Finally, a Book that Educates the Masses: A Review of Bart D. Ehrman's Book, Jesus Interrupted
You can find my review of Bart D. Ehrman's book Jesus Interrupted, by following this link and then scrolling down on the page. If you find it helpful I'd appreciate a "yes" vote on the review. There's also a button next to my name that says "see all my reviews." Click on it if you want to read some other book reviews I've written, two pages of them.
10 comments:
Based on the reviews ratings the book has gotten (either 5 stars or one star), I would say it has hit a major never in the Christian community. Ehrman's book should be required reading by all believers.
I noticed that the ONE STAR reviewers did not post any scholarly critic of the book, but that Christians only need to take the negative reviewer's word that it’s just simply wrong!
Though I have not read the book yet, John your review makes me even more excited to get my copy.
Reading it now.
Hard to find anything negative to say about it other than Ehrman allows for almost no room for harmonizing the Gospels.
Being Devil's advocate...
• Aspects of Judas's suicide, eg, could be sensibly harmonized. Ehrman says otherwise.
• Ehrman complains that Quirinius was not "governor of Syria" when Jesus was born. Apologists (Strobel?g)answer that Quintilius Varus, Syria's governor at the birth of Christ, was also referred to in some historic texts as Quirinius (euphemistically?). I was surprised Ehrman didn't address that.
• Ehrman complains that it would have been impractical for Roman citizens to register for taxation in their home towns. Considering that transiency was virtually non-existent during Pax Romana, the decree could have made sense.
"• Ehrman complains that it would have been impractical for Roman citizens to register for taxation in their home towns. Considering that transiency was virtually non-existent during Pax Romana, the decree could have made sense."
I realize you are being devil's advocate, but in the history of Rome there is never to my knowledge any time an order for a census to require people to leave their area of current residence. It would have been onerous and pointless.
John I just read your review and you posted a few points Ehrman states about tools and criteria that historians use to determine history.
I am looking for these tools and criteria but can't seem to find them anywhere.
Does anyone know what they are and where to find information on them?
I should also point out that the purpose of censuses was to count potential taxpayers so counting people (not just Roman citizens who were a small minority) where they lived (and where they likely had the majority of their property which could be checked at the same time) made the most sense.
Admittedly I'm not sure why the story of the census to give a reason for Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem is in Luke since even in the time it was written it would have been seen as odd.
Erp: Because for Jesus to have been Messiah he had to be born there. Its forcing the square peg into the round hole.
Obviously none of the gospel writers were present at the nativity, so he's basically speculating how he MUST have been born in Bethlehem because he is OBVIOUSLY the messiah. Their target audience wasn't too bright.
Old news...
The traditional site of Bethlehem apparently didn't exist at the time of Jesus birth. That wouldn't prohibit Jesus's parents from going there to be registered for taxation, but makes one wonder why there would be a registration office at an abandoned site.
SOURCE
The taxation could have happened, but probably didn't.
My view in general is: The objective is to be objective (as opposed to contrarian.)
Came across The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason by Charles Freeman - read the first and last chapters, seems quite interesting. Keen to know if anyone on this site has read it.
Kenn, or whomever you are (your blogger profile is totally blank).
Not only the tales of Judas' death but even the reason given for why a place was called "field of blood" seem at variance in the Gospels. And there's a third story about Judas' death as well that Christians began spreading, how he was crushed to death by a cart in one of the gates of Jerusalem.
Did Judas or the priests buy the "field of blood?" Was it called a "field of blood" because Judas fell headlong there, spilling his blood there? Or because the priest's bought the field with Judas' "blood money," or because it was a field of red clay used to make clay pots, hence also called a "potter's field," and the red clay resembled a "blood reddish" hue?
As for the tale of the exact number of pieces of silver used to betray Jesus, "30 pieces of silver," that detail is lifted from some O.T. passages taken out of context that mention a potter's field. The amount of money was woven into the Judas story in the N.T. It's not prophecy being fulfilled.
If you want to harmonize the two stories of Judas' death in the N.T., Judas could conceivably have hung himself and the rope broke, and his body twisted round in the air so he fell "headlong" to the ground and then his guts burst asunder. But each account elucidates quite plainly what killed Judas, hanging, or falling headlong. It would seem that each text is defining what killed him, just as the third text is also complete unto itself and was spread by Christians, the text about Judas dying from being crushed by a cart.
"If you want to harmonize the two stories of Judas' death in the N.T., Judas could conceivably have hung himself and the rope broke, and his body twisted round in the air so he fell "headlong" to the ground and then his guts burst asunder..."
It's sad the kind of twisting that goes on to pretend the text is errorless.
I'm not sure who used this example first, but let's say you have a book that claims a certain character dies by falling into a volcano, and also claims later that he died from being attacked by wolves.
I can just construct a made-up story where I pretend that the guy in question is standing on the edge of a volcano, when a pack of wolves come running up the slope and attack him so he falls backwards into the lava. I've just preserved the inerrancy of the text by doing these mental gymnastics which should convince no one but myself.
It sounds ridiculous, but this is precisely what the fundies do when it comes to Judas' death, and they act like it's a completely reasonable thing to assume from the text. It's obvious to any thinking person what they're really doing, but it never looks ridiculous to them because the commitment to inerrancy must be preserved AT ALL COSTS, no matter how outlandish the story sounds to make things "fit."
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