Friday, April 16, 2004
Blog break
The NTGateway blog is taking a break over the weekend but will be back on Monday. If you are waiting for an email from me at the moment, let me apologise. At the moment correspondence is coming in far, far more quickly than I am able to answer it. I do get to pretty much all correspondence eventually.
Latest from Bible and Interpretation on The Passion
Bible and Interpretation continues its series of essays on The Passion of the Christ with this one focusing not on the film itself (he has not seen it) but on the related question of Inter Jewish conflict in the Gospels as a way of reacting to the charges concerning anti-Semitism:
Inter-Jewish Conflict and the Passion of Jesus
To argue that the Evangelists all conspired to re-write history, condemning the Jews and exonerating the Romans, seems a little far-fetched
Anthony J. Tomasino
Inter-Jewish Conflict and the Passion of Jesus
To argue that the Evangelists all conspired to re-write history, condemning the Jews and exonerating the Romans, seems a little far-fetched
Anthony J. Tomasino
St Andrews Conference on Old Testament Interpretation and the Social Sciences
This notice posted on behalf of Prof. Philip Esler:
------------------------------
The St Andrews Conference on Old Testament Interpretation and the Social Sciences
Wed 30 June to Sun 4 July 2004
In 1994 St Andrews hosted a conference entitled 'Context and Kerygma: The St Andrews Conference on New Testament Interpretation and the Social Sciences'. Many of the papers presented were subsequently published in Modelling Early Christianity: Social-Scientific Studies of the New Testament in Its Context, edited by Philip F. Esler (London and New York: Routledge, 1995).
Now, a decade later, we are holding a similar conference in St Andrews. It will run from the evening of Wednesday 30th June 2004 to mid morning on Sunday 4th July 2004 and will be entitled 'The St Andrews Conference on Old Testament Interpretation and the Social Sciences.'
Participants will be accommodated in the delightful environment of St Salvator's College (as in 1994) and most papers will be given in or around St Mary's College.
The speaking slots for the conference are now essentially complete (see list of agreed speakers and topics below) and we believe that they will provide a rich exposure to the conference theme, especially for staff and postgraduates interested in social-scientific exegesis. The papers cover many general topics and also studies of particular texts.
The full cost of the conference including accommodation, food (including the Conference dinner) and diversions will be £285. But for those who do not wish to go on outings or attend the final dinner, or are willing to share a room, a cheaper rate (something close to £200) is available for the conference.
Please email Philip F. Esler (pfe@st-andrews.ac.uk) to express interest or for further information.
List of Confirmed Speakers
Mario Aguilar, University of St Andrews, 'Symbolic Wars, Age-Sets and the Anthropology of War in 1 Maccabees'
Marvin Chaney, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, USA, 'The Political Economies of Eighth-Century Israel and Judah' (provisional title)
Robert Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, USA, 'Tribalism in Ancient Palestine and the Hebrew Bible'
Zeba Crook, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, 'Modelling Exchange in the Biblical Era'
Richard DeMaris and Carolyn Leeb, University of Valparaiso, Indiana, USA, 'Can a Filicide Be a Worthy Judge? Honor, Vow, and Ritual in the Jephthah Story Cycle (Judges 10:6-12:7)'
Adriana Destro and Mauro Pesce, University of Bologna, Italy, 'Levitical Sacrifice in Anthropological Perspective'
John H. Elliott, University of San Francisco, USA, 'Euphemism and Dysphemism in the Biblical Communities and Their Cultural Roots: A Social-Scientific Study of Deut 25:11-12'
Philip F. Esler, University of St Andrews, 'What Solomon's Father Did in the Ammonite War: A Social-Scientific Study of 2 Samuel 10-12'.
Lester Grabbe, University of Hull, 'Prophets Ancient and Modern: Anthropological Insights on Israelite Prophecy'
Anselm Hagedorn, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, 'Ethnicity and Stereotypes in the Book of Nahum. Social-Scientific Insights into the Literary History of a Prophetic Book'
Jutta Jokiranta, University of Helsinki, 'The Prototypical Teacher in the Qumran Pesharim'
Carolyn Leeb, University of Valparaiso, Indiana, USA, 'Polygyny in the Biblical World: Insights from Haiti'
Bruce J. Malina, 'Identity Theory, Politics and the Pontifical Biblical Commission's The Jewish People and Its Scriptures in the Christian Bible '
Andrew Mayes, Trinity College Dublin, 'Freud, Moses and Monotheism'
Dietmar Neufeld, University of British Columbia, Canada, 'Body, Ritual and States of Ecstasy in the Old Testament'
Douglas E. Oakman, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA, USA 'Hermeneutics in Context: Biblical Interpretation in Dialogue With the Social Sciences'
John Pilch, Georgetown University, Washington, USA, 'Altered States of Consciousness and Visions in Ezekiel'
Richard Rohrbaugh, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Or USA, 'Purity and Assimilation in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs'.
