The Jesus Toaster

My deepest gratitude to Tom Verenna for posting this on FB:


-anthony

Caiaphas the High Priest

Just learned of this:

Out in paperback.

-anthony

The Jesus Quest: A Longer View - Le Donne

In my first post on this subject, I pointed you to a few different resources that argue against the "Three Quests" paradigm. I can see that more needs to be said based on a few comments. Jesus Blog friend Larry writes:

As I see it, the existing paradigm assumes that the three biggest moments in the modern study of HJ are Schweitzer, Kasemann, and the realization that Jesus was really Jewish. I think an argument can be made that these really ARE the three biggest moments, but a problem with paradigms is that once you buy in, it's hard to critically analyze the assumptions behind them. 

It must be pointed out that the first Quest (as the narrative goes) did not begin with Schweitzer, but with Reimarus/Lessing. Schweitzer has sometimes been associated with the so-called "No Quest" years due to his seemingly definitive work on Jesus. We must then acknowledge that scholars continue to push the "Old Quest" earlier and earlier as our history of research expands. Schweitzer acknowledges a couple forerunners himself. Others have pointed to the English deists... then we push further back to Spinoza and (if one keeps pushing), we find that the "Old Quest" was simply not the "First Quest". This, in itself, explodes the paradigm. If the quest for the historical Jesus begins with Josephus, or Origen, or Augustine, or the Talmud and continues through the Middle Ages in Jewish-Christian polemic, debate and dialogue, we need a broader view.

If the recognition that the historical Jesus was the "Jewish Jesus" from Josephus (or Augustine) onward, this steals considerable thunder from the "Third Quest" years and it makes Bultmann's contribution to Quests less dubious.  After all, Bultmann's Jesus was Jewish.  So it seems that the "Jesus the Jew" thesis doesn't belong any sort of "Third Quest" after all.  Perhaps then, the enormously productive period from 1973-2000(ish) was simply a recovery from Kähler's "suprahistorical Jesus" and Käsemann s "less Jewish Jesus".

Thinking about Pursuing a PhD? - Le Donne

Consider carefully:

http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=a6620614-9a15-49b7-a5d4-36aae7c65497

-anthony

How Jesusy is the Jesus Blog? - Le Donne

I'm not the sort to obsess over blog traffic, but I check my stats from time to time.  I hadn't checked for a while and then I found something peculiar... something that I've puzzled over numerous times since we launched this blog.  From midnight to 2 AM (yes, this is exactly the sort of thing that I do at 2 AM), the google searches that directed folks to this blog were:

cedarville university controversy	18
cedarville university	9
historical jesus nerds blog	4
cedarville university admistration resignation	2
cedarville university controversy 2013	2
cedarville university dr brown	2
historical jesus blog	2
jesus blog	2
jesus piece	2
the jesus blog	2

Now, the internets are a mysterious and magical place(s).  One cannot be sure what they're thinking or when they will take over and turn against humanity creating the need for Arnold Schwarzenegger to travel back in time to become the governor of California.  Even though four searches associated Chris and I with "historical Jesus nerds blog", I am happy to say that we are not nerdy enough to know how all of these zeros and ones work.  But, and this is the peculiar part, are we Jesusy enough?

I'd like to think that we are. Chris posts once a week and almost always relates his posts to Jesus research in some way.  I post ten or more times a week and (I would guess) relate over 70% of my posts to Jesus research, Jesus cultural, Jesus portraits, Jesus people etc.  Yet the Dr. Brown / Cedarville University debacle continues to drive traffic to this site.  I think I might have posted on the firing twice in the four months since this blog launched.  I have to tell you that I support Michael Pahl and will do whatever I can to help his transition (limited resources that I have at my disposal), but I've tried my best to make this project about something other than the latest heresy trial.

Can somebody please tell me what to make of this information? Is the Cedarville University controversy more interesting than the Jesus' Wife Gospel, or the LCU thing, or the Emmanuel thing?  I know that controversy sells, but why do I consistently find my google searches dominated by this particular controversy?

-anthony

Quarterly Quote of the Month about Jesus for this Week

Jesus, he's my friend; Jesus, he's my friend
He took me by the hand; led me far from this land
Jesus, he's my friend

Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah
Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright

                                   ~The Doobie Brothers

What Does It Mean to Say that Jesus Was Jewish? (Part 2) - Le Donne

Part one of this series can be found here.

