Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Continues from part 1 . . . . Philip Jenkins in his reaction, The Myth of the Mythical Jesus, has an even more blunt response to anyone who ventures into the “far swamps of extreme crankery” by pursuing questions that have no place among biblical scholars: “Scholarship is what scholars do, and if they don’t do … Continue reading “Biblical Scholars Reacting . . . Part 2”
Maurice Casey (Jesus: Evidence and Argument Or Mythicist Myths?) critiques Thomas L. Thompson’s The Messiah Myth without giving his readers any idea of its stated purpose or overall argument. I suspect Casey himself did not know what it was about and could not explain its argument if he tried since he had made up his … Continue reading “Maurice Casey’s Mind “Boggles” Reading Thomas L. Thompson’s Messiah Myth“
Professional ethics Back in the previous century when I was a captain in the USAF, I had the privilege of attending the Air Force Institute of Technology. I recall especially well a course on military ethics, taught by a tough old retired Marine with a remarkable command of history, philosophy, and rhetoric. Many memories of … Continue reading “Maurice Casey, Professionalism, and the Starless-and-Bible-Black Wall of Silence”
J. C. O’Neill (1930-2004) was a well respected critical scholar with some controversial views and always offering stimulating argument. Possibly the most controversial was his Who Did Jesus Think He Was? in which he argued that Jesus did believe he was the Messiah and that even the doctrine of the Trinity could be detected in … Continue reading ““Born of a Woman” — Sober Scholarship Questioning the Authenticity of Galatians 4:4″
Updated with mostly typo corrections, 6:30 am, 8th Dec. 2012. Perhaps many readers of Bart Ehrman are impressed enough with his public reputation to be confident that when they read his book on mythicism, Did Jesus Exist? (DJE?), they are reading yet another fine, erudite, devastating critique by a scholar who knows what he is … Continue reading “Emperor Ehrman Walks Naked Through a Storyland Nazareth 4000 Years Old”
I decided to review this book after encountering commenters on this blog strongly asserting that Christian origins must be found in “astrotheology”. I had to confess I had never read Acharya S’s or D. M. Murdock’s book arguing for this position, The Christ Conspiracy, completely from cover to cover. I did, however, attempt to point … Continue reading “Part 3: Review of Acharya S’s “The Christ Conspiracy””
Maurice makes sure I know my place when he twice identifies himself as Emeritus Professor Maurice Casey and nine times identifies me as Blogger (Neil) Godfrey. The “Internet”, for Emeritus Professor Maurice Casey, is a hotbed of “hopelessly unlearned people”, “Christian apologists and determinedly anti-Christian atheists” who are “impervious to evidence and argument”, in “closed-minded” … Continue reading “Blogger Godfrey’s Reply (1) to Emeritus Professor Maurice Casey of The Jesus Process ®©™”
I am continuing here with another quick and easy response because real-life distractions prevent me at this time from addressing Hoffmann’s and Casey’s posts against mythicism. I will address both when work and family situations permit. Right now I am relaxing after sharing with family experiences in Kakadu — plan to return tomorrow some time. … Continue reading “Neil Godfrey’s response 2: @ Stephanie Fisher”
Stopping short In his paper, “Mark’s Missing Ending: Clues from the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Peter,” Dr. James F. McGrath asks some interesting questions about the last chapter of Mark and what “story” the author may have understood to lie beyond it. This sort of question reminds me of the difference between the … Continue reading “McGrath’s “Missing Ending”: What Was Mark’s Story? — Part 1″
Bart Ehrman’s attempt to deal with Earl Doherty’s book, Jesus: Neither God Nor Man, is “filled with so many unguarded and undocumented statements and claims, and so many misstatements of fact, that it would take a [book three times the size] to deal with all the problems.” I have quoted Ehrman’s own words to describe … Continue reading “Ehrman’s Most Bizarre Criticism Of All Against Doherty”
A few posts back I listed 3 reasons scholars have embraced the Christ Myth theory, 6 “sound premises” of the early Christ Myth arguments, and the weaknesses of 6 traditional arguments against the Christ Myth idea (all archived here), as published by Hoffmann in his introduction to Goguel’s book. So why not complement those posts … Continue reading “Three Pillars of the Traditional Christ Myth Theory”
One of the most common arguments I read and hear for the historicity of any part of the Gospel narratives is: The church would have had no reason to make it up. When I first encountered this remark I assumed it was just a passing phrase and that the real argument would soon follow. But … Continue reading “Why would the Gospel authors have made it up?”
Continued from Responding to standard arguments for Jesus’ historicity (1) . . (ii) he was from Nazareth . . . . Not only is the fact that he was from Nazareth a feature of all versions of the stories but Nazareth itself appears, with Jesus being scorned and rejected there. This was clearly a problem … Continue reading “Response (2): the Bethlehem-Nazareth fallacies”
woops — i originally spoke of marion as a “she” — thanks to a respondent i have been able to correct my gaffe. there is less gender confusion when one consults marion’s (marty’s) homepage. (note added 24/jan/07) Christopher Price draws on Marion Soards’ review to dismiss the argument of Richard Pervo’s Profit with Delight as … Continue reading “Reviewing Marion Soard’s review of Pervo’s “Profit with Delight””