Gary Stansell, St Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA, 'Wealth in Ancient Israel: or, How Abraham Became Rich'
------------------------------
The St Andrews Conference on Old Testament Interpretation and the Social Sciences
Wed 30 June to Sun 4 July 2004
In 1994 St Andrews hosted a conference entitled 'Context and Kerygma: The St Andrews Conference on New Testament Interpretation and the Social Sciences'. Many of the papers presented were subsequently published in Modelling Early Christianity: Social-Scientific Studies of the New Testament in Its Context, edited by Philip F. Esler (London and New York: Routledge, 1995).
Now, a decade later, we are holding a similar conference in St Andrews. It will run from the evening of Wednesday 30th June 2004 to mid morning on Sunday 4th July 2004 and will be entitled 'The St Andrews Conference on Old Testament Interpretation and the Social Sciences.'
Participants will be accommodated in the delightful environment of St Salvator's College (as in 1994) and most papers will be given in or around St Mary's College.
The speaking slots for the conference are now essentially complete (see list of agreed speakers and topics below) and we believe that they will provide a rich exposure to the conference theme, especially for staff and postgraduates interested in social-scientific exegesis. The papers cover many general topics and also studies of particular texts.
The full cost of the conference including accommodation, food (including the Conference dinner) and diversions will be £285. But for those who do not wish to go on outings or attend the final dinner, or are willing to share a room, a cheaper rate (something close to £200) is available for the conference.
Please email Philip F. Esler (pfe@st-andrews.ac.uk) to express interest or for further information.
List of Confirmed Speakers
Mario Aguilar, University of St Andrews, 'Symbolic Wars, Age-Sets and the Anthropology of War in 1 Maccabees'
Marvin Chaney, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, USA, 'The Political Economies of Eighth-Century Israel and Judah' (provisional title)
Robert Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Francisco, USA, 'Tribalism in Ancient Palestine and the Hebrew Bible'
Zeba Crook, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, 'Modelling Exchange in the Biblical Era'
Richard DeMaris and Carolyn Leeb, University of Valparaiso, Indiana, USA, 'Can a Filicide Be a Worthy Judge? Honor, Vow, and Ritual in the Jephthah Story Cycle (Judges 10:6-12:7)'
Adriana Destro and Mauro Pesce, University of Bologna, Italy, 'Levitical Sacrifice in Anthropological Perspective'
John H. Elliott, University of San Francisco, USA, 'Euphemism and Dysphemism in the Biblical Communities and Their Cultural Roots: A Social-Scientific Study of Deut 25:11-12'
Philip F. Esler, University of St Andrews, 'What Solomon's Father Did in the Ammonite War: A Social-Scientific Study of 2 Samuel 10-12'.
Lester Grabbe, University of Hull, 'Prophets Ancient and Modern: Anthropological Insights on Israelite Prophecy'
Anselm Hagedorn, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, 'Ethnicity and Stereotypes in the Book of Nahum. Social-Scientific Insights into the Literary History of a Prophetic Book'
Jutta Jokiranta, University of Helsinki, 'The Prototypical Teacher in the Qumran Pesharim'
Carolyn Leeb, University of Valparaiso, Indiana, USA, 'Polygyny in the Biblical World: Insights from Haiti'
Bruce J. Malina, 'Identity Theory, Politics and the Pontifical Biblical Commission's The Jewish People and Its Scriptures in the Christian Bible '
Andrew Mayes, Trinity College Dublin, 'Freud, Moses and Monotheism'
Dietmar Neufeld, University of British Columbia, Canada, 'Body, Ritual and States of Ecstasy in the Old Testament'
Douglas E. Oakman, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA, USA 'Hermeneutics in Context: Biblical Interpretation in Dialogue With the Social Sciences'
John Pilch, Georgetown University, Washington, USA, 'Altered States of Consciousness and Visions in Ezekiel'
Richard Rohrbaugh, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Or USA, 'Purity and Assimilation in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs'.
