Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
While I was a believer I was fascinated by speculations that someone well-read in the Bible might conjure up by linking verses together in a way that no-one seemed to have thought of before. For example, someone might “prove” that Jesus was a well-to-do middle-class businessman by noting that he seemed to have a particular … Continue reading “The occult art of constructing the historical Jesus”
Concluding my little series of posts Book 4 — Seaton’s translation of the fourth and final book of the Argonautica. (Ignore the chapter numbering in the title.) The tricks of verisimilitude Modern readers are not fooled by into thinking that the tale of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece is based on historical traditions simply … Continue reading “Bible and the Argonautica. ch. 6 [Book 4]”
Scholars are very busy people so we can surely forgive them when they write reviews that indicate they haven’t taken the time to read attentively what they are reviewing. One instance of this is James D. G. Dunn’s review of Robert Price’s chapter questioning the historicity of Jesus in The Historical Jesus: Five Views. Dunn … Continue reading “Dunn on Price (2)”
The various historical Jesus explanations for Christian origins are without analogy, are highly improbable, and rely on filling in gaps with “something unknown” or “something we don’t understand”. How plausible is it, after all, that all of the following somehow come together in a coherent “explanation”: Jews scarcely believing Jesus was nothing more than a … Continue reading “Some reasons to favour a “mythical Jesus” over a “historical Jesus””
For the sake of completion to my recent posts on empty tombs and crucifixions being popular stuff of ancient fiction I should add the most well-known one here, the section from the first century Satyricon by Petronius. (Those recent posts are Popular novels and the gospel narratives and Another Empty Tomb Tale.) The date Michael … Continue reading “Resurrection reversal”
In a recent post, I mentioned a new publication, The First Paul, by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. I said it contained some interesting bits, but also some bits that one might suspect are arguably on the dubious side of method and logic. I discussed a positive for my first post, now for a … Continue reading ““Christ crucified” — Was Paul’s message really anti-imperialist as Borg and Crossan assert?”
“The narrative of the Fourth Gospel is a synthesis of two distinct stories — the cosmological tale and the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth — into one coherent narrative.” (Jo-Ann A. Brant, Divine Birth and Apparent Parents: The Plot of the Fourth Gospel, in Ancient Fiction and Early Christian Narrative.) The following notes, … Continue reading “Novelistic plot and motifs in the Gospel of John”
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.