jgibson000

Why reading this dissertaion will convince me -- as you obviously think it would -- that Our Christ, a book that was (a) written by a philosopher, not an exegete, and which (b) is imbued with what amounts to theosophy and rather quaint Hegelian notions of anthropology and how history "works", not to mention Renanesque Romanticism regarding the aims of Jesus, and which is (c) woefully out of date when it comes to its presuppositions on, knowledge of, and declarations about what first century Judaism was all about, is the best book on the historical Jesus, is beyond me.

Sorry. But the fact that you think it is worthy of consideration says more about you than it does about the book.

Jeffrey Gibson

mountainman

How can you go past the original and classical
Pro-HJ masterpiece Historia Ecclesiastica?

When do the neophytes get exposed to the foundation
of the sedimentary deposits of comments upon comments?

What do you expect scholars of the last 60 years to have
expressed about the "HJ postulate" that Eusebius has left
unsaid circa 314 CE?

Is there some "threashold of abstraction" that a person new
to Biblical Studies must first attain before moving to the
reading of the planet's first ecclesiastical historiographer?



Pete Brown

jgibson000

When they take the time to open and read a few books on the subject and learn the languages in which the books they pompously pronounce upon were written instead of relying on the internet for their sources.

You obviously haven't read much -- if any -- modern HJ scholarship, let alone the material produced by Weiss, Schweizter, Bultmann and others in the early part of the 20th century if you think that they have not gone beyond what Eusebius said about the HJ.

But be that as it may, I have to ask: Can you do anything but ride this hobby horse of yours? Frankly, I find it tiresome, especially when you use posts that have nothing to do with you conspiracy theory thesis as springboards for sounding your one note.

I wonder if you'd be gracious enough to give us all an early XMas present and leave off playing this repetitive and monotonous and blinkered tune for a while?

Jeffrey Gibson

No Robots

Then why you would, in your next post, uphold Schweitzer is beyond me.

Having no reply to my questions I can only assume that you have not read Brunner's book and cannot cite any examples from it in defence of your wholly ignorant attack.

Vorkosigan

1. Theissen and Merz, _The Historical Jesus_. Head and shoulders above the rest. Not just Jesus, but also the milieu and debates about it. Really a fantastic reference work.

2. Meier's 3 volume set. First is probably most important.

3. Crossan, The Birth of Christianity. heavy on methodology and on Jesus' milieu.

Vorkosigan

No Robots, Brunner wrote those books in the 1920s. Almost a century has passed, including the postwar scholarly revolution. Are you saying that none of the books since Brunner surpasses his in knowledge of the terrain, methodological grasp, and so on? I doubt anyone would plug a work in the NT field written in the 20s as the greatest ever, let alone one by a non specialist who clearly did not familiarize himself with the field he was commenting on.

Vorkosigan

Peter Kirby

I will suggest Theissen & Merz, not because it is a particularly convincing apologia pro Jesu, but because it is a solid recent rounded introduction to the whole of HJ studies for the nonexpert.

And I will suggest E.D.'s book on the "con" side.

--
Peter Kirby

neilgodfrey

Does this 1974 publication elaborate any further on Bruce's 1943 chapter, "The Evidence of Early Jewish Writings", where he discusses the TF?

That whole 1943 book is available "on the internet", by the way: The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable? By F. F. BRUCE, 1943.

Neil Godfrey
http://vridar.wordpress.com

Peter Kirby

I can attest that it does. (The book is in the library.)

--
Peter Kirby

neilgodfrey

No doubt it's in libraries but I ask because I do not live anywhere near the sort of library that does hold it and it costs to travel or request interlibrary loans.