Gary Stansell, St Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA, 'Wealth in Ancient Israel: or, How Abraham Became Rich'
Review of The Passion of the Christ by Helen-Ann Hartley
Thanks to Helen-Ann Hartley, Wilkinson Junior Research Fellow and Assistant Dean,
Worcester College, Oxford, for sending over her thoughts on The Passion of the Christ:
-----------------------
These thoughts are offered in response to a review in the Oxford Diocesan newspaper The Door (April 2004). The reviewer states that in his opinion, the film ‘can draw believers more deeply into the heart of their faith. And as an evangelistic tool for non-believers that will hopefully intrigue them and cause them to ask questions and further explore particularly the life of Christ under-emphasised here, I think it will do far more good than harm’. I disagree. The film is a deeply flawed account of the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus based upon a synthesis of the gospel accounts with material from extra-canonical sources, heavily influenced by the Stations of the Cross. As such it provides no narrative context for the truly harrowing scenes of torture and crucifixion other than the theme of substitutionary atonement. (Incidently, a quick study of the credits reveals the special effects people have worked on some major Hollywood horror films).
We have no real inkling of the activities surrounding the Passover, other than the full moon and Mary’s quotation of the first question from the Haggadah. The use of flashbacks provides minimal, contrived links with the life of Christ and we are told nothing of his programme of teaching and healing. Jesus as the pre-emptor of Western dining culture, producing a table as though it came straight out of IKEA? I don’t think so. Pilate is portrayed as a dithering and reflective character (presumably picking up on the Gospel references to him ‘wondering greatly’ – Mk. 15:5 for example) whereas in reality he was a brutal individual who would have had no hesitation in condemning yet another Jew to death; Herod is a camp buffoon direct from a production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’; the chief priests and elders are a brooding lot who stay in their full regalia throughout, presumably because we are meant to see them as the real villains, they even accompany Jesus up to Golgotha. Jesus’s words ‘Father forgive them, they know not what they do’ are aimed at the chief priest and not, as in the Gospels, at the Roman soldiers casting lots. The Romans themselves are a mad bunch, almost animal-like in their relentless abuse of Jesus. Satan moves about the Jewish crowds and demonic children hound Judas to his death. The sense of total opposition between Jesus and the Jewish crowds (with a few exceptions) is pressed home. Gibson leaves in the line: ‘His blood be on us and our children’ (not subtitled) and in this perhaps the greatest distortion lies.
Aside from the debate over the supposed anti-semitism (or indeed whether it is even appropriate to use this term), it is not hard to see why many Jews have expressed great concern over the film. The film provides Christians with the opportunity to reflect on the suffering of Jesus but also more importantly, the chance to reflect on how the narratives of Jesus’ death have played a role in Jewish-Christian relations. The story of Jesus is surely about his life, death and resurrection and seeking to represent Jesus by showing us the last few hours of his life distorts the message. I wouldn’t see the film – read the book instead!
---------------------
Worcester College, Oxford, for sending over her thoughts on The Passion of the Christ:
-----------------------
These thoughts are offered in response to a review in the Oxford Diocesan newspaper The Door (April 2004). The reviewer states that in his opinion, the film ‘can draw believers more deeply into the heart of their faith. And as an evangelistic tool for non-believers that will hopefully intrigue them and cause them to ask questions and further explore particularly the life of Christ under-emphasised here, I think it will do far more good than harm’. I disagree. The film is a deeply flawed account of the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus based upon a synthesis of the gospel accounts with material from extra-canonical sources, heavily influenced by the Stations of the Cross. As such it provides no narrative context for the truly harrowing scenes of torture and crucifixion other than the theme of substitutionary atonement. (Incidently, a quick study of the credits reveals the special effects people have worked on some major Hollywood horror films).
