collecting the
first close-up pictures of another planet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_4>
2003:
In an effort to discredit U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who
had written an article critical of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Washington
Post columnist Robert Novak revealed that Wilson's wife Valerie Plame
was a CIA "operative".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hapless:
Very unlucky; ill-fated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hapless>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes
directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.
--Ingmar Bergman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman>