Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Brill, a publisher who value[s] academic freedom and rejects attempts to silence it. . . There are others of course but [Brill is among] these academic treasures that are on the side of truth and not beholden to ideologues of any stripe. — Jim West (ThD) The publisher Brill has forwarded me access to Raphael … Continue reading “Review part 1: Questioning the Historicity of Jesus / Lataster.”
Let’s look a little more closely at the parallels between the Judean literature (canonical and pseudepigraphical) and that of Mesopotamia to see what might have been going between them. It’s one thing to say that we can see signs of Mesopotamian written records in Judean writings but a critical question to ask is by what … Continue reading “Questions re the Mesopotamian Influence in the Hebrew Bible”
We have two models for the origin of the biblical and its ancillary literature. According to Seth Sanders in From Adapa to Enoch we have a progression from the late Iron Age to the Seleucid era. The early period (during the time of the kingdom of Judah before its exile) we have “public genres of … Continue reading “More Thoughts on Origins of Biblical and Pseudepigraphical Literature”
Continuing from Chap 3c . . . . The Exodus: Metaphor Preceded “History” Other examples of changing names and wordplay: The narrative can even culminate in the bestowing of a new name, or make the point that the change of name is itself the central point, along with all that it signifies: Isaiah 62:1-4 for … Continue reading “Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier. Chap 3d … Metaphors of Exodus and Lion Dens Become History”
Last time we looked at the oscillations between individual characters and collective identities. In this post we consider how stories are created out of the rewriting of older texts and foreshadowing future narratives. The Word of God is creative; the texts fulfil its promises . . . Recall from previous posts that the “Word of … Continue reading “Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier. Chap 3b. Creative Intertextuality”
Forgive the longer than desirable delay since my last post on Nanine Charbonnel’s book, Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier. (See the Charbonnel tag for all posts in this series.) The fault lies entirely with my failure to maintain my knowledge of basic French over the years so that it’s been a harder than usual struggle … Continue reading “Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier. Chap 2a. The Sacred and Creative Power of the Hebrew Text”
Continuing our discussion of From Adapa to Enoch (Seth Sanders), begun at Heavenly Journeys, from Babylon to Judea . . . . In the previous post we saw the earliest account of a return journey to heaven was that of Etana. Etana ascended to heaven with the aid of an eagle he mercifully restored after … Continue reading “Ascent of the Sage: “From Adapa to Enoch”, part 2″
Let’s move from France in the 1970s and 80s to the USA, specifically Los Angeles, in the 1960s. In this post I address another frequently cited work in the subsequent literature: Sears, D.O., and D.R. Kinder. 1971. “Racial Tensions and Voting in Los Angeles.” In Los Angeles: Viability and Prospects for Metropolitan Leadership, edited by … Continue reading “Understanding Racism (2) – Symbolic Racism”
Questioning the historical existence of Jesus attracts something other than mere curiosity or intellectual debate among many biblical scholars and some of the public who don’t even have any personal interest in religion. I can understand people with a personal faith in Jesus either simply ignoring the question with disdain or amusement or responding with … Continue reading “Understanding the Hostility to the Christ Myth Theory”
The following question arose in a Facebook forum a couple of weeks ago: In comparing Matthew and Luke, we find that Matthew has a wider array of moral sayings (essentially a superset of the material in Luke). Also, Matthew has a more advanced rendering of the Lord’s Prayer, the Beattitudes, the Great Sermon and the … Continue reading “On What Grounds Would Anyone Argue That Luke’s Lord’s Prayer Post-Dates Matthew’s?”
The old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear. — Gramsci We now come to Nancy Fraser’s analysis (Gramchi) of Trump as President, hence the title adjustment. Previous posts in the series: Gramsci’s theory of hegemony Nancy Fraser’s perspective builds on the concept of … Continue reading “Understanding Trump’s Rise, Presidency – and Beyond (4)”
After posting Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier. Chap 1. Hermeneutical Impasse I regretted not addressing Nanine Charbonnel’s discussions of “modern” critics of the gospels such as David Strauss and Rudolf Bultmann and their significance for the standing of the gospels as historical documents today. One reason was that I found it difficult to be sure … Continue reading “Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier. Chap 1a . . . — Something Untouchable about the Bible”
I’m travelling again so am pulling out the occasional post I’ve had in store for such times. If circumstances do not permit some of my planned posts I’ll post another one of these. McGrath would appeal to the variables shaping “cultural memory” and theological tendentiousness and the tradition of Jewish authors rewriting “Old Testament” scriptures; … Continue reading “Addressing James McGrath’s Arguments Against Mythicism — 1”
Continuing from New French Mythicist Book . . . We see how the author, a philosopher, begins her journey with the philosophical tradition’s relationship with the Bible. Recall that Nanine Charbonnel is a philosopher of hermeneutics. Her opening chapter offers us her distinctive contribution to the question implied by the title of the book. It … Continue reading “Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier. Chap 1. Hermeneutical Impasse”