We have no real inkling of the activities surrounding the Passover, other than the full moon and Mary’s quotation of the first question from the Haggadah. The use of flashbacks provides minimal, contrived links with the life of Christ and we are told nothing of his programme of teaching and healing. Jesus as the pre-emptor of Western dining culture, producing a table as though it came straight out of IKEA? I don’t think so. Pilate is portrayed as a dithering and reflective character (presumably picking up on the Gospel references to him ‘wondering greatly’ – Mk. 15:5 for example) whereas in reality he was a brutal individual who would have had no hesitation in condemning yet another Jew to death; Herod is a camp buffoon direct from a production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’; the chief priests and elders are a brooding lot who stay in their full regalia throughout, presumably because we are meant to see them as the real villains, they even accompany Jesus up to Golgotha. Jesus’s words ‘Father forgive them, they know not what they do’ are aimed at the chief priest and not, as in the Gospels, at the Roman soldiers casting lots. The Romans themselves are a mad bunch, almost animal-like in their relentless abuse of Jesus. Satan moves about the Jewish crowds and demonic children hound Judas to his death. The sense of total opposition between Jesus and the Jewish crowds (with a few exceptions) is pressed home. Gibson leaves in the line: ‘His blood be on us and our children’ (not subtitled) and in this perhaps the greatest distortion lies.
Aside from the debate over the supposed anti-semitism (or indeed whether it is even appropriate to use this term), it is not hard to see why many Jews have expressed great concern over the film. The film provides Christians with the opportunity to reflect on the suffering of Jesus but also more importantly, the chance to reflect on how the narratives of Jesus’ death have played a role in Jewish-Christian relations. The story of Jesus is surely about his life, death and resurrection and seeking to represent Jesus by showing us the last few hours of his life distorts the message. I wouldn’t see the film – read the book instead!
---------------------
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Crossan vs. Sanders
Bible and Interpretation post a notice of this article in the Globe and Mail from last Saturday:
Jesus the social reformer? It makes nice fiction
By DOUG SAUNDERS
Jesus the social reformer? It makes nice fiction
By DOUG SAUNDERS
But they are also objectionable, not just to conservative believers, but also to a number of secular liberal scholars. The charge against Mr. Crossan is led by E. P. Sanders of Duke University in North Carolina, who is widely regarded as the world's most authoritative expert on first-century Jewish culture and history. Mr. Sanders describes himself as a "secularized Protestant" who was raised in the social-gospel tradition. He, too, would like to see a Jesus who fits into that tradition. As a sober historian, though, he realizes that there is no such thing.As far as I can tell, all the quotations are taken from the New York Review of Books exchange between Crossan and Reed on the one hand and Sanders on the other. I have commented on this previously. Unfortunately, it seems that now none of that exchange is available for free.
"One may sympathize with the effort to find support for economic reform in the ministry of Jesus. It is frustrating to see inequality and injustice in the world today and not to be able to call on Jesus to support the many changes that are so badly needed," he wrote in the New York Review of Books. "The basic problem for such a thesis is that evidence is lacking." . . . .
Bible Mysteries
Thanks to Melisso Quero from the BBC for this notice. The final two episodes in the Bible Mysteries series will be broadcast on the following dates (here with blurb and, for Revelation, a link to its web page):
Revelation: The End of the World
Sunday 25 April on BBC Two, 12:00-12:50
Sunday 25 April on BBC Two, 12:50-13:40
Revelation: The End of the World
Sunday 25 April on BBC Two, 12:00-12:50
Many believe the terrifying visions of Armageddon, the Beast and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse hold the key to the end of the world. This programme investigates new evidence revealing that the Book was written as a warning against the worship of Rome's most powerful Emperors and that the infamous number of the beast was not 666, but 616 - secret code for the Emperor Caligula.Peter the Rock
Sunday 25 April on BBC Two, 12:50-13:40
He was the cowardly disciple who denied knowing Jesus, yet found the strength to establish the church and the courage to die for it. The evidence shows that in fact St Peter was the John Major of his time. His bland, middle of the road management style was precisely what was needed to unite a divided movement under threat.In the Revelation episode, look out for my colleage Professor David Parker, who will be explaining about the number 616.
Silverscreen Superstar
BBC Scotland broadcast a 55 minute special on Jesus films and their music on Easter Monday. There are lots of clips, and some interesting interviews with key people involved including Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar), Geoffrey Burgon (Life of Brian) and a co-producer involved in the music of Last Temptation of Christ (will check the name). There is also quite a lot of me in it. You can listen on-line here:
Silverscreen Superstar
Radio Scotland Features
Silverscreen Superstar
In this Easter special, musician Davey Scott goes behind the screen for the untold stories about the music in the classic 'Jesus films'. Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, The Last Temptation of Christ and The Life of Brian all come under the spotlight.Or you can go to this page and scroll down and click:
Radio Scotland Features
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Star Trek and Q
I have just come across an interesting passage about the relationship between the character Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the postulate Q in the Synoptic Problem in a book by Michael Barrett and Duncan Barrett called Star Trek: The Human Frontier (London and New York: Routledge, 2000):
The name may have various sources; an obvious one is 'question' or 'query'. Another possibility is the gadget expert in James Bond films. It has one relevant history in Christian theology, where the so-called 'synoptic problem' of the authorship of the gospels is held by some to involve a 'hypothetical entity' responsible for the creation of parts of these texts not otherwise explicable. 'To postulate Q is to postulate the unevidenced and the unique.' Q is here a sort of residual category, invoked when need arose and now, it seems, the subject of much controversy. (82-83)It's particularly gratifying to me to see Austin Farrer's "On Dispensing With Q" getting quoted in this context, and to see Q described as "the subject of much controversy"!
