Vridar Files

Resources related to the Vridar blog

Bruno Bauer translated into English

I have translated Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte der Synoptiker = Critique of the Gospels (according to the Synoptics) -- volume 3 includes comparison of the Passion Narrative with the Gospel of John. All three volumes are available at BRUNO BAUER: Critique of the Gospel Narrative — English translation

Also now translated to English: BB's work of a decade later, Criticism of the Gospels and History of their Origin = Kritik der Evangelien und Geschichte ihres Ursprungs. Available at:

BRUNO BAUER: Criticism of the Gospels and History of their Origin — in English

I have also made a new translation of Christ and the Caesars -- now available online at:

BRUNO BAUER: Christ and the Caesars — in English or as a pdf document here.

Another translation now available: Criticism of the Pauline Letters -- see:

BRUNO BAUER: Criticism of the Pauline Letters — in English. Also available in a pdf file (though this may be revised as I discover a need for corrections).

In progress: BB's Critique of the Gospel of John is also gradually being made available BRUNO BAUER: Critique of the Gospel of John — English translation.

and BB's work on Acts of the Apostles (Die Apostelgeschichte...) is being uploaded step by step at BRUNO BAUER: Acts of the Apostles — in English.

Other Nineteenth Century Pioneers

Two Pioneers of the Markan Priority Hypothesis, Wilke and Weisse:

Christian Gottlob WILKE's "The First Evangelist" (Urevangelist) is now translated into English. The details (including links to the German text) are found on a Vridar blog page: WILKE -"Der Urevangelist" - Translated into English

The complete translation is here (PDF - 27 MB). --- Since a few quirks in the translation still need to be ironed out and the Greek text also needs polishing (perhaps even with added English translations) I have called the work a draft.

And Christian Hermann WEISSE's': "Gospel History" (Die evangelische geschichte, kritisch und philosophisch bearbeitet) is also translated to English:

• Gospel History Volume 1 (PDF - 7 MB)
• Gospel History Volume 2 (PDF - 6 MB)
• Gospel History Errata and CC Licence (PDF - 66 KB)

The life of Paul as the inspiration for the Gospel of Mark, Volkmar:

Gustav VOLKMAR -- identifying the life of Paul as a source of the Gospel of Mark. See the Volkmar page on Vridar for details.

• Religion of Jesus (PDF - 4 MB)
• Mark and the Synopsis of the Gospels (PDF - 15 MB) -- This file will be updated regularly as I steadily see more detail to correct and improve. Latest update 8th October 2023.

Pauline Epistles composed in the Second Century:

Rudolf STECK: English translation of Der Galaterbrief... = Epistle to the Galatians...

• The Epistle to the Galatians examined for its authenticity along with critical remarks on the main Pauline letters (PDF - 5 MB)

Origins of the Old Testament

In search of ancient Israel (notes from Philip R. Davies' groundbreaking 1992 book)

Hellenistic Origins of the Old Testament

Russell Gmirkin has taken up the challenge to explore the evidence for the Old Testament being a Hellenistic work. Detailed notes from two of his books are available here:

• Plato and the Hebrew Bible
• Plato and the Biblical Creation Accounts (Gmirkin)

Moses' Exodus and Xerxes' Greek Campaign (notes from Jan-Wim Wesselius)

Gospels of Mark and Peter

• Gospel of Mark's fictional characters

• Gospel of Mark's bookends

• Gospel of Mark's sources -- the feeding of the 5000

because you do all the cats sorry about there

• Gospel of Mark and the Homeric epics (notes from Dennis R. MacDonald's book )

Comparing the Gospel of Peter with the the canonical gospels: a table.

Comparing Gospels of Mark and Peter:

• Alternative gospel trajectory
• Gospel of Peter

P. L. Couchoud's The Creation of Christ: An Outline of the Beginnings of Christianity

The full text of both volumes of "The Creation of Christ: An Outline of the Beginnings of Christianity" by P. L. Couchoud is now available as PDF files:

• The Creation of Christ. Volume 1
• The Creation of Christ. Volume 2

Summary outlines of each chapter of Couchoud's Creation of Christ are available at the Vridar blog. To see the table of contents of Creation of Christ with links to those chapter by chapter Vridar notes go to:

• Table of Contents for Couchoud’s The Creation of Christ

Hermann Detering and Thomas Brodie

English translation of published version of Detering's dissertation,

• Staged Forgeries: The Pauline Epistles in Dutch Radical Criticism

Hermann Detering's review of Bart Ehrman's review of Did Jesus Exist?

• Prof."Errorman" and the non-Christian sources

Thomas L. Brodie: The New Testament's Dependence On the Old -- Illustrated

• Chapter 7 of Brodie's Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus: Memoir of a Discovery

A Dutch Radical: Gustaaf Adolf van den BERGH VAN EYSINGA: De Oudste Christelijke Geschriften = Ancient Christian Writings (PDF - 3 MB) Other translations and works by van den Bergh van Eysinga can be found at Herman Detering's RadikalKritik site

Josephus and Christian Origins

• Tale of Two Jesus's (notes from Theodore Weeden)
• John the Baptist interpolated into Josephus's Antiquities (notes from Rivka Nir's The First Christian Believer)

Justin Martyr and Christian Origins

• The Gospel as gleaned from Justin Martyr's writings
• Church origins according to Justin Martyr's writings