Loading...So I am now back from D.C. and from recording my 24 lectures for the Great Courses, on “The Greatest Controversies in Early Christian History. “ It was a rugged week! In theory it shouldn’t be that hard to deliver six lectures a day on topics you’re familiar with; but these lectures for the Teaching Company are *so* intense that the energy required is extraordinarily high. I started each day around 9, finished around 4, got a work out in, worked for two or three hours on the next day’s lectures, ate and went to bed and did it again! I’m reasonably zoned now, at the end of it, and am planning to spend the evening in front of a fire, with a martini and a very nice cigar, thinking deep thoughts.
But on the course. One of the biggest problems I had involved deciding *which* controversies to pick – which millennia-old ones, which modern ones, which … ones! There were so many to choose from . I ended up with the following list, and here — in a sentence each – is what I said about each one. If anyone wants to hear more about any of these, let me know; I can easily post on any of them. (For those of you up on biblical and early-Christian scholarship, there won’t be any surprises here; but in some respects this course is designed for people who *aren’t* up on such things to help them *get* up on them….)
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Thanks! Saw you on the history channel today. Have to watch it again as I was working, but taped it.
I would like to hear your general thoughts on how Paul specifically shaped early Christian thought and practice and if there is any beliefs or practices that may have originated with him.
Replying Adam0685,
Dale Martin, Bart’s good friend from Yale University has very good lectures on Paul in ituneU.
Have two of the other Great Courses series you’ve done, so I’m looking forward to getting this one as well. Hope you enjoy the martini and cigar!
Very Interesting, I’ll have to start saving.
It would have been convenient for me if you had one about ‘Was Jesus a Buddhist?’ if it isn’t already . I’ve read about it a little in some of your books, but I find that most people who favor Eastern Religions, they seem to be exploiting gray areas and gaps in knowledge to expand their hypothesis.
I said that I think it was possible that the tradition of John & Jesus could have gotten some ideas from Hindu-Buddhist traditions from the east, but nothing significant, and a far cry from saying that he was a Buddhist practitioner in anyway; made me wonder if they had ever read the Bible.
I would like to hear (read?) more on QQ15, Paul as founder of Xty and how he inherited the ideas he expounded on.
Bart.
Re. lecture 2.
I’ve heard three explanations for the Virgin Birth tradition: 1. It was the result of an inaccurate translation of a word from an OT verse. 2. It was the early Christians’ way of showing their guy’s origin was just as lofty as those of the most celebrated Romans ( to paraphrase JD Crossan). 3. It was used to counteract rumours about Jesus’ “legitimacy” ( I heard Mark Goodacre put forward this theory).
Maybe you could do a post on this at some stage; I’d be interested to read which, if any, of these explanations you think is best.
Regards.
You may want to search for Virgin Birth on the blog, as I have talked about this in the past (and always wonder whether it is a good idea, or not, to cover the same ground again for people who weren’t here the first time!)
Bart.
I found and read your post on the VB…took me a while!!
Are you saying that Matt. deliberately misled his readers by using a verse from the OT that he knew had nothing to do with the birth of the Messiah?
Do you discount Crossan’s explanation and the one that states that the account of the VB was a way of counteracting rumours about Jesus’ “legitimacy”?
No, I think Matthew genuinely thought Isaiah was predicting a virgin birth. Crossan’s explanation is certainly plausible. I guess I *lean* toward it, but not heavily.
Ok. I thought M. Goodacre said that it was unlikely that Matt. wasn’t able to understand the OT in Hebrew or that he didn’t understand that the “prophecy” wasn’t about the Messiah; so I’m still a bit confused. 🙂
Anyway, thanks for replying.
He may well have said that! (I don’t know if he did or not.) But it’s not my view.
Wow! Quite a list. Some will, of course, see the list as being provocative and heretical, but I find it refreshing to see someone really thinking about and discussing such a list.
While I’m looking forward to your next installment with Great Courses I have a feeling I already know this material through your previous courses with them.
Another observation here is that there seems to be a competition of sorts with TL Johnson, Emory University, who has contributed many more religion courses since your last offering with the Learning Company. Johnson had intimated to me (via email) his doubt of you as a religious scholar. Something about you going through an angst in your turning away from fundamentalism. Interesting observation but I don’t quite agree since my experience is more similar to yours. To add, Paul Mayer, Western Michigan University, responded to me at a religious “seminar” in a similar fashion of doubt. Both intelligent men but I’m thinking they may have other reasons.
