"Sorry, Greece is closed..."

While I was in England this time last year I visited a little travel agency in the small town of Batley, West Yorkshire. I was inquiring about going to Greece for a bit as the horrible weather of England was driving me insane. I really don't know what it was - but for some reason the travel agent informed me Greece was closed. Closed!




Look, I was a bit sceptical at first but she assured me that Greece was in fact closed.  The whole country was closed - just like countries often do. Who was I to argue - she was the travel agent and I was just some foreigner!? She then informed me that alternatively I could have purchased a nice holiday to other English destinations.

I wish someone had informed me that countries periodically close in Europe!

I never thought I would say this...

...but too much Martin Hengel. I have been speeding through Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period and Jews, Greeks and Barbarians: Aspects of the Hellenization of Judaism in the pre-Christian Period by necessity and I do not know how much more I can take. I guess the upside is that I am no longer ignoring the Hellenising influences in Palestine pre-Maccabees.

*Gets back to reading Hengel, "The Political and Social History of Palestine from Alexander to Antiochus III (333-187 B.C.E)" in The Cambridge History of Judaism vol. 4.*

Jesus Water™

Over at Broadcast Depth Matt has listed his ten top soft drinks. However, as I say, no matter what processed drink you put down your throat - nothing will match the purity of Jesus Water™

 

*May or may not turn into wine

Finally!

My copy of A Bird's-Eye View of Paul (aka Introducing Paul) finally came! Of course, I don't have the time to read it for a few weeks but I am just so glad that it did finally come. One of my students saw it today and burst out laughing. The fact that it was written by Michael Bird and contains Bird in the title seems to have been the funniest thing she had ever seen.

In all honesty, I can identify with such sentiments. I purposely chose A Bird's-Eye View over Introducing Paul. The name and colourful cover were just far less generic which made  it an appropriate choice, especially as it is intended for "laypersons and undergraduate students and as a refresher for pastors and ministers." (6)

Anyway, the first chapter I will probably get to is Chpt. 8 "One God, One Lord: Monotheism and the Messiah" where it seems he follows the lead of Bauckham on "divine identity" and exegetes the standard Pauline Christology texts (e.g. 1 Cor 8:6; Phil. 2:5-11; etc)

Quote of the Day - I. Howard Marshall on Bousset's Christology

From The Origins of New Testament Christology by I. Howard Marshall (1990 reprint):

His (Bousset's) appeeal to religious parallels from outside Judaism easily turns parallels into influences, and much of the details reconstructions of myths that have been held to influnce the early Church has been shown to rest on a misreading of the sources. Finally, his attempt to distance Paul from Jesus by means of a hypothetical gentile church acting as intermediary must be pronounced a failure. (pp.18-19)

The Exalted Christology of Mark 12:35-37

The exalted Christology of the synoptic gospels is greatly underappreciated. In fact, in many cases the idea of high Christology in the synoptics is sneered at. Some argue that it isn't until the Gospel of John that we find the Christology that sets Jesus apart being a mere mortal prophet.

If I was to suggest that John 17:5 had its roots in primitive Christology I am sure many would dismiss it without consideration. However, I think we should give it a go. John 17:5 (ESV) states:

And now, Father,  glorify me in your own presence with the glory  that I had with you  before the world existed.

 We see a number of unique features here. Firstly, Jesus is clearly an exalted character. Secondly, Jesus shared in the glory of God. Thirdly, Jesus shared in the Father's glory in the realm of his human pre-existence.

I am going to go out on a limb and assert that these three features of an exalted Jesus who shared glory with God in a state of pre-existence is found within the Gospel of Mark. In fact, in a single few verse pericope of Mark 12:35-37 (ESV) which reads:

35  And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,
“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.’

37 David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

So, just to set the scene here. Jesus is at the temple and we receive an exert of the sermon (or even a provocative opening?). Here, we find an open challenge to the Messianic expectations of the scribes. Namely, you say that the Messiah is the son of David? Jesus is setting out to demonstrate that the Messiah is to be so much more, so he moves to the scripture. He cites David under the influence of the Holy Spirit declaring: "YHWH said to my Adoni, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."

That's all good, but Jesus goes to identify the Messiah with the lord of the text. David himself calls the Messiah lord. So, to the three points from before. Firstly, the Messiah is identified as an exalted figure - he is even recognised as lord by David. Secondly, Adonai is in the glory and presence of YHWH during this discourse and was to be at His right hand. Thirdly, this all took place in a context of pre-existence.

Evidently, we find a very high Christology in these few verses of Mark. Just like the obviously high Christology of John 17:5, we find this short pericople espousing the same features in terms that appear to be just as strong - if not stronger.

James D.G. Dunn on Robert Price

James D.G. Dunn (Jesus Remembered) on Robert M. Price's (Christ Mythicist) in the soon to be released The Historical Jesus: Five Views published by IVP:

On Price's use and abuse of the criterion of dissimilarity:

Price takes up the early form-critical observation that for the Jesus tradition to have been preserved it must have been of some pragmatic value, and he uses it to make the criterion of dissimilarity "all devouring." If every bit and piece of the Jesus tradition had a home in the early church, then "all must be denied to Jesus by the criterion of dissimilarity." Such an extension of the criterion of dissimilarity simply undermines what value it has. It is so a priori obvious that an influential teacher's teaching would influence his disciples and shape their own teaching and lives in substantial degree that the dissimilarity criterion does not help us to distinguish the one from the other.

James D.G. Dunn in The Historical Jesus: Five Views (IVP 2009), p.95

James Dunn on Price's use, or lack thereof, of primary sources:

Where I begin to become irritated by Price's thesis, as with those of his predecessors, is his ignoring what everyone else in the business regards as primary data and his readiness to offer less plausible hypotheses to explain other data that inconveniences his thesis. Why no mention of 1 Corinthians 15:3 - generally reckoned to be an account of the faith that Paul received when he was converted, that is, within two or three years of the putative events - "that Chris died...." Why no reference to Paul's preaching of Christ crucified (1 Cor 1:23), his preaching as openly portraying Christ as crucified (Gal 3:1)? How can Price actually assert that "we should never guess from the Epistles that Jesus died in a particular historical or political context," when it is well enough known that crucifixion was a Roman political method of execution characteristically for rebels and slaves? I could go on at some length - "seed of David" (Rom 1:3), "born under the law" (Gal 4:4), "Christ did not please himself" (Rom 15:3). Yet Price is able to assert that "the Epistles...do not evidence a recent historical Jesus," a ludicrous claim that simply diminishes the credibility of the argument used in support. (p.96)

Yes, the question in your head is "why are you bothering with an idiosyncratic Christ Mythicist?" Well, such views seem to be believed by laymen with a polemical agenda against Christianity.