Just read "Zealot - The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth"

by EdenOne 15 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • fulltimestudent
    fulltimestudent
    EdenOne: Finally, one of my favorites. It's a scholarly article (Book? Thesis?) about how the first Christian gatherings.I have found it a fascinating reading. I found it very useful when I had to research for an article I wrote about shunning.
    THE EARLIEST HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN GATHERING - ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT AND CONTENT OF THE CHRISTIAN GATHERING IN THE FIRST TO THIRD CENTURIES
    by Valeriy Alexandrovich Alikin

    Thnx for posting this item. Looks interesting, and I'm pleased to have it, although other scholars have published studies examining the many similarities between Graeco-Roman social fellowships and Christian gatherings.

    The paper appears to be Alikin's dissertation for his Ph.d.

    The book may be an expanded version of the dissertation, havn't had time to check that. A partial version of Alikin's book can be found on google books: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=dBuzG2enXxMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne

    My last post was done very late at night, and I forgot to add something that the "Zealot" book yielded, that was rather surprising to me.

    The fact that Paul took the teachings of the followers of Jesus and transformed it into a whole new religion isn't a novelty. However, I thought that Paul's teachings were winning by landslide in the first century. Aslan's insightful analysis shows otherwise. In fact, the congregation of Jerusalem, led by James, the Brother of Jesus, saw Paul as a dangerous apostate, and fought back, sending their own missionaries to visit Paul's congregations and urging them to return to keeping Moses' Law, as it was observed by the congregation in Jerusalem. Hence, Paul's constant rants against the judaizants and his constant need to reaffirm his authority as an apostle not inferior to those who have walked and broke bread with Jesus. And, in fact, the congregations were giving more consideration to blood, and so James was winning those people back, which left Paul in hot water, tonthe point that he got publicly scolded by James for teaching an apostasy against Moses (Acts 21) and hummiliated by having to submit to a ritual of purification in the Temple. However, the tide turned when the Temple was destroyed in 70CE, and suddenly no one wanted anything to do with a religion (judaism) that had been humilliated by Rome. That's when the disciples of Paul seized their opportunity and gained mommentum.

    Eden

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat
    Not read this book by Reza Aslan. I've read all Ehrman's books but they bore me a bit now. Perhaps the best was Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium. I liked it because it emphasized similarities between Jesus and JWs for me. Did Jesus Exist? was a huge disappointment.

    Read anything by Robert M. Price? I find him both fascinating and hilarious. Other scholars try to put him down because he's out of the mainstream. Even his titles are hilarious.

    The Historical Bejeezus (Surely wins prize for best title in historical Jesus studies ever)

    The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man (about how when you strip away the myth from the gospels there is virtually nothing left to call historical)

    The Amazing Colossal Apostle (extremely provocative even among mythicists - asks how do we even know Paul existed?)

    Anyone read Richard Carrier's On the Historicity of Jesus yet? I found it pretty heavy going with all that Bayesian claptrap, dint finish it.

    If Didier were still here he'd perhaps recommend the cynic interpretations of Burton Mack and John Dominic Crossan.


  • Perry
    Perry
    Bart Ehrman is a sad figure.
  • EdenOne
    EdenOne
    Bart Ehrman is a sad figure.

    That article that you've linked to is the finished example of ad hominem driven by utter religious bias and hate, not evidence-based knowledge. Garbage can worth material. And, by the way, the book that motivates that article in question isn't even Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus" or even "Jesus, Interrupted", which I make reference to in this thread. Rather, it's Ehrman's "God's Problem", in which he discusses his personal reasons for becoming agnostic, namely how he feels the Bible doesn't provide an answer to the problem of evil. So, Perry, you bring out a critique abut an author, as if his agnosticism precludes him from having a correct assessment of the textual problems within the Bible. The conclusion you draw is what, in fact, is indeed sad. Because, by the same token, non-muslims cannot make informed assessments about Islam's fundamentalism because they're not believers of the Quram.

    The author of the article concludes his drivel by saying:

    "There is nothing unrighteous about the God of the Bible, but He is God and He does not have to answer to man. God is justified by those who believe."

    Enough said. The Almighty can do no wrong, even when he commands wholesale killings of men, women and children and animals, for good measure too. No wonder the entity responsible for publishing this drivel identifies itself as:

    "Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians."

    Sure, the world needs more fundamentalists.

    To quote Bruce Bawer, in "Stealing Jesus - How Fundamentalism Betrays Jesus" (1997)

    "the problem with legalistic Christianity is not simply that it affirms that God can be evil; it's that it imagines a manifestly evil God and calls that evil good.

    "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." - Isaiah 5:20

    Eden

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut
    TimDrake1914 on page 1: Bart seemed to view Zealot as more of a fictionalized account of Jesus, rather than an actual scholarly take on Jesus.

    Yes. While it isn't written as fiction, I took it as a fiction that said "Who would Jesus have to be in order to grow up and live in that time in a way to become literally immortalized?" But to me, it was a scholarly explanation.

    There are now plenty of Jesus-Isn't-Real books, so it was refreshing to read. Even if it's a fiction, it helps the reader to understand the culture that could create the "zealots" for the era.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit