Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 05-02-2011, 10:45 AM

Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite (or via: amazon.co.uk) by L. Michael White

He claims that the gospels were not intended to be factual statements.

Quote:

In Scripting Jesus, famed scholar of early Christianity L. Michael White challenges us to read the gospels as they were originally intended—as performed stories of faith rather than factual histories. White demonstrates that each of the four gospel writers had a specific audience in mind and a specific theological agenda to push, and consequently wrote and rewrote their lives of Jesus accordingly—in effect, scripting Jesus to get a particular point across and to achieve the desired audience reaction.

...

L. Michael White is Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins and is the director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of From Jesus to Christianity (or via: amazon.co.uk) and was featured in two award-winning PBS Frontline documentaries, "From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians" and "Apocalypse!," for which he also served as principal historical consultant and co-writer. He also directs ongoing archaeological excavations of one of the oldest Greco-Roman synagogues at Ostia, Italy.

PhilosopherJay · 05-02-2011, 10:55 AM

Hi Toto,

Thanks for this. It sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Warmly,

Philosopher Jay

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite (or via: amazon.co.uk) by L. Michael White

He claims that the gospels were not intended to be factual statements.

Quote:

In Scripting Jesus, famed scholar of early Christianity L. Michael White challenges us to read the gospels as they were originally intended—as performed stories of faith rather than factual histories. White demonstrates that each of the four gospel writers had a specific audience in mind and a specific theological agenda to push, and consequently wrote and rewrote their lives of Jesus accordingly—in effect, scripting Jesus to get a particular point across and to achieve the desired audience reaction.

...

L. Michael White is Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins and is the director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of From Jesus to Christianity (or via: amazon.co.uk) and was featured in two award-winning PBS Frontline documentaries, "From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians" and "Apocalypse!," for which he also served as principal historical consultant and co-writer. He also directs ongoing archaeological excavations of one of the oldest Greco-Roman synagogues at Ostia, Italy.

Horatio Parker · 05-02-2011, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite (or via: amazon.co.uk) by L. Michael White

He claims that the gospels were not intended to be factual statements.

This is also what Alvin Boyd Kuhn says, over and over, in his books. It is the only logical conclusion to anyone not a fundamentalist.

For an eternal spiritual truth to be such only if divine supernatural historical events occurred a certain way is nonsensical to me. It seems a very odd procedure for a loving omniscient God. But when considered from the perspective of symbolic truth, they make much more sense.

Obsessing over history and archaeology in order to buttress one's religious beliefs is a poor use of spiritual energy.

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