Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Taking a breather Since more than one person has asked me, I thought it might be best to pause in the middle of my series on Reading Wrede Again for the First Time and state the case clearly and correctly. Given the lack of scholarly comprehension surrounding the motif and Wrede’s analysis of it, I … Continue reading “What Is the Messianic Secret?”
I bear glad tidings of good news. Karl Ludwig Schmidt’s magnum opus has finally been translated into English. The publication date is 2021, but I became aware of it earlier this month. The translator, Byron R. McCane was also responsible for the highly readable The Place of the Gospels in the General History of Literature, … Continue reading “K. L. Schmidt’s The Framework of the Story of Jesus: Now in English!”
This post is detailed. But it is getting down to the nitty gritty of a case for the midrashic creation of the Jesus figure in the gospels. Performative utterance: In the philosophy of language and speech acts theory, performative utterances are sentences which are not only describing a given reality, but also changing the social … Continue reading “4 Jewish Word Plays behind the Word Becoming Flesh / 3 … (Charbonnel: Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier)”
Longtime Vridar readers may recall a post from 2013 in which I discussed an argument put forth by William Wrede regarding the priority of Mark’s gospel. Wrede noted that when Matthew took over Markan accounts, he sometimes condensed or rewrote his source, which led to oddities in the finished product. It turns out Volkmar and … Continue reading “What Is the Purpose of the Nicodemus Stories in John? (Part 1)”
Responses to some points made in a larger argument for the historicity of Jesus, Another Jesus Mythicism Discussion (I posted then soon deleted much of what follows about three weeks ago. My initial post was couched in a misunderstanding about the background to the original post.) I did return to the original site to continue … Continue reading ““Another Mythicist Discussion” Revisited”
After a long delay, owing to intrusions from the real world, I now wish to end this part of the Memory Mavens series with a discussion of perspectives and methods. For weeks I’ve ruminated over these subjects, concerned (no doubt overly concerned) that I will miss some important points. But when I do, I know … Continue reading “The Memory Mavens, Part 11: Origins of the Criteria of Authenticity (4)”
Recently, I was researching and preparing for the fourth chapter of the most recent Memory Mavens post. I wanted especially to resurrect, and then dismiss, Albert Schweitzer’s characterization of William Wrede’s work as “thoroughgoing scepticism.” I had already touched on this subject back in 2012 in our series on the Messianic Secret. At the time, … Continue reading “When Schweitzer Changed His Mind and Nobody Noticed”
While reading Michael Licona’s recent book, Why Are There Differences in the Gospels?, I came upon this little nugget. [Richard] Burridge and [Graham] Gould say Bultmann was correct in asserting that the Gospels do not look anything like modern biography. What Bultmann neglected to observe, however, is that neither do any other ancient biographies. Differing … Continue reading “Ancient vs. Modern Biographies: Didn’t Bultmann Know the Difference?”
For all posts in this series: Roger Parvus: A Simonian Origin for Christianity It has been more than a year since I wrote the previous installment in this series. I have some excuses: new location, new job, and separation from well-stocked libraries. And also, I must admit, something unexpected happened during the break: I started losing … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 16: Mark as Allegory”
Early this morning, I was sipping coffee and catching up on some Biblioblogs. Hey, did you notice we’re number 31 on the list of the Top 50 Biblioblogs? Thanks for reading Vridar! Anyhow, I was reading the latest posts on the Ehrman blog, and lo and behold it turns out Brother Bart is interested in … Continue reading “Ehrman Misremembers Halbwachs: “Everybody Wants ta Get inta the Act””
For all posts in this series: Roger Parvus: A Simonian Origin for Christianity Previous post in this series: Part 12: A Different Perspective on the Corinthian Controversy (conclusion) We finally come to the question of how my Simonian hypothesis would deal with the inconsistent Pauline position regarding the Mosaic Law. Like resurrection, the Law was a … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 13: Simon/Paul and the Law of Moses”
Under the Grip I just noticed over on the Cakemix that Dr. McGrath is once again comparing Jesus mythicism to creationism. He writes: Mythicism says: universities are so much under the grip of Christianity that mythicism cannot get a fair hearing. As you know, the good doctor finds this idea laughable. Implicit in his short … Continue reading “Under the Grip of Christianity: New Testament Scholars and the Myth of Transparent Fiction”
Dazed and confused As you no doubt recall, scholars frequently divide the quest for the historical Jesus into phases or periods. The first period, following Albert Schweitzer‘s analysis, began with Hermann Samuel Reimarus and ended with William Wrede and Schweitzer himself. Conventional wisdom holds that the quest took a breather at that point, with scholars … Continue reading “What Do They Mean by “No Quest”?”
This is the second post in the series: A Simonian Origin for Christianity. Some argue that Paul’s theology just underwent a very rapid development. Or that he changed his position to suit changed circumstances. Others chalk up the inconsistency to his temperament. He was impulsive and wrote things in anger that he probably regretted later. … Continue reading “A Simonian Origin for Christianity, Part 2: The Letters of Paul”