Ted Hoffman

Metacrock posted in this thread :

I dont have info concerning the religious affiliations of all these scholars and the argument from popularity aside, I would apprecaite any info on their theistic/non-theistic positions and if someone can make additions to make the list comprehensive, the better. Inertia and consensus for social reasons has been mentioned by me among others to be a factor influencing HJ appeal . Lets see whether we can establish any pattern. For example, back at ARN and ISCID, its clear that scholars who conform to ID are all theists.

From the top of my head, I know the positions of only two scholars in Metacrocks' list.

After this, we can also examine the religious/non-religious affiliations/ background of Jesus Mythers - scholars esp.

The Kind of response I would appreciate should be in the form of:

John D. Crossan Irish Roman Catholic
John P. Meier Roman Catholic

Next?

Secular Pinoy

I think Gary Habermas is more of an apologist than a scholar.

lpetrich

Also of interest would be what they believe the Historical Jesus to be. And what they believe about his alleged miracles, including his alleged resurrection.

Secular Pinoy

Some of the people here are in Peter Kirby's website

Ted Hoffman

Lpetrich, Kirby has done an excellent job of distinguishing the various HJs embraced by scholars, but I would like us to focus on their background/affiliations. At least for this thread.

Peter Kirby

You know you need to get a life when you recognize nearly all of the names on a list like this.

This is purely from memory.

John P. Meier - an orthodox Roman Catholic with an imprimatur on his works; however, he claims to prescind from faith in A Marginal Jew and imagines an "unpapal conclave" of an Protestant, Catholic, Jew, and agnostic locked in the bowels of an ivy league school until they hammer out a consensus document. Meier earlier wrote a commentary on Matthew and co-authored a book with Raymond Brown on Antioch and Rome. He published an article in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly defending a "modest" proposal with regards to Josephus and Jesus, and later incorporated this into his magnum opus. Meier cites Josephus as something that in and of itself proves the existence of Jesus (see the last page of that chapter).

Raymond Brown - also an orthodox Roman Catholic, one time president of the Society of Biblical Literature; he has recently passed away. Probably his most important scholarly achievement is a two-volume commentary on John for the Anchor Bible; he is also well-known for a big one-volume intro to the NT; he has written several other books, such as The Virginal Conception and the Bodily Resurrection, An Introduction to New Testament Christology, and After the Apostles (on ecclesiology). I didn't notice Brown publish anything specifically on Josephus.

Graham Stanton - I have probably heard the name before but that's about it.

N.T. Wright - Conservatives love this guy, but ultra-conservatives don't like him as much, as he doesn't believe (for example) that Jesus was fully-conscious of his triune Godhood. He is in the process of a series titled, "Christian Origins and the Question of God." The first book is The New Testament and the People of God. The second book is Jesus and the Victory of God. There is a short blurb about him on my site. He is an Anglican bishop, I believe.

Paula Fredrickson - my memory says it's spelled Fredriksen, but close enough. She has a delightful article in the BAR on sports in ancient times. Her most famous books are From Jesus to Christ and Jesus of Nazareth: King of the Jews. I haven't read the former, but the latter is a nice argument for the idea that Jesus predicted the Kingdom to arrive in Jerusalem around the time of the passover (read the book if you are interested). I don't know if she has published specifically on Josephus. She is Jewish.

John D. Crossan - Crossan's bibliography is too big to list here. Crossan even has an autobiography if you are interested in the man; it is titled A Long Way from Tiperrary or something like that. I think that there is a shorter version on the Jesus Seminar site. Crossan has been chair of the Historical Jesus section of the Society of Biblical Literature and was a leader (along with Funk) of the Jesus Seminar. Crossan has invoked Josephus and Tacitus in defense of the historicity of Jesus. Crossan does not believe in literal contraventions of natural law, and thus he writes in the Catholic Modernist tradition.

E.P. Sanders - Allison commented in a chapter for discussion in a recent online seminar that he couldn't tell Sanders's religious presuppositions from his writing. At one point in a book I recall him saying that he was brought up in a liberal Protestant household. Sanders won several awards for his 1985 book Jesus and Judaism. Sanders says that the Testimonium that it is the closest thing to objective evidence concerning the importance of Jesus in his lifetime, which is not much (because it is so short compared to the other figures like JtB).

Geza Vermes - Vermes is Jewish, but I believe that he went to a Catholic seminary? Vermes has written three books on the historical Jesus and one book on The Changing Faces of Jesus. Vermes rejects the criteria-based approach in favor of "muddling through" (for which reason Meier takes exception).

Louis Feldman - Feldman is the grand old man when it comes to Josephus studies; he is the author of an exhaustive bibliographical work on Josephus studies from 1937 (?) to 1980 and the editor of several books on Josephus and the relationship of Josephus to Judaism and Christianity. Feldman is Jewish.

John Thackeray - somehow I can never forget Meier quoting someone else calling him the "prince" of Josephan scholars and noting that he switched from total interpolation to partial interpolation. He wrote a book titled Josephus, the Man and the Historian or something like that (in the first half of the twentieth century). I don't know his religious background.

Andre Pelletier - Meier mentions him in his chapter on Josephus; I don't know much else.

Paul Winter - editor of a well-known resource on intertestamental Judaism.

A. Dubarle - don't know.

Ernst Bammel - don't know.

Otto Betz - I know that he has a juicy anti-mythicist quote. I don't know much else.

Paul Mier - don't know.

Ben Witherington - Isn't he the third? Author of The Jesus Quest? Something to do with a bone box?

F.F. Bruce - first literary work was a short book, Are the New Testament Documents Reliable? Bruce has written books on Acts and apologetics. One of the most respected scholars in the conservative Christian camp.

Luke T. Johnson - author of a book against the Jesus Seminar. Has since written an introduction to the NT. Conservative Christian.

Craig Blomberg - author of a book defending the reliability of the four gospels and another book harmonizing John with the Synoptics. Christian.

J. Carleton Paget - author of a very long response to Ken Olson that I am dying to get my hands on (well, not really).

Alice Whealey - check the web for her paper on the history of Testimonium opinion. I don't know anything about her background.

J. Spencer Kennard - never heard of him.

R. Eisler - defends the Slavonic Josephus. Portrays Jesus as a revolutionary.

R.T. France - Interestingly, France rejects just about every source outside the New Testament besides Josephus. I have his book on Jesus and his commentary on Matthew.

Gary Habermas - shroudie. I have criticized his book The Historical Jesus at some length.

Robert Van Voorst - author of Jesus Outside of the New Testament.

Shlomo Pines - Jewish, discovered the Arabic version of the Testimonium in Agapius.

Edwin M. Yamuchi - Yamauchi is a Christian apologist. You can find an essay by him in defense of the resurrection on the web.

James Tabor - I believe he has a web site.

Whew! I hope that this helps somebody!

best,
Peter Kirby

keyser_soze

Peter, excellent memory! And yes, you obviously must get a life!

Ted Hoffman

Peter, that was excellent. Fucking unbeleivable. But perharps I shouldnt be surprised - this is just like you.
Thanks - sorry about our brief scuffle in the previous thread.
When you say "he is Jewish" should we infer from that that a particular scholar ascribes to Judaism?

Secular Pinoy

Yikes! Habermas is a shroudie!?! I only know him in his debates with Antony Flew, and I haven't read his stuff.

Vorkosigan

I see. Lacking arguments, Metacrock is now seeking swamp us by weight of numbers.

Vorkosigan