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Loading...A lot of terrific comments have come in on James Tabor’s posts on Revelation. I’m afraid we’ve been having technical difficulties on the blog in making it possible for him to reply to them. But we think we have it worked out now (long story; I won’t bore you with it). So hopefully responses will be coming. He will not be able to reply to all of the comments, but will take on some, and we will make sure that all of them, whether replied to or not, are published! Thanks for your patience. The difficulty is about to be resolved. It is “coming soon”!
Problems with Comments on Revelation!
July 21, 2021
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I love technical stuff, any kind of technical stuff. I would be happy to know what the problem was. But I understand that I am a nerd, and if you choose not to placate a minority of nerds that might be among your audience members, I will understand. Long ago I was told: the way of the nerd is a lonely one– expect no joy. Sigh.
It’s all in the coding, and it took a while to straighten out. But we’re there now….
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the USB key to the bottomless internet and a great MAC.” It was all prophesied, Bart 😉
Yes, it’s a disputed verse in the text….
Well, if it turns out to be a memory issue, just remember, that as Abraham said to Issac, “God will provide the RAM, my son.”
Another prophecy that has been fulfilled!
Bart:
I may have missed this matter in your books or blog posts. Was John an eye-witness to the crucifixion? The reason I ask is that I did ethnographic research among Muslims in Southeast Asia. As you know, Muslims don’t believe that Christ was crucified. They kept telling me that there were no eye-witnesses among his followers regarding the crucifixion. I told them that John was an eye-witness. They didn’t believe me.
Can you point to a blog post or your books where you may have discussed this topic.
Thanks, Ray Scupin
I”m afraid we don’t have any eyewitness testimonies to the crucifixion. Would that we did! John the author of Revelation, in any case, is a different John from whoever wrote the Gospel; the latter, for what it’s worth, does not call himself John and never reveals his identity (so too with the other GOspels, Acts, and several other books of the NT: they are simply anonymous). The author of Revelation does reveal his name (John) but gives no indication that he was one of Jesus’ apostles and in fact gives several indications that he was not one of them (and makes no claim to have known Jesus while he was alive). It IS the case, however, that the author of the Gospel of John names the “Disciple whom JEsus Loved” as one who saw teh crucifixion (John 19); but the author does not claim to be that person: he is talking about him as one of the characters of his story (and does not name him John or anything else! AGain, unnamed!)
Thanks very much for this clarification. I guess these Muslims were more accurate than me regarding eyewitness testimonies to the crucifixion. Very helpful.
I would say it has no bearing on the question of whether Jesus was crucified or not. He certainly was.
Of course.
Professor,
1.How do you interpret the parable of the shrewd manager in Luke 16?
2. Can you talk about why different tranalations have Jesus advising followers to use “dishonest” wealth vs. others that have it as “worldly” wealth?
3. Is this parable likely an aurhentic teaching of Jesus?
Thank you!
Frankly, I”ve never figured it out. My sense is it comes from later story teller who is trying to emphasize that followers of Jesus should do whatever they can to ensure hteir survival or to promote the good of the Gospel. But it’s one of those stories I just ahve never understood (even after seeing other explanations of it)
Wouldn’t the fact that the parable is enigmatic and doesn’t appear to advance Luke’s theological views weigh in favor of an assumption that the parable was an authentic saying of Jesus? Assuming that the parable is found in the earliest & best manuscripts, what your reason for favoring the explanation that it was a later interpolation over the explanation that it was an authentic saying of Jesus that Luke felt compelled to include because of his belief in its authenticity despite its confusing nature?
ARe you talking about the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man? I’ve discussed it on the blog and in my book on Heaven and Hell if you want to see a fuller treatment; I argue that it does align with Luke’s view of things particularly well, and that the point of the entire narrative hangs on understanding that someone has already been raised from the dead and it has had no effect on Jews who refuse to listen to him (i.e. that it was written after the belief in Jesus’ resurrection arose)
No, I’m asking a follow-up question in reaponse to your answer above about the parable of the shrewd manager in Luke 16. You said that you suspect that it’s from a later storyteller. I’m just trying to understand how that suspicion is consistent with your usual criteria for determining authenticity of quotes attributed to Jesus. Isn’t it inconsistent with the assumption that the Gospel authors probably would have preferred to exclude teachings that didn’t advance their own theological beliefs, except when they felt compelled to include them because they believed that the teachings were really authentically from Jesus?
Good question. That’s not exactly the assumption. The assumption is that some stories were altered or invented by CHristian storytellers over the decades in order to express their own views on things, and a number of these stories were picked up by the Gospel writers. I’d say that the fact that I don’t understand the meaning of the story does not mean it was not a later invention. THe main reason for thinking that it was (later than Jesus) is that whatever its precise meaning, the general meaning appears to be that one should use money dishonestly to promote one’s own interests, adn that does not seem consistent with the kinds of things Jesus himself said about money.