Category Archives: Bible

Midrash

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Introduction

With reference to the rabbinic writings, the term ‘midrash’ refers to both a type of scriptural interpretation (‘midrashic’) and for a body of scriptural interpretation (‘midrashim’).

It has become increasingly clear to scholars that parts of the NT reflect a midrashic approach.

In rabbinic practice, midrash assumes the existence of a fixed and holy text that can be used in multiple and diverse ways to answers various religious questions.  ‘Midrash assumes that the biblical text has an inexhaustible fund of meaning that is relevant to and adequate for every question and situation.’…

The tyranny of scholarship

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‘Let no one ever again affirm that conservative evangelicals have no regard for scholarship.’

It was with that statement that Bishop Stephen Neill began his review of a 1976 book entitled ‘History, Criticism and Faith’.  This book was a collection of four essays by F.F. Bruce, R.T. France, Colin Brown, and G. Wenham.  In it, they discuss ‘Myth and History’ (Bruce), ‘the Authenticity of the Sayings of Jesus’ (France), ‘History and the Believer’ (Brown), and ‘History and the Old Testament’ (Wenham).…

The psychology of eyewitness testimony

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I have referred, on several occasions, to the work of Richard Bauckham on Jesus and the Eyewitnesses.  In that book Bauckham sets out a range of evidence in support of his view that the four Gospels are based very largely on the testimony of eyewitnesses, and therefore should be regarded as having a high index of historical reliability.

Writing in the 2nd edition of the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (art. ‘Historicisms and Historiography’), J.…

Christian scholarship needs Christian faith

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Why is it that some Christian scholars engage in what James Barr called ‘maximal conservatism’?  Why is it that, according to Peter Enns, evangelical Christians are far too ready to ‘defend’ the Bible against ‘attacks’ on its (supposed) moral uprightness, historical accuracy, and theological consistency?  Why is it that Kenton Sparks feels the need to accuse evangelical biblical scholars of giving the impression that they accept all the tools of critical scholarship while, on the other hand, blithely insisting that the use of these tools, ‘when properly used’, must uphold their own predetermined views about the Bible does, and does not, teach?…

Rescuing the Bible from its friends

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Enns, Peter (2014). The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

I offer a summary of some of the book’s main points, and then an assessment.

What the Bible is not

The Bible, says Enns, presents us with at least three kinds of problem:-

  • moral (God is responsible for a great deal of slaughter)
  • historical (many of the events recorded in the Bible did not happen, at least not in the way the Bible describes them)
  • theological (the biblical writers present diverse and contradictory points of view about God and what it means to follow him).
…

Mark’s Gospel and the ‘invention’ of the historical Jesus

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I have written several posts that support the essential historicity of the events that are recorded in Mark’s Gospel (no less than those that are recorded in the other three Gospels).

I have found it interesting, however, to consider the views of Robert M. Price (one of the contributors to The Historical Jesus: Five Views), who takes the polar opposite view.  For Price, the ‘events’ recorded in Mark’s Gospel (no less that the others) have virtually no basis in history, but were invented by the Christian community on the basis of their reading of (what we call) the Old Testament scriptures.…

Dying and rising gods

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Was the notion of a dying and rising Saviour, as recorded in the canonical Gospels, derived from pagan myths concerning the Canaanite god Baal, the Phoenician god Adonis, the Egyptian god Osiris, and others?  This view was first popularised by J. G. Frazer in The Golden Bough: a Study in Magic and Religion (first published in 1890).  Frazer thought that he had discovered a universal core in religion – a myth about a dying and rising fertility god, along with associated rituals – and this idea was taken up by some others, including Joseph Campbell.…

The plural-to-singular narrative device in Mark’s Gospel

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Referring back to an old (1925) and neglected article by Cuthbert Taylor, Richard Bauckham (Jesus and the Eyewitnesses) notes that there are twenty-one instances of a narrative device in Mark’s Gospel that invite attention.  This is a device in which switches, slightly awkwardly, from third-person plural to third-person singular.  Here are some examples:-

Mk 5:1f – ‘They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when he had stepped out of the boat .…

The twelve disciples as ‘official’ eyewitnesses

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At first glance, the lists of Jesus’ disciples (Matt 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:13-16; see also Acts 1:13) seem simply to introduce some of the key players in the story.  But these lists probably serve a more specific purpose, especially given that about half of the characters named in the lists are never named again in the Gospels.  So this more specific function of the lists of disciples is that they display continuity between Jesus and the early Christian community, and provide the latter with reassurance about the overall shape and content of Jesus ministry that could only come from those who had closely associated with him.  …

Discussion Starters, Lk 24:50-52; Acts 1:6-11

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1. Why didn’t Jesus go straight to heaven when he rose from the dead?

2. In how many ways could the following sentence be completed:- ‘Because Jesus has ascended to heaven, we know that…’

3. If Christ’s followers are not supposed to be standing looking into the sky (Acts 1:11), what are we supposed to be doing, according to this passage?  And why do we need power (verse 8) to do this?…