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Were Jesus’ Most Amazing Deeds the Ones Most Likely to be Remembered?
Here I continue thinking about memory in relation to Jesus by dealing with an obvious objection to the idea that Jesus’ followers, and those who heard the stories about him, were prone to misremember what they saw and heard — these were SPECTACULAR events. Aren’t spectacular events and stories far more likely to be remembered accurately than the everyday stuff we forget all the time? Here’s how I discuss the issue in my book Jesus Before the Gospels (HarperOne, 2016). ****************************** One of the scary things about memory is not not simply that we forget things over time or don’t quite remember things correctly. Sometimes we actually have “distorted memories,” that is, recollections – often quite vivid – of things that did not happen. One of the fairly recent discoveries in the field is that distorted memories can be implanted in people’s minds, for example, by hearing distorted information about a past event and then remembering it as part of the event. That can happen even with respect to events of one’s own personal history. […]
June 8, 2023
If We Can Know the “Gist” of What Jesus Said and Did … What’s the Gist?
I’m going to be discussing soon some of the things that appear to be “misremembered” about Jesus in our early sources, but first it’s important to emphasize some of the hugely critical positive things about memory – like, that most of the time we get it basically right. Depending, of course, on what “basically” means! Here’s how I discuss the matter in Jesus Before the Gospels (HarperOne, 2016). ******************* Remembering the Gist? Let me make a point that may not be clear from what I have said so far about the psychology of memory. In stressing the fact – which appears to be a fact – that memories are always constructed and therefore prone to error, even when they are quite vivid, I am not, I am decidedly not, saying that all of our memories are faulty or wrong. Most of the time we remember pretty well, at least in broad outline. Presumably, so too did eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus. As did the person who heard a story from an eyewitness may well […]
June 10, 2023
The Events Leading up to the Death of Jesus: What Can We Know and Not Know?
Now I’d like the rubber to meet the road. If we think we can know a good bit of the gist of Jesus’ life, what can we say with relative certainly about how it ended? What do scholars who look at all the evidence basically agree on? And what (and how much!) is basically up for grabs? Here’s how I discuss it in Jesus Before the Gospels (HarperOne 2016). ****************************** Gist Memories of Jesus’ Death One of my purposes in this book is to examine later traditions about Jesus recorded in our Gospels, written between forty and sixty-five years after his death, to see if any of them include distorted memories, either in whole or in part. In this chapter I will focus on traditions involving the death of Jesus; in the next chapter, after exploring the question of whether oral cultures are likely to remember the past more accurately than literary ones, I will explore traditions involving the earlier life and ministry of Jesus. I want to begin with stories surrounding Jesus’ last days […]
June 11, 2023
Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate: What Can We Actually Know?
In this post I shift from a general overview of what we can know about Jesus’ last days/hours to a specific instance. What can we actually know about his trial before Pontius Pilate, that led to his crucifixion? Do we know the details? Can we get the gist? Is there *anything* that is (relatively) certain? Or are all the things “remembered” in the Gospel writings distorted? From my book, Jesus Before the Gospels (HarperOne): An Illustration of the Method: Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate The biggest question we have to deal with at the outset is also the most obvious one. How do we know if a memory of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels is accurate, by which I mean that it is something that in fact did not actually take place? My analyses in this series of posts will be based on a premise that it is indeed possible to uncover a distorted recollection of Jesus’ life, and that it can be done in one of two ways. On one hand, there are some […]
June 14, 2023
Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate: Some of the Distorted Memories of the Gospels
In my previous post I discussed some of the important differences between our four Gospels in their accounts of Jesus’ trial before Pilate. Just read them, carefully, compare them in detail with one another, and see for yourself! I continue with that discussion here, and then look to see what we can say are (certainly? probably?) “distorted memories” of the event in our accounts. This again is taken from my book Jesus Before the Gospels (HarperOne, 2016). ****************************** Another difference in John’s account is that Jesus and Pilate have several extended conversations. Jesus is not silent before the accusations, as in the other accounts. Instead, he uses the charges brought against him to speak to Pilate about himself, his identity, his kingdom, and the truth. As in Luke, Pilate tries to release Jesus three times, but “the Jews” will not hear of it: they insist that Jesus be executed. Pilate finally brings Jesus outside and shows him to the Jews and tells them to “Behold your King.” The Jews urge him to crucify Jesus. Pilate […]
June 15, 2023
The Radical Teachings of Jesus–And Why No One Follows Them
This is the title I’d like for my next book. Of course, I may change my mind (it happens all the time) and of greater moment, what I propose to my publisher as a title book often ends up having little effect or influence on the actual title. Publishers have the final say on that, and even though there is a lot of back and forth, discussion, and negotiation – in the end, well, good luck winning *that* decision! Even so, it’s what I’m calling the book now because I think it encapsulates what I want to say in it. My view is that Jesus’ teachings on how to live in relation to others were radically different from what can be found in (a) the teachings of Greek and Roman moralists (“moral philosophers”), (b) on the ground, in the Roman empire generally (among non-philosophers) (insofar as we can tell how people normally lived, given the scarcity of our sources of information), and (c) even in the Hebrew Bible tradition in which Jesus “lived, moved, and […]
June 13, 2023
Did the Triumphal Entry Really Happen?
