Where is the scriptural evidence that Jesus was a carpenter? Or for that matter, that Joseph was?
I suppose I could look it up, but as an atheist, I’m not that invested in proving the assertion(s).
Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55
This has come up before on the SDMB:
Of course, then there’s the question of translation. As I understand it, the Greek word used, “tekton”, is more precisely translated as “builder”: That is, Joseph would have been making buildings, possibly out of wood, possibly out of stone or other materials, possibly a combination of materials, but probably would not have been making cabinetry and furniture.
Context. Like the word used in the OT that is translated as “virgin” is more like “maiden”. Still, the tradition and the context indicates carpenter, and indeed a “tekton” could be a carpenter.
What context indicates carpenter? Nothing is said about Joseph’s work, beyond that one word.
Tradition outside the Gospels that dates back to about 200 ad or so.
Also, here-
In Isaiah 41.7, a carpenter is distinguished from a goldsmith, and again, the carpenter is the tekton , but this time, not qualified by any other word.
If we pursue that method with a couple of other passages, an interesting pattern emerges, and quite consistently. The Old Testament has quite a few references to “masons and carpenters,” for instance in building the Temple. It was quite a common pairing, and in each case, the Septuagint renders carpenter either as tekton, or specifically as artisans in wood, tektonas xylon (1 Chron.14.1). On the other hand, “masons” is translated by some word not involving tekton, such as toichon (1 Chron. 14.1) or latomous (2 Chron. 24.12; Ezra 3.7). In Ezra 3.7, for instance, they give money to the masons and the carpenters, the latomois and the tektosin, τοῗς λατόμοις καὶ τοῗς τέκτοσιν. In 2 Kings 22.6, we read about “the carpenters, the builders, and the masons”: tois tektosin kai tois oikodomois kai tois teichistais. Logically, then, a tekton must be distinct from a mason.
The Septuagint clearly suggests that early Christians would have called a carpenter a tekton, and that this was the word’s obvious meaning. If they meant mason, they would have used another word.
It should be noted that “carpenter” is not the same thing as “cabinetmaker” or “woodworker”. They all involve wood, but that’s about it.
What were the Greek words for cabinetmaker back in the day? I dont think they actually had a word just for that.
Perhaps not. I’m just pointing out that translating the word to “carpenter” and then assuming that he was a cabinetmaker is a bit of a leap for both.
Sure. We can assume from how the word was used He was some sort of carpenter- houses? Furniture? Both? But you cant assume cabinetmaker.
Yeah, it’s nitpicking at its worst, but I’m bored. Also, a carpenter doesn’t usually build furniture; they’re more in the vertical construction trade. Furniture making is a whole other skill. My great grandfather was a wagonmaker, but I wouldn’t call him a carpenter. Okay, I’ll stop now.
Don’t stop: look at the etymology of ‘carpenter’: carpenter - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
My grandfather was a carpenter, and he made all sorts of stuff. Mostly it was buildings, but when he was part of building a church, he also made the pews (at least) for the interior. He also made some furniture for my parents when they got married. My dad had a chunk of wood left over from making the pews, that that he held onto for about 50 years, until he used it to turn a pair of platters for my sister’s wedding. Carpenter is a general term! If you specialized in one or two things, you might call yourself a wagonmaker or cabinet maker, but they’re all carpenters.
Or perhaps craftsmen.
What does the Septuagint have to do with the New Testament?
You have to know how that word was actually used, and what it really meant.
200 years is far too long of a period to meaningful.
One of the reasons that scholars study Mormonism is that there are contemporary records of the foundation of a major religion.
Traditions and beliefs within a group of fervent believers can change within years or even months.
This can also be seen by the various differences in the Gospels which were probably written over a period of four decades.
I’m curious, what is the dispute?
The Iliad and the Odyssey were passed down orally for about 4 centuries before being written down, yet experts think it was done some pretty faithfully.
Not to mention from 30AD to 200 AD there were hundreds of other written records etc that didnt survive. Less than 5% of ancient writings have survived until this day.
And even so, how tekton was actually used in context shows that it meant carpenter.
And although the Iliad and Odyssey are atributed to being written by Homer, Homer himself may not have even been a real person, he may not have even existed. Same goes for the author of Epic of Gilgamesh.