Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
One of my earliest posts asked what Josephus might have said about the worth of the Gospels as history had he read them. In preparation for my final post on historical-critical methods with Stephen’s martyrdom as a case study I have come across (as another commenter also did) a chapter in Lies and Fiction in … Continue reading “Is Luke Among the Lying Historians?”
Dr. McGrath has taken me to task for my last post on “Getting to the Root of the Criteria Problem.” Actually, he’s unhappy about several things. You can tell he’s upset, because he calls me a canard-repeatin’ mythicist. That’s like a Tea Party guy calling you an atheist-Muslim or a communist-Nazi. It’s so bad. I … Continue reading “Who’s “Rejecting Critical Inquiry”?”
Right for the wrong reasons A few years back I was on the phone with an acquaintance who is as far to the right politically as I am to the left. At the time the Democratic-led Senate was trying to push through the Affordable Care Act. So he asked me what I thought about the … Continue reading “The Parable of the Ropes — Getting to the Root of the Criteria Problem”
Anthony Le Donne has published works arguing for a new type of historical study, one that draws upon memory theory, to be applied to the Gospels. He and a number of scholarly supporters believe this new approach can open up a more valid way of approximating the historical Jesus behind the Gospels. In the opening … Continue reading “A dichotomy fallacy in historical Jesus studies”
It seems the topic of the day is Amanda Witmer’s article in The Bible and Interpretation, Jesus, the Gospels and History. It covers many points I have addressed often enough here, and that others have addressed at length, so I will refer only in brief to some of these arguments in my little contribution to … Continue reading “Amanda Witmer on “Jesus, the Gospels and Historicity””
A few weeks ago I posted Islam – the Untold Story as a response to my introduction (through a radio program and an online video) to narrative historian Tom Holland’s controversial book on the rise of the Arab empire and the origins of Islam. I was interested in some of the comments expressing Muslim viewpoints … Continue reading “Islam’s Origins, the Historical Problem — notes on the reading Tom Holland’s “In the Shadow of the Sword””
This continues the previous post on Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospels by Michael Grant. Why two posts on this? Since some New Testament scholars point to Michael Grant as evidence that academics outside biblical studies employ the same methods and reach the same conclusions about the historicity of Jesus as they do, won’t … Continue reading “The Historical Jesus and the Demise of History, 3b: How One Popular Historian Follows Jesus to Historiographical Perdition (Part 2)”
Sometimes when attempting to demolish the arguments of the Christ myth theory historical Jesus scholars point to a popular biography of Jesus, Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospels, by a scholar situated well outside the faculties of theology or biblical studies, the classicist Michael Grant. The reason they point to Michael Grant’s book is … Continue reading “The Historical Jesus and the Demise of History, 3a: How One Popular Historian Follows Jesus to Scholarly Perdition (Part 1)”
“He is unlike any man you have ever seen . . .” If you’ve ever watched the original Planet of the Apes, you no doubt remember the scene in which the Tribunal of the National Academy questions Charlton Heston (Taylor, aka “Bright Eyes”). None of Taylor’s explanations make any sense to the tribunal, of course. … Continue reading “Historical Reconstruction or a “Mad House”?”
What an odd thing to say!* Recently, while catching up with the second edition of James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me, I noticed something I had missed earlier while reading the chapter on Christopher Columbus. The first time I read the book, now over a decade ago, the grisly stories of conquest and genocide, … Continue reading “Myths about Christopher Columbus: Why Would Anybody Make Them Up?”
I am splitting a single review I have written of John Dominic Crossan’s new book into two posts. This is the first. His book, The Power of Parable: How Fiction By Jesus Became Fiction About Jesus, reminds me of John Shelby Spong’s Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes . . .. Both … Continue reading “Crossan’s proofs that Jesus did exist”
I have finally caught up with the comments by Dr Mark Goodacre [MG] and Dr Richard Carrier [RC] since their radio discussion on the view that Jesus did not exist. While RC, without the burden of having to mark student papers, is able to add around 7,000 words of recap and elaboration to the case … Continue reading “Goodacre-Carrier Debate: What if . . . . ?”
Continuing from the previous post: The Carrier-Goodacre Exchange (Part 1) on the Historicity of Jesus. I have typed out the gist of the arguments for and against the historicity of Jesus as argued by Richard Carrier (RC) and Mark Goodacre (MG) on Unbelievable, a program hosted by Justin Brierley (JB) on Premier Christian Radio. My … Continue reading “Carrier-Goodacre (part 2) on the Historicity of Jesus”
* Ehrman’s Picture of the Apocalyptic Jesus . COVERED IN THIS POST: Preaching the kingdom Differing teachings of Jesus and Paul Jesus and the Jewish Law Salvation: by following the Law or believing in Jesus? Last Judgment and End of the world Jesus’ miracle-working Jesus’ associates and disciples Believing in Judas Iscariot Did Jesus aspire … Continue reading “33. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 33 (Ehrman’s Picture of the Apocalyptic Jesus)”