Did Jesus really come into Jerusalem on a donkey to the acclamations of the crowd welcoming him as the coming messiah? Or is that a distorted understanding of what happened? [[In this thread of posts I’ve been trying to show how experts in the phenomenon of “memory” can help us reflect on the Gospel traditions about Jesus. Memory is a much wider and more expansive phenomenon than most people imagine. Memories involve what we’ve done, what we’ve experienced, what we’ve learned, what we’ve heard, and what we simply recall about the past whether we ourselves experienced it and whether our recollections are just personal or collectively shared by a broader swath of our community (e.g., our “memories” of the Clinton presidency or of the Civil War) . When seen in this broader sense, the Gospels contain some “historically true” memories of Jesus but also some distorted or fake memories. In my previous two posts I talked about the “memories” about Jesus’ trial before Pilate. In the following posts I’ll discuss other key passages of […]
June 17, 2023
Did Jesus Really Cleanse the Temple?
In all the Gospels Jesus enters into the temple in Jerusalem and becomes enraged by what he sees there. He overturns tables and drives merchants out and shuts down the operation. Could this actually have happened? Or is it an exaggerated – or completely invented – account? [[RECALL, in case you haven’t been reading each of the posts in this thread: I’ve been trying to show how experts in the phenomenon of “memory” can help us reflect on the Gospel traditions about Jesus. Memory is a much wider and more expansive phenomenon than most people imagine. Memories involve what we’ve done, what we’ve experienced, what we’ve learned, what we’ve heard, and what we simply recall about the past whether we ourselves experienced it and whether our recollections are just personal or collectively shared by a broader swath of our community (e.g., our “memories” of the Clinton presidency or of the Civil War) . When seen in this broader sense, the Gospels contain some “historically true” memories of Jesus but also some distorted or fake […]
June 18, 2023
Were Jesus Followers Really Armed and Dangerous in the Garden of Gethsemane?
Can it be true that Jesus’ followers were armed when Jesus was arrested, and that they put up a fight to defend him, as indicated in the Gospels? Did Jesus’ disciples believe in armed engagement with the enemy? Did Jesus??? [[RECALL, in case you haven’t been reading each of the posts in this thread: I’ve been trying to show how experts in the phenomenon of “memory” can help us reflect on the Gospel traditions about Jesus. Memory is a much wider and more expansive phenomenon than most people imagine. Memories involve what we’ve done, what we’ve experienced, what we’ve learned, what we’ve heard, and what we simply recall about the past whether we ourselves experienced it and whether our recollections are just personal or collectively shared by a broader swath of our community (e.g., our “memories” of the Clinton presidency or of the Civil War) . When seen in this broader sense, the Gospels contain some “historically true” memories of Jesus but also some distorted or fake memories. In the current thread of posts […]
June 20, 2023
Did Pilate Really Release A Dangerous Criminal, Barabbas, at Jesus’ Trial?
Is it true that at Jesus’ trial, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate tried to get him off the hook by offering to let him loose, according to his annual custom, but that the Jewish crowd insist that he release to them Barabbas instead, a serious criminal? [[RECALL, in case you haven’t been reading each of the posts in this thread: I’ve been trying to show how experts in the phenomenon of “memory” can help us reflect on the Gospel traditions about Jesus. Memory is a much wider and more expansive phenomenon than most people imagine. Memories involve what we’ve done, what we’ve experienced, what we’ve learned, what we’ve heard, and what we simply recall about the past whether we ourselves experienced it and whether our recollections are just personal or collectively shared by a broader swath of our community (e.g., our “memories” of the Clinton presidency or of the Civil War) . When seen in this broader sense, the Gospels contain some “historically true” memories of Jesus but also some distorted or fake memories. In […]
June 21, 2023
Did the Curtain in the Temple Really Rip in Half at Jesus’ Crucifixion?
