Search Results for: baptism jesus historic

32. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 32 (Jesus an Apocalyptic Prophet?)

* Ehrman’s Case for Jesus as an Apocalyptic Prophet . COVERED IN THIS POST: Ehrman’s criteria for Jesus as apocalyptic prophet Jesus as the Son of Man Did Q identify its Jesus with the Son of Man? “L” and “M” not apocalyptic No apocalypticism in Q1 and the Gospel of Thomas No apocalypticist in the … Continue reading “32. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 32 (Jesus an Apocalyptic Prophet?)”

30. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism — Part 30 (Did Mark Invent Jesus of Nazareth?)

* Did Mark Invent Jesus of Nazareth? . COVERED IN THIS POST: How much did Mark invent in his Gospel? John’s dependency on the Synoptics John’s changes and innovations Lazarus and the Signs Source How independent of Mark are Matthew and Luke? Robert Price on no “M” and “L” sources Trusting Luke’s Prologue again Ehrman’s … Continue reading “30. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism — Part 30 (Did Mark Invent Jesus of Nazareth?)”

Sayings Manufactured For Jesus

Jesus Outside the Gospels is a small volume compiled by R. Joseph Hoffmann and published 1984. He argued that various sayings of Jesus found across a variety of sources (not only canonical ones) “put it beyond doubt that the church was capable of generating sayings to suit new situations, and did not hesitate to invent … Continue reading “Sayings Manufactured For Jesus”

Why many historical Jesus Scholars NEED John to Baptize Jesus

Associate Professor of New Testament Leif E. Vaage argues that New Testament scholars have no valid reasons for believing that John the Baptist really did baptize Jesus. (Vaage, let the reader understand, is by no means denying the historicity of Jesus himself.) Vaage argues that the author of the Gospel of Mark invented the entire … Continue reading “Why many historical Jesus Scholars NEED John to Baptize Jesus”

Richard Carrier’s Review of Bart Ehrman’s Did Jesus Exist?

Updated an hour and again seven hours after original posting. This is a serious error, because it makes Ehrman’s book into nothing more than falsified propaganda. It is his responsibility as a scholar to have read these writings and accurately represent them to his readers so they don’t have to read them themselves. That he … Continue reading “Richard Carrier’s Review of Bart Ehrman’s Did Jesus Exist?”

Historical Jesus Studies As Pseudo-History — Bart Ehrman’s Jesus As a Case-Study

First let it be clear where I am coming from. This is not an attack on any scholar or the scholarship of theologians in general. It is an attempt to address what strikes me as very muddled thinking in many works about the historical Jesus. That is not a denigration of the scholars in question … Continue reading “Historical Jesus Studies As Pseudo-History — Bart Ehrman’s Jesus As a Case-Study”

Historical Jesus Studies As Pseudo-History — Bart Ehrman As a Case-Study

First let it be clear where I am coming from. This is not an attack on any scholar or the scholarship of theologians in general. It is an attempt to address what strikes me as very muddled thinking in many works about the historical Jesus. That is not a denigration of the scholars in question … Continue reading “Historical Jesus Studies As Pseudo-History — Bart Ehrman As a Case-Study”

Reasonably doubting that John baptized Jesus — Or how HJ scholars worked before they had Tools

There’s something very reassuring knowing you have a tool at hand if you are an archaeologist and hope to dig through layers of earth to find new historical evidence. And if you are a scholar of the historical Jesus you can always feel more secure in what you find digging beneath the texts if you … Continue reading “Reasonably doubting that John baptized Jesus — Or how HJ scholars worked before they had Tools”

Jesus: the Same in Both Paul and the Gospels

Revised and updated 3 hours after the original posting. Both the letters of Paul and the narrative in the Gospels speak of Jesus crucified. Jesus’ death is significant. The Gospel of John speaks of Jesus’ blood and Paul refers often to his blood. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke in particular stress his birth from … Continue reading “Jesus: the Same in Both Paul and the Gospels”

Anti-intellectualism(?) in Jesus studies

My last post looked at Bultmann’s insights into the synoptic portrayal of the baptism of Jesus. This post looks at some disturbing and depressing reasons why at least two modern scholars appear to have rejected Bultmann’s findings. Disturbing and depressing because their reasons have nothing to do with the detail of Bultmann’s arguments. Bultmann is … Continue reading “Anti-intellectualism(?) in Jesus studies”

The “Legend” of the Baptism of Jesus (Bultmann flashback)

Posted 6pm. Updated 8:30 pm with note on Thompson’s argument that baptism is a reiteration of OT narratives Every so often scholars stumble over evidence that what they are reading in the Gospels is based not on historical events but on theological creativity but they never seem to mind. They nearly always pick themselves up, … Continue reading “The “Legend” of the Baptism of Jesus (Bultmann flashback)”

More reasons for an early Christian to invent the story of Jesus’ baptism

Bill Arnal and Leif E. Vaage are not the only scholars who have published doubts about the historicity of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. I mentioned them back in January this year. Another was Burton Mack in Myth of Innocence. (The evidence against historicity is in my view overwhelming. I have shown … Continue reading “More reasons for an early Christian to invent the story of Jesus’ baptism”

Creativity with the Name of Jesus the Healer in the Gospel of Mark

Classicist John Moles presents a case for the Gospels making creative use of the name of Jesus in order to drive home its unique status as the power that tends, cleanses, heals and saves. In the Gospel of Mark — the portion of his Histos article I am addressing in this post — this creative … Continue reading “Creativity with the Name of Jesus the Healer in the Gospel of Mark”

The strengths of the historical Jesus theory

As anyone who has read a good book on the theory of evolution will appreciate, the strength of the theory lies in its explanatory power, and predictive ability Neil Shubin’s Your Inner Fish is one such book. Shubin explains simply and elegantly how evolution explains both the fossil record and genetic patterns across all species, … Continue reading “The strengths of the historical Jesus theory”