Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Continuing from Ascension of Isaiah: Other Questions. . . . . . . . Earl Doherty without doubt was the major contributor to the Jesus myth perspective from the 1990s through to the early 2000s. I highly respected his grasp of both the big picture and the detail, his clear-headed engagement with the scholarship, and his … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Questioning Three of Earl Doherty’s Arguments”
Some Jesus mythicists, following Earl Doherty and Richard Carrier, have taken a special interest in the Ascension of Isaiah [Asc. Isa.], an early Christian text that has been used to support (not establish, as some critics have asserted) the argument that Jesus was in an early stage of tradition believed to have been crucified by … Continue reading “Ascension of Isaiah: Questions”
I have been asked to address certain arguments on another forum and thought I’d draft out this one here as something of a prep. . . . I was asked if I am “sure” Jesus existed as a historical figure, and if so why. I tried to give a short answer as follows: “Sure” is … Continue reading “A Succinct Argument for the Historicity of Jesus”
In a former life back in 2006/2007 I wrote a series of posts suggesting that the “we passages” in the Book of Acts were the author’s technique of vicariously bringing his Roman readers into his narrative as they followed the story of the founding of a second kingdom in Rome. Rome was replacing Jerusalem as … Continue reading “Rome, Troy and Aeneas — model for the story of Acts?”
Continuing a discussion of M. David Litwa’s How the Gospels Became History: Jesus and Mediterranean Myths. . . . All Litwa review posts are archived here. This post covers chapters 7 and 8, “Magi and the Star” and “Child in Danger, Child of Wonder”. Even though I often disagree with Litwa’s interpretations and conclusions I do … Continue reading “Review, parts 7 and 8. Litwa on Birth and Childhood Stories of Jesus – Widespread Cultural Tropes Recycled as “History””
My earlier posts on M. David Litwa’s How the Gospels Became History were not my favourites. Negatives about assumptions and methods tended to predominate. But I would not want that tone to deflect readers from the many positives and points of interest in the book. Chapter four discusses Jesus’ genealogies in the Gospels of Matthew … Continue reading “Review, part 5 (Litwa on) Jesus’ Genealogy and Divine Conception”
The third part of Raphael Lataster’s Questioning the Historicity of Jesus is where he presents his case for mythicism, and since his case is essentially a review of Richard Carrier’s arguments in On the Historicity of Jesus, this post is a review of a review. Lataster has is differences from Carrier and several times points … Continue reading “Review part 9: Questioning the Historicity of Jesus / Lataster (Case for Mythicism – the Evidence)”
Okay, I give in. Here’s one more. Feel free to remind or alert me to any that I have forgotten or overlooked. Intertextuality Table for Mark chapters 2 and 3:
The title is “a” history because it is an interpretation built on detailed argument that is presented for consideration by Seth Sanders in From Adapa to Enoch, a book sent to me for blog discussion by the publisher Mohr Siebeck. I’m drawing to a close my reading this book and now come to chapter 6 … Continue reading “Becoming Like God: A History”
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”
Continuing to share my reading of Seth Sanders’ From Adapa to Enoch, Scribal Culture and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylon. All posts are archived here. “Science” will be used here as a system of exact knowledge of the physical world. — Sanders, From Adapa to Enoch Recall from the previous post (How Science Began) … Continue reading ““Revealed Science” : Emergence of Jewish Science and Apocalyptic Genres”
An excellent essay on the role of propaganda in shaping our world-view by Greg Maybury: Inside the Submissive Void — Propaganda, Censorship, Power, and Control. Greg’s post elaborates on some of the points I have often tried to make in smaller forays here, but he covers much more, too. Brief: The use of propaganda and censorship … Continue reading “Propaganda, Censorship, Power, and Control”
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”
Continuing to share my reading of Seth Sanders’ From Adapa to Enoch, Scribal Culture and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylon, last discussed at Ascent of the Sage: “From Adapa to Enoch”, part 2 . . . . We come now to chapter 2, “I Am Adapa!” The Divine Personae of Mesopotamian Scribes. If we … Continue reading “Scholars, Divinities and How the Cosmos was Understood “Scientifically” B.C.E.”