Did the curtain in the temple really rip in half when Jesus died? That’s what the Gospels say. But can it be true? [[RECALL, in case you haven’t been reading each of the posts in this thread: I’ve been trying to show how experts in the phenomenon of “memory” can help us reflect on the Gospel traditions about Jesus. Memory is a much wider and more expansive phenomenon than most people imagine. Memories involve what we’ve done, what we’ve experienced, what we’ve learned, what we’ve heard, and what we simply recall about the past whether we ourselves experienced it and whether our recollections are just personal or collectively shared by a broader swath of our community (e.g., our “memories” of the Clinton presidency or of the Civil War) . When seen in this broader sense, the Gospels contain some “historically true” memories of Jesus but also some distorted or fake memories. In the current thread of posts I’ve been discussing key passages of the Passion narratives of the Gospels. All these are taken from my […]
June 24, 2023
Can the Qur’an and Early Islam Be Studied Critically (Like the NT and Early Christianity?) Guest Post by Stephen Shoemaker
Why don’t scholars engage in a historical-critical study of the Qur’an the way they do with the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible? I get asked this kind of thing all the time – with variations: “Where can I find a scholarly discussion the critical problems with the Qur’an like scholars publish about the Bible all the time?” or “I know Muslims claim the Qur’an is perfect, but what to critical scholars say about it?” or “Why don’t scholars take a historical to early Islam like they do with early Christianity?” For most of my career there really hasn’t been much out there to suggest, but in recent years that has begun to change. In large part that’s because of a former student of mine who is now a prominent scholar of early Christianity, Stephen Shoemaker, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon. Stephen is an unusually productive scholar with a wide range of expertise (and a deep knowledge of a crazy number of ancient languages and obscure texts!). Check him out […]
June 25, 2023
Was Paul Authorized to Persecute Christians?
Who gave Paul the authority to persecute Christians? The book of Acts suggests it was the authorities in Jerusalem. Can that be right? In fact, is Acts right in what it says about Paul generally? The questions matter: Acts provides our oldest surviving narrative description of the first thirty years of Christianity, and the only narrative source of the life of Paul (before the legendary Acts of Paul from a century or so later). It’s a terrifically interesting book. What can we say about its historical accuracy? I was browsing through posts from the good ole days of the blog “in the beginning,” and came across a brief thread from, well, eleven years ago that addressed these kinds of questions. I thought would be worth reposting it here. My posts started in relation to a question I received. ****************************** QUESTION: You mention in your book “Did Jesus Exist?” that Paul started his persecution of Christians in the early 30s. If he was tasked with hunting down Christians by the Sanhedrin he must have had a […]
June 27, 2023
After Paul Converted… Does the Book of Acts Contradict Paul Himself?
Is the account of Paul’s life in Acts at odds with what Paul says himself? If not, are the stories in Acts just invented out of whole cloth? Some people who responded to my previous post on the historical trustworthiness of the book of Acts suggested that maybe its author “Luke” (we don’t know the author’s real name, so we may as well call him this) wasn’t just makin’ stuff up, but had sources of information available to him for the book of Acts, just as he clearly did for the Gospel (e.g., the Gospels of Mark and Q). I think this is absolutely right, he almost certainly did have sources. It should be clear that he wasn’t simply creating complete fictions about Paul: that there are numerous close parallels in Acts to what Paul has to say about himself. So there is a historical gist to his accounts on some level. At the same time, almost all these parallels also contain striking discrepancies from Paul. So Luke had sources, but the sources were not […]
June 28, 2023
Did Paul Get Along with the Other Apostles?
