The Book that Drew You In? - Le Donne

Some folks who decide to pursue the critical/academic side of Christian origins are attracted by a class or a professor who opens up new avenues of thought.  For others, it is a book that does this.  The book that opened my eyes was Raymond Brown's Anchor commentary on John.  The Fourth Gospel is (perhaps more than any other in the NT) an entirely different read pre- vs. post-naïveté.  Opening Brown's commentary was something of an Alice in Wonderland experience for me.

Was there a book or author that invited you to critical thought? If so, what was it?

-anthony

Hurtado on Jesus in EC Prayer - Le Donne

Nobody does what Larry Hurtado does as well as Larry Hurtado.

http://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/jesus-in-early-christian-prayer/

-anthony

Memory Studies and the Historical Jesus at SBL 2013—Chris Keith

Some readers of the Jesus Blog will be interested to see this lineup for a special session on Memory Studies at the Historical Jesus group of the Society of Biblical Literature.  I’m excited to participate in this session and thank James Crossley and Bob Webb for organizing it.  No doubt, it will be lively, but all the people participating are excellent scholars and even better people.  We’ll include more information for the session later when it is available.

Historical Jesus
Time TBD
Date TBD
Room TBD
Memory Studies in Historical Jesus Research

James Crossley, University of Sheffield, Introduction (5 min)

Chris Keith, Saint Mary's University College (Twickenham) The Past Approaching and Approaching the Past: The Contribution of Memory Studies to Historical Jesus Research (25 min)

Zeba Crook, Carleton University Memory Distortion and the Historical Jesus (25 min)

Rafael Rodríguez, Johnson University An Uneasy Concord: Memory and History in Contemporary Jesus Research (25 min)

Paul Foster, University of Edinburgh Memory: Help or Hindrance in Historical Jesus Research? (25 min)

Discussion (45 min)

Jesus’ Literacy Paperback Available for Preorder . . . and Giveaway—Chris Keith

I just received the paperback copies of my Jesus’ Literacy.  In this book, I argue that Jesus did not possess scribal literacy, but that many of his contemporaries probably thought he did.  I also have an entire chapter arguing against the usage of criteria of authenticity in historical Jesus studies, and instead proposing what I there term the “Jesus-memory approach.” 

Amazon has the paperback edition available for preorder here for about $30.00, significantly less than the hardback edition.  Fortunately, though, T&T Clark is a great press with great editors, and they’ve decided to let us give away a copy here on The Jesus Blog.  You know the rules.  You can enter in four ways:  (1) comment here; (2) share this webpage on facebook, then comment to let us know you did; (3) sign up to follow, then comment to let us know you did; (4) tweet this webpage, then comment to let us know you did.  We’ll announce the winner in a couple weeks!

Woman Ordained Catholic Priest in Louisville

Way to go Kentucky!

http://news.yahoo.com/kentucky-woman-ordained-priest-defiance-roman-catholic-church-005633378.html

-anthony

Quarterly Quote of the Month about Jesus for this Week

Won't you look down upon me, Jesus 

You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand 

and I won't make it any other way

                               ~James Taylor

Lohr's Chosen and Unchosen - Le Donne

I got the Eisenbraun's Spring Catalog in the mail yesterday. This book by Steven Mann looks hot. It also reminds me how much I love this book:

You will not find a better treatment on the role of the outsider in the Pentateuch.

-anthony

Jesus and Me: One Jew’s Encounter with the Christian “Other” (Part II) – guest post by Larry Behrendt

Part I was published yesterday and can be found here.

Like most Jews, I grew up knowing next to nothing about Christianity. So what caused me to take the New Testament off the shelf? Two events of little intellectual consequence: the publication of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”, and the release of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” The Brown book came first. I thought the book was a silly page-turner, but I wondered if there might be something to the story it told of Christian origins. Could it be that the real Jesus was just an ordinary human being, with a wife and kids, and that the history of Christian-Jewish enmity was based on a misunderstanding? Answer: hardly. But I’ll give Brown credit for planting an idea in my mind, that the real Jesus might have been different than the man-God portrayed by the church.

Assessing Jesus' Trial without the Talmud

I just got an email in my inbox from my friend Michael Cook. He writes:

Dear Colleagues,

I've been asked whether a Jewish scholar could assess Jesus' Sanhedrin trial with no recourse whatsoever to Rabbinic Literature -- to the discrepancies often tallied up between general capital trial procedures noted in the Talmud and those the Gospels specified in Jesus' case. 

I myself happen to deem rabbinic jurisprudence entirely irrelevant to this subject -- maybe that's why the question is sometimes posed to me. For those interested in my recommended alternative approach, please consult my brief 2,700 word essay just posted on the Internet, and titled: 

"Is Jesus' Nighttime Sanhedrin Trial anAggrandizement of Friday Morning's 'Consultation'"?

With all good wishes. Michael
(Rabbi) Michael J. Cook. Ph.D.

Jesus and Me: One Jew’s Encounter with the Christian “Other” (Part I) – guest post by Larry Behrendt

One of the best things about starting a blog is all of the wealth that it generates.  To be able to walk into Donut Hut and shout out Garsone, bring me your finest bear claw! is more than this boy from the apple orchards ever dreamed!  The second best thing is making friends that I would have never met otherwise. In the last few months I’ve benefited greatly from the wit and wisdom of Larry Behrendt. (Larry writes a really great blog at http://jewishchristianintersections.com/.)  Which is why I’m ashamed to say that it never occurred to me to ask him to guest post for the Jesus Blog. The idea was Chris'.  Every now and again, Chris has a really good idea (normally involving lunch).  Anyway, Larry graciously agreed.  His post will be twofold, published today and tomorrow.  I trust you will enjoy his writing as much as I have.  Take it away Larry!

-anthony

Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible

The webpage for the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St Mary’s University College can be found here. Commendations to Prof. Keith for all of his hard work. Proud to be affiliated!

-anthony

Curveballs

In honor of our most recent giveaway of Prof. Keith's Jesus' Literacy, I thought I would re-link one of my earliest series: See here, here, and here. Ah, back when I was young and opinionated...  good times.

-anthony

The Narrative Continues...

This article was sent to me yesterday by a friend.  Our little Ph.D. cautionary tale is global in scope:

http://chronicle.com/article/Report-Examines-the-Global/138439/

-anthony