Toto

April DeConick never supported the Jesus Project. She is a former student of Joseph Hoffman's and gave a talk at a previous conference that he organized, that was intended to evolve into the Jesus Project. I think she was erroneously listed as a fellow at the start, but disclaimed any interest.

No Robots

Ahem.

Ishmael

wrong, she clearly stated she was stepping aside after the exchange with Rook

btw Rook's reply to her was so insulting (in it's context as a scholarly exchange) that I was surprised that even Rook had the nerve to post it or that Dr. DeConick didn't flat out challenge him on his rhetoric, as others have done

read it here and see a young, uneducated barely literate idiot tell a seasoned scholarly expert that she is "ad hocing" him

rigorist

Mark Goodacre bailed, too.

IGExpandingPanda

I'll freely admit, I don't know in what capacity April DeConick supported The Jesus Project, but whatever support she lent was withdrawn thinks in part to Rook Hawkins. Her exact words were "...and recently determining the actual goal of TJP which had always been vague to me, I have decided to step aside."

http://forbiddengospels.blogspot.com...s-project.html

wordy

I don't like how Tom Verenna treated people in latest debacle but he is fun to read when he talk legends and myth. On my rudimentary level of getting all this he is an easy and entertaining read.

But I have only read this one now.

Mythicism and Minimalism ...
By Thomas Verenna


http://tomverenna.wordpress.com/2008...ts-detractors/

Seems to be a very young person so hopefully he calm down when his level of testosterone get normal after 40, some 15 or 10 years from now.

Toto

"After" is not the same as "because of," and it appears that she was more interested in dissimilarities in approach than in Rook's politeness or lack thereof.

I read her post - it was framed as what she theoretically could contribute to the Jesus Project. But she never volunteered to be a fellow. And I read her withdrawal as a decision not to reconsider joining in the Jesus Project.

Rook-Tom is not a polished writer, but this does not seem to rise to the level of personal invective that would drive an accomplished scholar away from a project.

I think DeConick is content to accept that a historical Jesus existed, based on the somewhat dubious evidence that exists. This is not an unreasonable position, but this is not the position of the Jesus Project as I understand it. Luckily, not everyone has to think the same way or have the same priorities.

No sense making a mountain out of a molehill.

Ishmael

apparently you missed the part where she mentions that Rook uses her (DeConick) blog post as a support for his myther position and she objects and then steps aside from the project...?

anyway, maybe it is a molehill but it certainly looks rather bad for TJP

Ishmael

By the way, this is what makes it so bad for TJP as a academic endeavor: Rook is barely wet behind the ears academically and is a strident supporter of a rather obscure position on the historical Jesus. His (Rook Hawkins from the Rational Response Squad) involvement makes the project look like an anti-faith project.

IGExpandingPanda

Bayesian analysis. W00t W00t.

http://forbiddengospels.blogspot.com...pt-post-4.html

Here's how the basic argument goes
1) These stories here are pure fiction
2) Because it's fiction it's not meant to record history
3) Jesus was fiction.

Obviously in modern times we've crafted works of fiction based loosely on real people. Johnny Appleseed is an example, popular in fiction but there was a real life Johnny Appleseed.

So what does this say about Jesus? Frankly nothing.

The problem with Tom Verenna (Rook Hawkins) representing The Jesus Project is he's a doof who reads and misunderstands secondary sources. He gave a lecture in New York about not only did Jesus not exist, it was the writers intent to make Jewish fiction novels and read as entertainment. I guess you could call it a valid hypothesis, but not one with any support.

Some of these academics might believe there was a historic Jesus. I lean toward a fist full of Jesuses myself. But they don't presume it's fact, they take a neutral position and see where the evidence leads. That seems to be the failing of The Jesus Project, and it's seen in their blogosphere representative. It doesn't help that their representative is rather dishonest about his experience base and his accomplishments.

As a good rule of thumb, avoid activists if your interested in history.