Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Let’s cut to the chase. If all you have are the gospels then what can you say about the historicity of Jesus? If all we have is a story that has no corroboration external to the narrative itself to attest to its historical status, then at the most basic level we have no way of … Continue reading “When all you have is a story what can you say about history?”
Following on here from my earlier post. As noted in my previous post, Matthew and Luke inform us directly that the miracles of Jesus were for the purpose of identifying Jesus as the Messiah in accordance with the prophecies in Isaiah. We may, if we wish, speculate that there really were a set of healings … Continue reading “Jesus was not a healer (2)”
Let’s close 2010 with a wonderful New Yorker article from May this year. It is a cleverly written discussion of the state of Historical Jesus studies by Adam Gopnik, What Did Jesus Do? Reading and Unreading the Gospels. One might even suggest that Gopnik demonstrates the ability of complete outsiders to see how starkly naked … Continue reading “That Curious Criterion Guiding Historical Jesus Scholarship”
I take it absolutely for granted Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Security about the fact of the crucifixion derives not only from the unlikelihood that Christians would have invented it but also from the existence of two early and independent non-Christian witnesses to it, a Jewish one from 93-94 C.E. and a Roman one … Continue reading “Crossan’s absolute certainty in the historicity of Christ Crucified”
In his newly published Jesus of Nazareth, one of Emeritus Professor Maurice Casey’s criteria for deciding if a Gospel detail is truly historical is that the passage “contains nothing that the early church would want to make up”. Though I have read very many works of history, I never heard of this as a rationale … Continue reading “Nothing the Early Church Would Want to Make Up?”
It is standard practice to classify Jewish messianism as national, ethnic, political and material, and to mark Christian messianism as universal, cosmopolitan, ethical and spiritual. That Jewish anticipation of the messiah’s arrival was unusually keen in first century Palestine and constituted the mise en scène for the emergence of Christianity is a virtual axiom of … Continue reading “The Myth of a General Messianic Expectation in Jesus’ Time”
In a 2005 review article of Jens Bruun Kofoed’s Text and History: Historiography and the Study of the Biblical Text Thomas L. Thompson observes (my emphasis): The conclusions themselves of an historian’s research and their accord with belief, rather than argument or method, are perceived as indicative of legitimacy. Adjectives, on the other hand, judging … Continue reading “The Role of Faith in Historical Research”
In my previous post I cited Leopold von Ranke’s famous explanation for history being an art. (I turned to von Ranke because a biblical scholar quoted von Ranke to me without knowing the source of his quotation, nor its meaning.) Now von Ranke’s philosophy of history and views on the nature of historical facts have … Continue reading “History as Science, Not Only Art. (History for Dummies, 2)”
A biblical scholar earlier this year publicly asked: Any recommendations on reading about the philosophy and methods of historical research, written by someone with no connection to Biblical studies? I did provide that professor with a number of suggestions (the post included major figures in the field of twentieth-century historiography and readings that would lead … Continue reading “History for Dummies (and Biblical Scholars)”
One might fault my previous post on the grounds that the problem Paul was addressing among the churches of the Galatians did not require him to address anything apart from the simple fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus. (Well, I at least faulted it for that reason.) This post attempts to demonstrate that … Continue reading “What Jesus Christ Meant to Paul and the Thessalonians”
Two archaeologists, one Israeli (Israel Finkelstein) and one American (Neil Asher Silberman), have bizarrely managed to repackage a Taliban-like ancient biblical legal code into a modern enlightened expression of human rights, human liberation and social equality. Presumably this is done in order to preserve some (mythical) legitimacy for traditional claims among certain Jewish quarters that … Continue reading “More nonsense from biblical archaeologists: turning a Taliban text into a proclamation of human rights and dignity!”
Publius who? That is the point of this post. Assertions that there is as much evidence for Jesus as for any other person in ancient times, or that if we reject the historicity of Jesus then we must reject the existence of everyone else in ancient history, are based on ignorance of how we really do know about … Continue reading “Stronger evidence for Publius Vinicius the Stammerer 2000 years ago than for Jesus”
Rick has posted an interesting discussion titled What is History? The Nature of “Facts” in response to my Historicist Hocus Pocus post. This follows a short exchange between us in the comments beneath my own post, and is an extension of earlier blog posts of his own on the same theme. I appreciate Rick’s response … Continue reading “Historical facts and the nature of history — exchange with Rick Sumner”
Niels Peter Lemche has a chapter in Lester Grabbe’s Did Moses Speak Attic titled, “The Old Testament – A Hellenistic Book?” Here are a few highlights from it. The first point here should stand out as equally relevant for New Testament studies. NT studies digression Historical Jesus/Christian origin scholars should have this framed and displayed … Continue reading “The Old Testament – A Hellenistic Book? (and other digressions)”