Peter Kirby

Some readers may be interested to know that Norman Perrin's _Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus_ is available on-line for free.

http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-b...k?item_id=1564

best,
Peter Kirby
http://home.earthlink.net/~kirby/writings/

aikido7

Thanks, Peter, for providing the link. It certainly helped me to once again re-appreciate the painstaking time and effort most good scholars (and by "good," I certainly don't limit that judgement to progressive scholars only!) put into their methodology and art. Perrin is no exception, and the download made me once again aware of the fact that good scholarship is much more exacting and intricate than I sometimes realize.

I have no idea if Perrin is "right." Only that he should be listened to with an evaluating mind and good common sense.

Thanks to mass communication and the internet, we can all be made aware of what is historically measurable and verifiable concerning the historicity of early Christianity and the message of Jesus. This explosion in knowledge and knowledge-sharing is accessible to everyone now, even though some people and groups are still facing their own corner of the room we are all mingling in and cannot yet bring themselves to turn around and look elsewhere for awhile.

Fantasy and wishful thinking die hard. It is sometimes difficult to put away childish things. I know this from ongoing experience....