Search Results for: baptism jesus historic

My take on the “heavenly paradigm” apparent contradiction in Doherty’s argument

This is my take on one part of Earl Doherty’s argument that when Paul spoke of  “rulers of this age” ignorantly crucifying Christ he was not suggesting that the spirit powers were working through earthly potentates to do their will. Dr McGrath believes that Doherty is contradicting himself here because Doherty also notes that it … Continue reading “My take on the “heavenly paradigm” apparent contradiction in Doherty’s argument”

Midrash and the Gospels 2: debates in the scholarly sphere

(Added a paragraph commentary in the “proves historicity” section about half an hour after original posting.) New Testament scholars do not speak with one voice when it comes to applying the word “midrash” to the Gospels. Some have resolutely opposed the idea; others take its justification in their stride. In this post I would like … Continue reading “Midrash and the Gospels 2: debates in the scholarly sphere”

Gospel Prophecy (and History) through Ancient Jewish Eyes: The Massacre of the Innocents

I used to be always a little troubled or at least mystified by the way the author of the Gospel of Matthew found “a prophecy” for Herod’s “slaughter of the innocents” (all the infants two years old and under) in Bethlehem in hopes of killing off the one born to replace him as king of … Continue reading “Gospel Prophecy (and History) through Ancient Jewish Eyes: The Massacre of the Innocents”

Response to McGrath’s review of Doherty’s chapter 9

Dr McGrath’s review of Chapter 9 of Doherty’s book Jesus: Neither God Nor Man conveys no idea to the uninformed reader what the chapter is about. So to make up that lack (surely scholarly reviews should give readers some clear idea of what exactly is being reviewed!) I outline the content of the Doherty’s chapter … Continue reading “Response to McGrath’s review of Doherty’s chapter 9”

Heavenly Visions: the foundation of Paul’s Christianity

The New Testament epistles inform us that the original Gospel was a revelation from God. That means it did not originate by means of spoken tradition relayed from historical events, by word of mouth, from eyewitness or preacher to others. Rather, one might almost say that the medium itself was the message: the revelation or … Continue reading “Heavenly Visions: the foundation of Paul’s Christianity”

What Doherty really said in chapter 4 (not what he “seemed” to say according to McGrath)

In my recent post I criticized McGrath’s review of chapter 4 of Doherty’s book (Jesus Neither God Nor Man) for suppressing Doherty’s arguments and replacing them with a series of “Doherty seems to be saying . . . ” phrases. My understanding of a scholarly review is that it should present the argument of the … Continue reading “What Doherty really said in chapter 4 (not what he “seemed” to say according to McGrath)”

McGrath “not paying close attention” in his review of Doherty’s chapter 4

Probably most of us who have witnessed someone attempting to engage Associate Professor James McGrath in a rational debate will be familiar with his rejoinder: “You seem to be saying . . .”. And those who are familiar with this line of his know he has missed (or misconstrued) the point the other person was … Continue reading “McGrath “not paying close attention” in his review of Doherty’s chapter 4″

More games played by (some, many?) biblical scholars with “research data”, and personal reflection on why I post this stuff

The past few weeks at work have been heavy with getting my head around (1) various requirements for measuring research outputs from universities, and (2) requirements for curating and linking for re-use research datasets. It’s all about measurable data. Citation counts, journal rankings, figures from experiments, surveys, tests. And having an Arts and History background … Continue reading “More games played by (some, many?) biblical scholars with “research data”, and personal reflection on why I post this stuff”

Bartimaeus continued: If the disciples be fictional, what be their leader?

There are two accounts in Mark’s Gospel of restoring the sight of blind men. The first one, two-staged healing that took place at Bethsaida, was discussed here. Much of the following is owed to the discussion by Vernon K. Robbins in that linked post, even at points where I do not explicitly state this. In … Continue reading “Bartimaeus continued: If the disciples be fictional, what be their leader?”

How many stories in the gospels are “purely metaphorical”?

Dale Allison concludes his book Constructing Jesus with a discussion of the intent of the gospel authors. Did the gospel authors themselves think that they were writing real history or did they think they were writing metaphorical narratives, parables or allegories? Allison refers to Marcus Borg and others (e.g. Robert Gundry, John Dominic Crossan, Robert … Continue reading “How many stories in the gospels are “purely metaphorical”?”

5 reasons to suspect John the Baptist was interpolated into Josephus

Frank Zindler (The Jesus the Jews Never Knew) gives five reasons to think that Josephus said nothing at all about John the Baptist. This is something that is not generally welcomed by those who are primarily interested in defending the possibility of any independent (non-Christian) evidence at all for the historical background to the gospel … Continue reading “5 reasons to suspect John the Baptist was interpolated into Josephus”

Where Did John the Baptist’s Parents Come From? Reading the Gospels “with Jewish Eyes”

The names of the parents of both Jesus and John the Baptist were arguably created from the imaginations of the Gospel authors working on Old Testament passages for inspiration. The names were fabricated because of the theological messages they conveyed. There is no evidence to indicate that they were handed down from historical memory. This … Continue reading “Where Did John the Baptist’s Parents Come From? Reading the Gospels “with Jewish Eyes””

Embarrassing failure of the criterion of embarrassment

So I hear from commenters that a new foray into demolishing mythicism has been launched by James McGrath with yet one more account of the “criterion of embarrassment”. The curious — yet tedious — thing about this is that while McGrath in particular has faulted mythicists for (supposedly) failing to engage with the scholarship on … Continue reading “Embarrassing failure of the criterion of embarrassment”

Nothing the Early Church Would Want to Make Up?

In his newly published Jesus of Nazareth, one of Emeritus Professor Maurice Casey’s criteria for deciding if a Gospel detail is truly historical is that the passage “contains nothing that the early church would want to make up”. Though I have read very many works of history, I never heard of this as a rationale … Continue reading “Nothing the Early Church Would Want to Make Up?”