Bart, can you recommend others you have faith in as good teachers with Great Courses? Enjoy your blog!
I think just about all of them are good. I’ve never hear Luke criticize my scholarship, but it’s important to remember that we *all* have biases, that are often affected by our life experiences (even Luke! He’s had a very interesting life as well…)
Any time from as to when the lecture series will be available to purchase from The Great Courses?
I’m not sure: I think maybe late spring or early summer.
I’ve read claims there was no city of “Nazareth”, that it was not mentioned anywhere but in the Bible. In the Bible, wasn’t it supposed to have a temple, and, if so, would not it have been a big enough place for Josehpus and others to know about it, if it existed?
I’m enjoying your blogs. Thanks.
I’ve dealt with that in earlier posts; I think if you just search for Nazareth you’ll find them.
I’d enjoy learning your thoughts on why you think the resurrection was from visions of followers. Thanks.
If early Christians did not believe in the Trinity, what did they believe? Is this what your new book is going to explain?
Yes indeed! I’ve started with my posts on Christology — those would be good ones to start with.
About Judas’s having “betrayed” the fact that Jesus was claiming, among his disciples, to be “king of the Jews”…you’ve pointed out that as far as we know (from the Gospels and other early writings), he never made that claim publicly. But isn’t it possible that he *had* been making the claim publicly, and those writers didn’t mention it because they wanted the early Christians to believe he’d been unjustly executed, for a “crime” he hadn’t committed? It seems to me that the Romans *might* really have needed Judas to identify Jesus for them, in an age before photography.
And about the idea of Jesus’s disciples believing he’d risen from the dead because some of them had experienced “visions” of him after his death…are you going to dismiss claims of the tomb’s being found empty as myth, or suggest reasons why it *might* have been found empty, other than a resurrection?
Interesting idea!
Empty tomb: yes, I don’t think an empty tomb would make anyone think Jesus had been raised by God from the dead. What do people normally think when a body is not in the place that it was first placed? They think someone moved it.
Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher saying the Kingdom of God would come in his own time. It did not. He was wrong. He failed. Why follow him? Paul tried to change Jesus’ message into something different than what Jesus taught…into a cosmic Christ who would come again to usher in God’s kingdom in Paul’s time. That did not happen. Then it seems after Paul the growing church says that Christ (Cosmic Christ) will return with the kingdom in the future. It has not come. What are Christians to believe? Jesus’ ethics are solid…love God and love our neighbors…but that is not unique to Jesus. C. S. Lewis was wrong. Is there a core to Jesus that we are missing or was he just another failed prophet? Any thoughts of your on my thoughts here?
Well, I think the belief in the resurrection is what got the ball rolling; otherwise, yes, he would have gone down in history as a footnote, another prophet who paid the price for getting on the wrong side of the authorities.
I agree…however I would speculate that the idea of the resurrection was not Jesus’ idea. He seemed to be focused on the earthly physical coming of the kingdom and the ethics of the kingdom. Paul seems to me to be the one who pushed the resurrection, especially a spiritual cosmic resurrection of a transformed Jesus that is available to those who believe, a resurrected Jesus who came to Paul in visions giving Paul the “secrets” of the kingdom for believers. I’m not saying I accept that, but that seems to be what Paul is saying. My personal idea, based on nothing except what is said in John (I think) that the kingdom is “within” us now, and perhaps the kingdom is already here, in each person….but that is a theological issue and not solidly supported by ancient historical texts, either biblical or by the church fathers. Just wondering.
I hope you’ll be able to keep this blog going. I’d like to donate more to the blog. Who do I send that too?
Great! You can either send me a check or donate via PayPal. There’s a donation icon on the blog. Donations are tax-deductible.
15 & 22
For starters!
🙂
I think you’ve picked a lot of winners here. To anyone who might be interested, Bart’s Great Courses are perfect iPod material if you like to go for walks for exercise-they tend to compartmentalize down into half-hour sessions, they stimulate your curiosity and entertain as well as educate as you go. I have “Lost Christianities” and “Making of the NT” and though I’ve listened to every lecture several times now, I never get bored and find something new to appreciate in every listen. Usually there are a few laughs along the way. As to the list at hand, three thoughts occur. As to item number two, I think most people believe that virgin birth is plausible because none of us likes to think that our own mother ever lost her virginity. Item number 11 should make perfect sense to anyone who has ever lost a loved one (or a pet-I still see a cat who died two decades ago out of the corner of my eye from time to time.)
