Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Manifest Destiny? 12/04/08 By Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom Copied with permission from the Israeli peace activist site Gush Shalom (my links no longer default to new windows!) NEXT MONTH, Israel will celebrate its 60th anniversary. The government is working feverishly to make this day into an occasion of joy and jubilation. While serious problems … Continue reading “Israel’s birthday and God’s gift from the Nile to the Euphrates”
(revised 1.15 pm) Continuing notes from Pervo re the genre of Acts. Pervo compares the genre of Acts with the genre of the works of other ancient historians. Below I’ve summarized Pervo’s comments but have added much more by way of illustration from Price and Feldman. I have also just received a copy of Revealed … Continue reading “The literary genre of Acts. 4: Historian’s Models – comparing Josephus”
Below I have summarized the conclusions of the far more detailed discussion of the Emmaus road narrative. It offers an explanation for some of the problems with this narrative by seeing it in the context of the art of popular story telling. Having lost appreciation for this context of the original gospel, subsequent literal and … Continue reading “The Emmaus narrative and the techniques of popular story-telling”
The Emmaus Road narrative in Luke 24 raises many questions. Why is the hitherto unknown Cleopas one of those who appears to be the first to meet the resurrected Jesus? Who is his unnamed companion? Why does the narrative conclude with a statement that Jesus has appeared to Simon when no such appearance is described? … Continue reading “The origin and meaning of the Emmaus Road narrative in Luke”
Richard Pervo (Profit with Delight) compares Acts with ancient novels and finds striking resemblances. We tend to resist finding the thrill of novelistic adventure and humour in the books of the Bible. Holy books are supposed to be read with much gravitas, after all. But Pervo’s comparison with ancient novels has persuaded him that Acts … Continue reading “The literary genre of Acts. 1: Ancient Prologues”
Completion of this series of section by section review and comment:
Holocaust Testimonies (pp. 493-499) Bauckham proceeds to wax lyrical over a paragraph of recorded oral testimony from Auschwitz survivor, Edith P. He concludes: “The most accomplished Holocaust novel could not equal the effectiveness of that story in conveying the horrifying otherness . . . . [Her testimony] discloses to us her world, the Nazi’s kingdom … Continue reading “Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Chapter 18e”
An earlier post here discussed thoughts arising out of the unlikely combo of Carrol’s “Existential Jesus” and Patella’s “Lord of the Cosmos.” One set of responses was too lengthy to be carried out in the tiny comment boxes so am extending the discussion here.
Let’s get some Jewish and historical balance to my notes on Paul’s shipwreck. Paul was not the only Jew sailing to Rome who suffered shipwreck. Compare historian Josephus’s description of his own voyage, from his Vita (Life):
13. Eyewitness memory Richard Bauckham uses this chapter to relate modern studies in memory psychology “to gospel traditions in a systematic way”. RB acknowledges that others like Crossan have addressed memory studies before but B is attempting to apply them more specifically in a range of cases of eyewitness recall and as the sources of … Continue reading “Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Chapter 13”
Speculative digressions Bauckham follows with a speculative set of digressions suggesting possible reasons why some names were more popular than others. Some, he suggests, were popular because they recalled names with anti-Hellenistic associations of liberation or conquest (e.g. Hasmonean names); others were popular for the opposite reason — because they jelled so easily with similar … Continue reading “Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Chapter 4b”
3. Names in the Gospel Traditions In this chapter Bauckham discusses the names in the Gospels apart from those of the Twelve and of the public figures, proposing that they were eyewitnesses of the “traditions” to which their names are attached and that they continued to live as authoritative living witnesses to guarantee the veracity … Continue reading “Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Chapter 3”
I’ve written this “review” essentially as a commentary on what we can know about the genuineness of the New Testament epistles. The commentary bits are in eyesore bold italics. I read Rosenmeyer’s Ancient Epistolary Fictions (Cambridge University Press, 2001) to inform myself of the literary culture behind the New Testament epistles as part of my … Continue reading “Ancient Epistolary Fictions / Patricia A. Rosenmeyer (2001). Review”