Loading...Here are several recent questions I have received that are oddly (and by serendipity) closely related to each other and connected with knowing the New Testament writings said and meant.
QUESTION:
Don’t you think NT scholars need to stop calling people raised from the dead back to mortality “resuscitations” (e.g., those in 1 Kgs, 2 Kgs, various NT scenes, and Hellenistic traditions)? These aren’t resuscitations (from an almost dead state), they are real “resurrections” from a truly dead state! NT scholarship has co-opted the word “resurrection” to mean raised from the dead back to immortality, but that’s not what that term means, it just means raised from the dead. In truth, Jesus was both resurrected AND made immortal, and one needs to explain why Jesus’ followers thought both of these things about Jesus.
RESPONSE:
I’d say
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Your discussion of how different wordings can lead to very different theologies made me reflect on the relationship between wording and religious experience.
Historical-critical methods often focus on recovering the earliest attainable wording, assuming that meaning is tied to the original form of the text. However, in many religious contexts, what seems to matter most is not the precise wording, but the experience or conviction that the words evoke in a community.
This way of thinking may be somewhat similar to Bultmann’s perspective, but if the earliest followers of Jesus were primarily responding to powerful religious experiences—rather than carefully preserving exact formulations—might variations in wording reflect not only changing traditions, but attempts to express those experiences in different ways?
In that sense, could textual variation be seen not simply as a problem for reconstruction, but also as a trace of how religious meaning was actually lived?
I realize this may move beyond the scope of historical inquiry, so I don’t expect a definitive answer, but I would still be interested in your thoughts.
Yup, good points. My sense is that the earliest followers of Jesus had various concerns and interests; few of them seem to be intent on exact recall or literal prervations. I’d also say that changing stories passed along orally is like changing written texts, but also different in a key way, since what is written is there for all to see and oral reports go only through those who are listening and retelling. (I.e., copying a text is not the same as retelling a story in some ways)
Dear Dr Ehrman-If I may ask, do you (and your colleagues) have any opinion regarding the view of Nina E. Livesey, namely that Paul is a fictional figure whose letters are later Roman Marcionite creations?
We do. Off hand I don’t know of any Pauline scholars who find it plausible.
Suppose the authors of the various New Testament books, before writing their books, all rec’d a letter saying “Congratulations! you have been selected as a finalist to write one or more books of the Bible. People will be reading what you write for thousands of years and scrutinizing every word closely. They will model their entire lives and belief systems on your words. Future generations will also scrutinize how your every word relates to every other word in other books that will be written by other finalists–even though you may not have read all of their books. Final drafts are due by 96 AD. Good luck! ”
If they received this letter, would the finalists have written any differently?
I doubt it! Most people who write what they write approve highly of what they write!
Dr. Ehrman, in your most recent podcast, you mentioned that a popular movie in your youth was “A Thief in the night” which you didn’t seem to like. I also recall you mentioning, about a year or two ago, that you loved a move “Jesus of Montreal”. So, I’m just curious, if you could put in a time capsule six items (subject to the below conditions) what would they be? The six items are:
1. Any two movies.
2. Any two scholarly books on the New Testament or Christianity.
3. And any two documentaries on the New Testament or Christianity.
Thanks.
I couldn’t do it!!