One of the oft repeated caricatures of first-century Judaism is that "they" were expecting a militaristic messiah (notice the monolithic "they" - I put it in quote so that you'd notice, but I thought I'd point it out with a long parenthetical comment as well... how am I doing?).  But the first thing that "they" teach you as a Ph.D. candidate is that there are only a handful of things that you can say with confidence about "most" Jews living in Judea around the time of Jesus.  So before I go further, let me just kick a dead horse: stop saying "the Jews believed..." without qualification. Nothing betrays the inefficacy of historical nuance in most Christian seminaries more than this mistake.  Now to the topic: were most Jews expecting a militaristic messiah?

We we know that some first-century Jews hoped for the end of foreign domination. We know that some (circa first-century) Jews were quite willing to use military force.  We know that many Jews hoped for a messiah.  We know that some Jews hoped for multiple messiahs.  We know that many Jews associated the coming of the messiah in some way with the installation of God's final judgment.  And we know that many Jews held combinations of some and/or all of the above.

Welcome Lois Loban Stuckenbruck!

I was happy to learn that Lois (you may have read over 100 of her husband's articles) has launched a blog. It is called Truth with Mercy. I will be a regular reader and certainly be a better person for it. Welcome Lois!

-anthony

The Future of History is Storytelling

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you Bill Heroman for posting this on Facebook:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RWf3wrxvACg#!

-anthony

The Top Ten Blurbs that I Didn’t Write for Joel L. Watts’s Mimetic Criticism and the Gospel of Mark – Le Donne

10. The English-speaking world is divided into two categories: those who have read Mimetic Criticism and the Gospel of Mark and those who have never heard of Mimetic Criticism and the Gospel of Mark.

9. In an age of skepticization, curmudgeonry, and other made-up words, Joel L. Watts uses language that the average reader will find in most dictionaries.

8. An instant classic! is a an oxymoron that no one should use. Scholars and pastors alike should avoid such phrases.  Instead, read this book!

7. Clearly conceived and intentionally typed, Watts wrote this book. Like all great classics of English literature, Mimetic Criticism and the Gospel of Mark reads from left to right.

6. Me like book. Book good. FIRE BAD!!! But book good.

5. Joel L. Watts’ book gave my historiography a needed colonoscopy.

4. Henceforth all students of the Gospel of Mark, if they hope to read every book ever written about Mark, and if they wish to say with honesty that they have read every book about Mark, will have to read this book.

3. Mimetic Criticism and the Gospel of Mark will change the rotation of planets, save drowning babies, burn bras, and return the hearts of the children to their fathers. Joel L. Watts has quickly established himself as the Neil Diamond of New Testament studies.

2. This book is sure to be numbered among the top ten-thousand books that Wipf and Stock will publish in 2013.

…and the number one blurb that I didn’t write for Joel Watts:

1. Mimetic Criticism and the Gospel of Mark is destined to become a standard text.

All joking aside, Mimetic Criticism and the Gospel of Mark is surprisingly original and I enjoyed it a great deal. I hope that my real blurb will help to give the book the reception it deserves. Congrats Joel.

-anthony

Been Enjoying Ben - Le Donne

I've been enjoying this series over at The Bible and Culture: The Fascinating World of Papyri.

-anthony

Thatcher's Chapter in Handbook - Le Donne

I've got a deadline tomorrow for an essay and I committed the unforgivable sin of citing an essay months ago without imputing the complete bibliographic details. As I no longer have the pdf in question, and the volume in which this chapter is found is worth more than my car, I will thank you mightily for the full page numbers:

Tom Thatcher, “Riddles, Wit, and Wisdom” in The Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus, Vol. 3; (ed.) Tom Holmén and Stanley Porter. Leiden: Brill. 2011), pp. ##

Just in case you're wondering, I've talked to Tom and he doesn't know himself. Indeed, the complete set of this "handbook" is too expensive for most libraries.  And if you happen to know the answer, do please tell us how you came by this information!

-anthony

This Interests Me...

http://exlibris1.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/the-sociology-of-biblioblogging/

Thanks to Brian for re-posting it.