Help! Joseph of Arimathea.

[King_Charles]

I don't mind Polaris, Pad....the one below you I'm not so sure about.

There is room for argument about this shit. The problem with theists is that they think there isn't.

OK let's argue then: "Further, the style of address is Greco-Roman. "Joe of ........ " was used in the Greco-Roman world. A jew and a member of a priestly family would have been known as "Joe son of Whoever." "

Not always, naming convention in the Greco-Roman world used kinship as well as place names eg“Hector son of Priam”. And while it was most often kinship in the Hebrew tradition this was not always the case: remember our little ruckus about "Jesus of Nazarath"? As well as this there is referred to in 2 Samuel "Ahithophel the Gilonite" so it is possible to read too much into this.

Secondly the construction "Joseph of Aramthia" is a trick of translation that makes it seems as if this were his formal naming style. In two gospel he isn't called anything like it, Matthew the construction is "απο αριμαθαιας/ τουνομα ιωσηφ" Literally [a rich man] "out of Aramathia/ to a name Joseph". Luke he is reffered to as "a man named Joseph" and in the next verse says he was from Aramathia. In John and Mark it's "Iωσὴφ ἀπὸ Ἁριμαθαίας", "ἀπὸ" meaning off, away from, out of. "Of" is a good translation for most purposes, but the construction is not a naming one. A more literal translation might be "Joseph coming from Aramathia". Compare the regular construction of Greek name with a place. Diocles of Carystus is rendered in ancient Greek as "Διοκλῆς ὁ Καρύστιος" Literally: "Diocles he of Cartstus".
The fact that Aramathia is mentioned in all four gospels does highlight, however, that Aramathia was important to the writers for some reason. One reason might be that, if he was a Sanhedrin, then it would be important to note which council he served on – he was presumably not invited to the council that tried Jesus so was most likely a member of the Sanhedrin of a nearby town, possibly Ramatha, or Ramah (the name was probably obscured in the rendering of the Hebrew script into the Greek) and a member of the Great Sanhedrin, which I doubt would have been called for the trial of a blasphemer.

OK, this is my argument; you’re welcome to rip into it now, just promise not to throw your toys out of the pram because someone has the audacity to disagree with your opinion.

Also giveusahug you minimal lil thing you!