ACLD: Helen, thank you for sharing some of your sabbatical
time with me. I should tell you straightaway that I've assigned your
introduction of The Historical
Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed for my "Portraits of
Jesus" class. Some of these students might be chiming in below with
comments.
HKB: Thanks, Anthony, it’s lovely to talk to you - and I'm
very glad to hear you're using my book with your class. It came out of a
3rd-4th year class on the historical Jesus that I've run for over a decade at
Edinburgh, so I hope it helps to answer some of the things that students find
difficult or just plain bizarre about Jesus scholarship. And I look forward to
questions from your students!
ACLD: On the first pages of your book, you make a compelling case that reconstructing history is a necessarily imaginative endeavor. As a historian, do you see this as a problem to be solved, something to be embraced, or something else?
HKB: Definitely something to be embraced. As historians we
need to be systematic about the way we do things - we have a few general rules
and guides to help us - but we're misleading ourselves if we ever think that
what we do can be described as 'scientific'. Especially with ancient history,
we're continually having to live with a heavy load of uncertainty in all our
findings. Sometimes a reconstruction might look plausible on a piece of paper,
but we have to use imagination to ask ourselves what any given scenario might
have felt like in real life - how would people have functioned in this way? is
it really credible? And imagination is the only way I can think of that helps
to neutralise our heavily interpreted primary sources - not to mention our own
modern bias. Sometimes historical work seems like a very slippery endeavour -
but it’s the complexities of it all that makes it so absorbing!
How helpful do you think it is for historians to have an imagination shaped by faith in order to investigate early Christianity?
ReplyDeleteHi Tyler,
DeleteSorry to have been slow to respond to this!
I actually think faith can be more of a hindrance sometimes in historical investigation. As far as I'm concerned, historians need to be completely open minded about the past, and ready to go wherever the evidence leads. If faith hinders that in any way, then its not a good thing.
On the other side, though, people of faith may well be better able to empathise with Jesus followers of the past (in the sense that they will understand something of how faith can alter people's lives) so its not necessarily a bad thing. As with all presuppositions, its important to be honest with yourself about it, and to ask whether its hindering or helping.
Best wishes,
Helen
To what extent do you think a historian's biases may guide the way in which he/she interprets and re-imagines historical events?
ReplyDeleteHi,
DeleteSee my comments to the earlier query - at least as far as faith goes. Biases are part of everyone's make up and aren't necessarily a bad thing. We all have a reason why we are interested in Jesus (or any other historical person). It just becomes problematic when we present a reconstruction that fits with our biases as 'the truth'. Its obviously not possible to overcome bias completely (and perhaps not a good thing anyway), but we need to be self-reflective about our reconstructions.
Best wishes,
Helen
I'm not sure if the continuation of the blog will answer this or not, but with the fact that reconstructing history is such an imperfect process, how long must you personally research something before you are satisfied with your findings?
ReplyDeleteDear Jeff,
DeleteGood question! Perhaps for ever! My first book was on Pontius Pilate and I'm sure if I wrote it again now it would be rather different. The very process of writing itself is hugely instructive. I expect most scholars change their views to some extent throughout their career - partly its further research, partly too perhaps greater experience of life. I don't think anyone is ever fully satisfied with their analyses - there are just too many gaps to be filled in, too many uncertainties. Its always a question of our best reconstruction to date. Some might see that as a reason not to bother, but for me its part of the excitement of biblical research!
Thanks for your question,
Helen
We often find new information to add to our original work. Sometimes the new findings change our original work in enormous ways. As a historian, how open do you have to be to change? To what extent does it affect you, if at all, when your work is altered due to new discoveries or changing point of views?
ReplyDelete