Search Results for: how john used mark

Maurice Casey’s Historical Methods for Historical Jesus Studies

Maurice Casey (Emeritus Professor of New Testament Languages and Literature at the University of Nottingham, UK) in his 2010 book Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian’s Account of His Life and Teaching devotes his third chapter to a discussion of his historical method, and becomes the latest New Testament scholar to demonstrate (once more) how … Continue reading “Maurice Casey’s Historical Methods for Historical Jesus Studies”

The Twelve Apostles had to be a very late invention, surely

Almost as fundamental to the Christian narrative as the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is surely the calling, election and sending forth of the twelve disciples to preach the gospel. But of all the evangelists to which our canonical gospels have been attributed, only one unequivocally delivers this message. Only the author (or … Continue reading “The Twelve Apostles had to be a very late invention, surely”

Israel (Jacob/James), an archangel created before all other creation

If Christianity mutated out of Jewish beliefs it is good to understand just how different many Jewish beliefs were before rabbinic Judaism came to dominate. (This post follows on from Divine human-like figures in Hellenistic Judaism.) Origen preserves for us a Jewish text that offers us a glimpse of beliefs about angels and the nature … Continue reading “Israel (Jacob/James), an archangel created before all other creation”

Goguel’s critique of the Christ Myth. Hoffmann’s response. And Doherty

I discuss here Goguel’s critique of the Christ Myth as seen through the eyes of two biblical scholars, mainly R. Joseph Hoffmann, and very briefly Christopher Price. I conclude with my own understanding of the reason (bias) underlying Hoffmann’s perspective of Goguel in his anti-mythicist arguments, and an alternative perspective from Earl Doherty. Hoffmann compares … Continue reading “Goguel’s critique of the Christ Myth. Hoffmann’s response. And Doherty”

Scholarly attempts to “explain” historical methods for Jesus studies (1)

Scot McKnight of recent controversial article fame, devotes an entire chapter in his book Jesus and His Death to a discussion of the historiography of New Testament scholars, and writes: In fact, the historiography of historical Jesus scholars is eclectic and often unconscious or uninformed of a specific historiography. (p.16) Biblical scholarships’ ignorance of the … Continue reading “Scholarly attempts to “explain” historical methods for Jesus studies (1)”

Bible and the Argonauts: Chapter 5 (Book 4)

Continuing my little series of posts reading the Bible in the context of popular ancient fiction, specifically with the Argonautica. Book 4 — Seaton’s translation of the fourth and final book of the Argonautica. (Ignore the chapter numbering in the title.) This post covers only the early portions of this book. Escape adventure and happily … Continue reading “Bible and the Argonauts: Chapter 5 (Book 4)”

Bible and the Argonauts: Chapter 2

Continuing the story in Book 1 (links to Seaton’s translation) of the Argonautica. It is one of many ancient works of literature that deserve to be read alongside the Bible to keep everything in perspective. [This is the second part of my little series of posts reading the Bible in the context of popular ancient … Continue reading “Bible and the Argonauts: Chapter 2”

Peter, in the Enoch tradition, commissioned to replace the High Priest?

How do we account for Christianity growing out of Judaism yet being so unlike Judaism? Part of one possible answer lies in the recognition that there was no normative Judaism as we understand it prior to the destruction of the Temple in the year 70. Noncanonical Second Temple writings such as the Book of Enoch … Continue reading “Peter, in the Enoch tradition, commissioned to replace the High Priest?”

Games Historical Jesus Scholars Play

A review of Dale Allison’s forthcoming book, Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History, illustrates both in its post details and subsequent comments how far removed Historical Jesus studies are from the way history is practiced in other (nonbiblical) fields. These comments of mine on this review address starting assumptions of the reviewer problems left hanging … Continue reading “Games Historical Jesus Scholars Play”

Comparing the baptism of Jesus with Greek gods descending like birds and appearing as humans

Descending Spirit and Descending Gods: A “Greek” Interpretation of the Spirit’s “Descent as a Dove” in Mark 1:10 by Edward P. Dixon was published last year (2009) in the Journal of Biblical Literature (128, no. 4). It is a welcome breeze of fresh sanity into the so many contorted attempts to explain Gospel themes and … Continue reading “Comparing the baptism of Jesus with Greek gods descending like birds and appearing as humans”

Gospels and Kings

Reading James Linville’s Israel in the Book of Kings (introduced in my previous post) I can’t help but notice resonances with the methodologies and assumptions largely taken for granted by New Testament scholars. The same issues of assumptions of historicity and lack of evidence bedevil (or at least did much more so in 1998 when … Continue reading “Gospels and Kings”

Christianity won over paganism by epitomizing pagan ideals

This continues my previous post, which was slightly misleadingly titled Why Christianity Spread So Rapidly . . .. It is for most part a distillation of Gregory J. Riley’s chapter, “Mimesis of Classical Ideals in the Second Christian Century”, found in Mimesis and Intertextuality edited by Dennis MacDonald. A related post is my discussion of … Continue reading “Christianity won over paganism by epitomizing pagan ideals”

Charity, suspicion and categorization — exchange with Rick Sumner contd

Rick has posted another constructive response, “Charity,” “Suspicion” and the Dangers of Categorization. Or, What I Learned from John Hughes, to my posts on historical method in the context of NT historical studies. Another is expected to follow discussing the nature of facts. (Previous post addressing Rick is here.) I suspect we are drawing closer … Continue reading “Charity, suspicion and categorization — exchange with Rick Sumner contd”

Two Adams, Human-Divine Mediators and Angels, and a Very Different View of Early Judaism

The point of this post is to highlight, with reference to the sources, some of the less widely known beliefs among Jews around the time Christianity was emerging, and that would seem to have some resonances among Christian ideas we find in Paul and other early letters and gospels. The Jewish world from which Christianity … Continue reading “Two Adams, Human-Divine Mediators and Angels, and a Very Different View of Early Judaism”