Saturday, September 15, 2007
The Jesus Legend
I'm in the process of reading The Jesus Legend (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007) by Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory Boyd. It argues for the historicity of the view of Jesus presented in the Synoptic gospels. It interacts with liberal scholarship in general, but also responds to some of the less popular elements of liberal scholarship, such as Robert Price and others who are skeptical of Jesus' existence. I'm only about 80 pages into it, but if the remainder of the book is as good as what I've read so far, it's one of the best books I've seen arguing for the traditional Christian view of Jesus. You can read the endorsements from Richard Bauckham, Craig Keener, and other scholars on the amazon.com page, under the "From the Back Cover" heading. They also allow you to search the book, so you can read some portions of it online. The book is around 450 pages long, and it's heavily footnoted, so it's going to take me a while to read through it, but I want to direct people's attention to it now. I recommend getting it.
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A book I just finished which reveals how the Gospels and other pieces were translated to give a slant different from what was intended was interesting and very readable. It's called "Rabbi Jesus" by Bruce Chilton.
ReplyDeleteI think we all need to resist the temptation to call any scholarship which isn't zealot as liberal. It is a ploy that isn't valid anymore, and it only makes us look stupid.
This seems like it would be a great follow up to "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses."
ReplyDeleteAnon., your use of the word "zealot" is inflammatory. "Liberal" is just a nice way of saying "unbelieving."
An anonymous poster wrote:
ReplyDelete"I think we all need to resist the temptation to call any scholarship which isn't zealot as liberal."
What do you mean by "zealot", and where does my post or the book I discussed suggest that "any scholarship which isn't zealot is liberal"?
Is this the same Greg Boyd from the Open View? I'm not saying that he couldn't defend the traditional view of Jesus but simply asking the question.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog by the way.
The Seeking Disciple wrote:
ReplyDelete"Is this the same Greg Boyd from the Open View?"
Yes. One of the footnotes I've seen, early in the book, references one of Boyd's past books and makes a comment to the effect that the argument in that book doesn't depend upon an acceptance of Open Theism. The authors seem to have anticipated potential problems with Boyd's Open Theism associations, and apparently they tried to avoid including any advocacy of the Open Theism position. The book is endorsed by some mainstream conservative scholars, such as Craig Blomberg and Robert Stein. I doubt that it directly argues for Open Theism anywhere. I haven't noticed any direct advocacy of that position yet, but I'm less than halfway through the book.
You wouldn't mind, then, if I said "zealot" is just a nice way of saying "credulous".
ReplyDelete