Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Recently an interesting collation of observations on thematic and literary similarities between New Testament narratives and wider Greek literature was posted by commenter John MacDonald. I’ve set his points out again here (with only slight editing) for those interested. (John’s more complete comment can be read here.) Some of the parallels are actually less to … Continue reading “New Testament in the Greek Literary Matrix”
We have read Richard Carrier’s response to James McGrath’s latest post in Bible and Interpretation on Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus. Some commentary has focussed on Carrier’s tone and lost sight of McGrath’s own commentary — a serious oversight. McGrath heads his response Richard Carrier’s Dishonesty. That title is not a joke. Carrier’s title was deliberately … Continue reading “McGrath Guessing Versus Carrier’s Content”
A few days ago I posted If you’re as sick of the Jesus Mythicist/Historicist debate as I am . . . That discussion has come and gone and is now found on the Miami Valley Skeptics podcast. H/t the Otagosh blog — Fitzgerald vs Gullotta – Discussing Jesus I haven’t heard more than a few snippets of it … Continue reading “Jesus Mythicist/Historicist discussion of Daniel Gullotta and David Fitzgerald”
The genre of the gospels is an important question. Genre is an indication of the author’s intent. Does the author want to make us laugh at human foibles or weep over human tragedy, to escape into an entertaining world of make-believe, to be inspired and instructed by historical or biographical narratives, to mock establishment values, … Continue reading “The Gospels: Written to Look Like (the final) Jewish Scriptures?”
For a refreshing perspective read Tom Dykstra’s post on his reflections after reviewing books by Thomas Brodie and Bart Ehrman: Humor in Biblical Studies. the very best biblical scholars are those that maintain a sense of humor toward their subject matter and toward those who disagree with them Dykstra’s post begins. . . . . Almost a year … Continue reading “Smile: It’s Only a Bible and Religion Discussion”
Peter Enns (Rethinking Biblical Christianity) has posted a “brief thought about scholarship, scepticism and apologetics” in relation to this question. It is a quotation from Gerd Thiessen and Annette Merz’s The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide, and makes a refreshing and welcome read given its avoidance of the hostile tone too often encountered on both sides of … Continue reading “Did Jesus even live? A brief response”
I’d like to comment on one section of the inaugural lecture of Prof Chris Keith, Chair of the New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham. Its title is ‘Social Memory Theory and the Gospels: Assessing the First Decade.’ Keith is a co-blogger of The Jesus Blog. Both Tim and I have … Continue reading “Does Social Memory Theory Advance Historical Jesus Studies?”
Minas Papageorgiou, freelance journalist, managing director of a Greek publishing group and a founding member of the Hellenic Society of Metaphysics (metafysiko.gr), has made his Greek language survey of a wide range of contemporary Jesus mythicist views available in English as an ebook on Amazon. And it’s not exorbitantly priced, either. Jesus Mythicism: An Introduction was … Continue reading “Jesus Mythicism: An Introduction by Minas Papageorgiou”
From time to time someone – lay person or New Testament scholar – publicly insists that there is no more bias among the professional scholars of the Bible than there is among any other academic guild. The question arose recently on the Bible Criticism and History forum and I found myself scrambling quotations from members … Continue reading “Unrecognized Bias in New Testament Scholarship over Christian Origins”
Herman Detering posted on Facebook a link to the latest news of the Dutch pastor who has “come out” claiming that Jesus never existed. The news is an update on the fate of pastor Edward van der Kaaij who made the news a month ago in the NLTimes: Jesus didn’t exist, but a “myth”, says … Continue reading “Mythicism Making Christianity More Meaningful”
Raphael Lataster article that recently appeared in The Washington Post as well as The Conversation opened with these words: Did a man called Jesus of Nazareth walk the earth? Discussions over whether the figure known as the “Historical Jesus” actually existed primarily reflect disagreements among atheists. Believers, who uphold the implausible and more easily-dismissed “Christ … Continue reading “Why Believers Ought Not To Get Involved in the Christ Myth Question”
One book I enjoyed reading this year was Tom Dykstra’s Mark, Canonizer of Paul. (The link is to an earlier post of mine on this title.) I see the book has been promoted on the Bible and Interpretation site, too. Tom Dykstra begins with a discussion of Mark’s sources and purpose referring to about half … Continue reading “How do we know the stories of Jesus were preserved by oral tradition before the Gospels?”
Mythicism — the term widely assigned to the modern-day claim that there was no historical Jesus at the start of what became Christianity — has made its presence felt in The Washington Post today. At this moment Did historical Jesus really exist? The evidence just doesn’t add up has attracted over 5000 comments. Be sure you read … Continue reading “The Jesus Myth Question Comes to The Washington Post“
Richard Carrier addresses the question of the historicity of Jesus in On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt in the following order: First, he defines the points that will identify a historical Jesus and those that will be signs of a mythical one. Second, he set out 48 elements that make up all … Continue reading “Ten Elements of Christian Origin”