…and in the final course, do you choose one person (and if so is it Eusebius?), do you think it was a limited group or a mob too large to identify?
(You didn’t work the “I am da vine, you are da branches” joke in again, did you?)
I don’t think there was a single person responsible — not even Athanasius, who was the first to list our 27 books (Eusebius doesn’t have the 27 as a list). And no, I’ve given up on that joke now!
Good to see you back, doc! How was that cigar and martini?
Fantastic!!
Bart,
I’m interested in 11 and 24. Posts on those would be great.
Thanks
Jerry
wonder how to buy it in the UK? we have Waterstones, WHSmith, and perhaps my university’s library.
otherwise, it’s one other product that goes without me getting it.
Great question: go to their website, give them a call, and find out!
Here’s the link to the UK website, I’m sure you will be able to purchase it from there: http://www.thegreatcourses.co.uk/greatcourses.aspx
Of course this particular course has not been released yet but maybe in a few months.
Enjoy!
I correctly answered all of the quiz questions above execpt #24.Please explain.
Well you *think* you did. 🙂
The canon is a long and involved question; one short answer is that Constantine had nothing to do with it, contrary to widespread opinion among devotees of the Da Vinci Code! My book Lost Christianities deals with it (so does my book Truth and Ficiton in the Da Vinci Code….); but maybe I should devote some blog space to it at some point.
That is why I could not answer that question…. don’t have that book yet.
Regarding #15, the very first book I ever read on new testament scholarship was Hyam Maccoby’s, “The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity.” It’s been a long time since I read it and so don’t remember much of it except that he made arguments against the commonly held portrayal of Paul (e.g., as a Pharisee) and in favor of the view that Paul was the founder of Christianity. If I recall correctly, he also argued against some of the elements of the passion narratives on the basis of problems with contextual credibility (e.g., the Sanhedrin would not have convened during a major holy day such as the Passover). At the time, his arguments seemed well reasoned and persuasive, although I lacked any real background to challenge any of his analysis. I’d be curious as to any thoughts you might have of Maccoby as a scholar or evidence/arguments in favor or against his position.
Maccoby is thought of as veyr smart but a bit idiosyncratic in some of his views within the guild. But it’s been years since I read the book and I don’t remember the details enough to be able to say anything intelligent about it.
I would be interested in a longer explanation of the “visions” the disciples had of Jesus post-resurrection. Thanks!
#24 Was it the Council of Hippo 393BCE?
Well, with none of these questions is there a simple answer. But yes, the conference at Hippo did agree with Athanasius’s list of 27. But it was not an ecumenical council.
Hi Bart.
Yeah; Goodacre says it in this podcast ( 6 min 20-8 min 50 approx.)
It don’t want to take up anymore of your time, so no need to reply. Just so you know I wasn’t making it up. 🙂
Regards.
Interesting!
Dr. Ehrman, from whom, exactly, did Paul “inherit” the view “that Jesus’ death and resurrection made people right with God” (#15, above)? The idea that salt-of-the-earth Jewish peasants who followed Jesus (and who didn’t likely travel much and probably avoided pagans) came up with this concept stretches credulity. Isn’t it far more likely that Paul borrowed heavily from Attis and other Mystery rituals and festivals, which were all well known in Tarsus?
I’m not sure he was from Tarsus. And I don’t know any mystery religions that talked about the death and resurrectoin of a god for sins.
Professor Ehrman,
I have been eagerly awaiting The Teaching Company’s release of your latest course, so I was very disappointed to learn this morning that “The Greatest Controversies in Early Christian History” is being offered in the audio format only–no DVD! Did The Teaching Company indicate why they chose to go with the audio format only? Or will this new course eventually be released in the DVD format? Of course, I will purchase the audio version, if that is the only format available. But I do enjoy watching, as well as listening to, your lectures! Thank you,
–Ty
Is it possible that over the first few centuries of Christendom, there were Jews that were excited to see Gentiles/Pagans taking their “Bible” seriously, even if they were kind of usurping it?
I don’t know of any record of that, no. The recorded reactions are just the opposite.