I mentioned in my previous posts that there are discrepancies between Paul’s letters and the book of Acts in both major and minor ways, and in my last post I dealt with some differences that appear when one looks closely at the details (the issue I addressed: what does Paul do immediately upon his conversion). There are many instances like that throughout Acts: if you compare what Paul has to say with what Acts has to say, on the same topic or about the same event, you will find differences, and often these differences matter a lot to the overall narrative. There are also of differences that emerge from the overall portrayal of Paul and his Christian mission. In this post I’ll deal with one example, Paul’s relationship with the other Apostles. In both Acts and Paul’s letters its clear that Paul had relations those who were apostles before him, chiefly the former disciples of Jesus (Peter, John, etc.) and Jesus’ own brother James, who was to become the leader of the church in Jerusalem. […]
June 29, 2023
Away from life for a while
I’m sorry (well happy) to say that I’m on a meditation retreeat this week, until June 24, in a remote part of Merry Ole, walking (aka hiking) and thinking deep thoughts. I will be almost entirely incommunicado as I reflect on reality and try to figure out my life…. I’ve set up posts to run for the week, and all other blog functions should be running along as normal (including Support from Diane!). BUT, I will not be able to get to blog comments till I’m back. Apologies! But this too shall end (too soon, no doubt!) Please thrive and be happy in the meantime.
June 17, 2023
The Lost Gospel of Basilides
I sometimes get asked about “lost Gospels” — Gospels that we know at one time did exist (because they are mentioned and sometimes even discussed by ancient authors) but that, alas, exist no more. I dealt with this question on the blog many moons ago, and I regret to say that in the interim, the books I’d love to show up have not. And I don’t expect them to. But then again, life is full of surprises. One of the very early ones I’d *love* to get my hands on is the Gospel of Basilides. Basilides is one of the early Gnostic figures mentioned by the late-second century heresy-hunter Irenaeus. Regrettably, we do not have any writings from Basilides or any of his followers, and so all we know about these people and their writings is what authors like Irenaeus tell us. That is somewhat like asking Mike Pence for a fair assessment of Bernie Sanders. You have to take the description with a pound of salt. We don’t know if Basilides actually had a […]
July 1, 2023
The (Lost) Greater Questions of Mary (Rated R) (X?)
In my last post I mentioned Gospels that we know about because they are mentioned, or even quoted, by church fathers, but that no longer survive. A second, particularly intriguing, Gospel like this – one that I desperately wish we had, for reasons that will soon become clear — is known as “The Greater Questions of Mary” (i.e., of Mary Magdalene). One of the “great questions” for scholars is whether such a book ever really did exist. It is mentioned only once in ancient literature, in a highly charged polemical context by Epiphanius of Salamis, a Christian heresy-hunter who was prone to exaggeration and fabrication, who was incautious at best in his attacks against heretical sects in his book the Panarion (= “Medicine Chest”; in it Epiphanius supplies the “antidotes” for the “snake-bites of heresy”). The most notorious of the groups that Epiphanius attacks were known by a variety of names, including the “Phibionites.” According to Epiphanius — our sole source of knowledge about the group — these gnostic believers engaged in nocturnal sex rituals […]
July 2, 2023
How the Bible Can Help Those in Pain — Even Non-Believers. Guest Post by Glenn Siepert
Are you interested in seeing how the Bible can be important and meaningful even for those of us who do not believe? Glenn Siepert is one of our Blog Volunteers, who provides graphics for our public posts; he has just published a very interesting book for which I wrote a blurb (endorsement) for the cover. Glenn Siepert has an interesting background and story to tell, and he uses his book to help others think about their own stories in light of the biblical narratives, showing how this is a crucially important way to read the Bible – even for those who don’t (or no longer) believe in its literal truth. Glenn’s moving book is called Emerging from the Rubble: Thirty Stories about Grief, Shattered Dreams, Broken Relationships, and Finding the Courage to Keep Going. I’ve asked Glenn to provide us some blog posts explaining the book and its background in his own life. Here’s the first: ****************************** A little about me – I grew up in the world of Christian Fundamentalism. How “fundy” was I, […]
July 4, 2023
What Is (Sexually) “Unnatural”?
Are sex acts other than those between a man and a woman “unnatural”? Very few people ever bother to reflect on what the term “natural” means or how one decides what an “unnatural might be – and what makes it unnatural. Almost everyone simply assumes that we each have a conscience; that our consciences basically tell all of us the same things; that there are some things we know are wrong, without needing anyone tell us; and – for a large segment of the population — certain gender identifications and sexual activities are simply “unnatural” and therefore “wrong.” Sometimes arguments are invoked, but usually arguments are not actually thought out and reasoned; they are simply ad hoc constructions designed to convince people who are already convinced. Most commonly, at least in the world I grew up in, the argument against same-sex relations, for example, was simply about the plumbing. Men aren’t made to have sex with men or women with women. It’s just kinda biologically obvious, right? Penises were made for vaginas. The variant on […]
July 6, 2023