Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
In a recent comment, Giuseppe asked about Mark 8:27-30 (the Confession at Caesarea Philippi). At issue is a grammatical error in the text, mentioned in Robert M. Price‘s Holy Fable Volume 2, but first (apparently) noticed by Gerd Theissen in The Miracle Stories of the Early Christian Tradition. Both Theissen and Price argue that the error reveals … Continue reading “A Redactional Seam in Mark 8:28?”
In the previous post, I promised to discuss a group of scholars who changed the perspective of biblical scholarship. I was referring to those whom we commonly group into the religionsgeschichtliche Schule. In English we call this the History of Religions School. The German term, religionsgeschichtliche, implies a secular, critical-historical approach toward religion. The reputation … Continue reading “The Memory Mavens, Part 11: Origins of the Criteria of Authenticity (3)”
I am copying here a post I just submitted on another forum, so with apologies to readers who have already seen this . . . . This topic is not about “Jewish prophecies of the messiah’s arrival”. It is not about the second century Bar Kochba rebellion. Nor is it even about popular beliefs and attitudes at the time of the 66-73 … Continue reading “Myth of popular messianic expectations at the time of Jesus”
Followers of Richard Carrier’s blog will have known of Richard Carrier’s review earlier this month of A Shift in Time by Lena Einhorn: Lena Einhorn on the Claudian Christ Theory I am glad I did not mention it here at the time now because the page became more interesting in the following week with an … Continue reading “Richard Carrier & Lena Einhorn Discuss Shift in Time“
In biblical studies, we continually read articles, posts, books, etc. in which authors use apparently ordinary words that on closer inspection turn out to be highly specific terms. And unfortunately, some authors will use these specific terms rather loosely, flitting between general and specific usage while blurring important distinctions. I’ve pointed out this phenomenon before when discussing … Continue reading “What Is a Prophet?”
Here for convenience is an annotated list of the recent posts on “the myth of messianic expectations”. 1. Questioning Carrier and the Common View of a “Rash of Messianism” at the time of Jesus Carrier’s claim “Palestine in the early first century ce was experiencing a rash of messianism” is introduced. His assertion that “The … Continue reading “Questioning Carrier and the Conventional Wisdom on Messianic Expectations”
I expect this post will conclude my series challenging Richard Carrier’s arguments in On the Historicity of Jesus attempting to justify the common belief that early first century Judea was patchwork quilt of messianic movements. This belief has been challenged by specialist scholars* (see comment) especially since the 1990s but their work has still to … Continue reading “Questioning Carrier: Was the Book of Daniel Really a “Key Messianic Text”?”
I continue to examine the arguments mounted in favour of the view that Jewish messianic expectations at the time of the founding of what became Christianity as set out by Richard Carrier. Even ‘John the Baptist’ (at least as depicted in the Gospels) was a messianic figure (e.g. Jn 1.20; Lk. 3.15), or otherwise telling … Continue reading “How Do You Spot a Messiah? — Myth of Jewish Messianic Expectations continued”
I put Richard Carrier’s arguments on hold in this post in order to point out what another scholar I have not yet cited has had to say about what J. H. Charlesworth calls “the myth that Jews expected a Messiah and knew what functions he would perform.” I would even say William Scott Green‘s opening … Continue reading “Origin of the Myth that the Jews Expected a Messiah”
This is part 3 of my series arguing against the popular notion that the time of Jesus as narrated in the gospels was ablaze with various cults and movements eagerly expecting a messiah to appear as per prophecies or even time-tables found in the Jewish scriptures. My depiction of this supposition as a myth in … Continue reading “Questioning Carrier and the “Myth that the Jews Expected a Messiah” (#3)”
Let’s take another set of references Richard Carrier cites to support the claim That Jewish expectations of some kind of messiah in the early Roman Empire were widespread, influential, and very diverse . . . has been well established by experts on ancient messianism.15 Carrier 2014, p. 67 I am referencing Carrier because he sets … Continue reading “Questioning Claims about Messianic Anticipations among Judeans of the Early First Century”
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”
Josephus lays the blame for the Jewish rebel movement squarely on the shoulders of Judas the Galilean who led some sort of movement to oppose Roman taxes around the time of the infancy of Jesus — 6 CE. From this Judas arose what Josephus labels the “Fourth Philosophy”. The other three were the Pharisees, the Sadducees … Continue reading “Did Josephus Fabricate the Origins of the Jewish Rebellion Against Rome?”
It will be a little while before I set aside the time I would need to prepare a proper review of Richard Carrier’s book, On the Historicity of Jesus, and Raphael Lataster’s Jesus Did Not Exist, but till then I can drop the odd comment on this or that point. But one thing I can … Continue reading “Carrier, Lataster and Background Knowledge Element 4: A Quibble”