Reissue of The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze
I was happy to receive in today's post from T and T Clark International the reissue of my second book, The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze. It has a great new cover with an illustration of "Saint Matthew the Evangelist, from 12th Century Byzantine evangelistary". I'm afraid I can't point to a nice picture of it on the T & T Clark Web Site because there's not one there yet. It is part of a new series called Understanding the Bible and Its World and there are details of the series available here:
Understanding the Bible and Its World
The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze
The book has an accompanying web site still available (but with the old pic.) here:
The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze Web Site
Understanding the Bible and Its World
This new series is designed with the needs of introductory level students in mind. It will also appeal to general readers who want to be better informed about the latest advances in our understanding of the Bible and of the intellectual, political and religious world in which it was formed. The authors in this series bring to bear the methods and insights of a whole range of disciplines—including archaeology, history, literary criticism and religious studies—while also introducing fresh insights and approaches arising from their own research.And should you wish to buy a copy (I know, this is all appalling self-promotion, but no one else is going to do it for me) then here is the link:
The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze
The book has an accompanying web site still available (but with the old pic.) here:
The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze Web Site
Image on reverse of Turin Shroud
On Paleojudaica, Jim Davila points out this article on Discovery News with an extraordinary title:
Turin Shroud Back Side Shows Face
By Rossella Lorenzi
Now the scientific article on which that news piece is based has been published, with thanks to David Mackinder for the link:
The double superficiality of the frontal image of the Turin Shroud
Giulio Fanti and Roberto Maggiolo
Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics 6 (June 2004): 491-503
That link will take you to an abstract of the article:
Turin Shroud Back Side Shows Face
By Rossella Lorenzi
Now the scientific article on which that news piece is based has been published, with thanks to David Mackinder for the link:
The double superficiality of the frontal image of the Turin Shroud
Giulio Fanti and Roberto Maggiolo
Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics 6 (June 2004): 491-503
That link will take you to an abstract of the article:
Photographs of the back surface of the Turin Shroud were analysed to verify the existence of a double body image of a man. The body image is very faint and the background not uniform; i.e., the signal-to-noise ratio is lower than one. Therefore, image processing, developed ad hoc, was necessary to highlight body features. This was based on convolution with Gaussian filters, summation of images, and filtering in spatial frequency by direct and inverse bidimensional Fourier transformations. Body features were identified by template matching. The face and probably also the hands are visible on the back of the Turin Shroud, but not features related to the dorsal image.From that page you can navigate your way to the full text of the article after having signed in or created an account. It is available free for thirty days (from today) only. The article itself is tough for non-experts like me to fathom, but there are lots of nice pictures and there is material that one can follow [TS=Turin Shroud]:
Therefore it has been ascertained that an image exists on the back of the TS. It certainly corresponds to the face and probably also to the hands, where the luminance levels are higher. In other words, there is an image on the bs corresponding with the one on the fs, which, at least as regards the face, corresponds to it in form, size, and position.
The face image is therefore doubly superficial. This means that, if a cross-section of the fabric is made, one extremely superficial image appears above and one below, but there is nothing in the middle (figure 17). (501)
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Scholarly Smackdown (Pagels and Witherington) Round 2
Beliefnet have published Round 2 of the new Scholarly Smackdown on Jesus and Paul between Elaine Pagels and Ben Witherington III. Remember to read it while you can -- the last one (Crossan and Witherington) went premium after it was finished:
Scholarly Smackdown: Did Paul Distort Christianity?
Round 2
Scholarly Smackdown: Did Paul Distort Christianity?
Round 2
Since you and I have some substantive disagreements on what Paul said, it’s important for those participating in this conversation who are not scholars to know that this discussion is not just a matter of “liberal” vs. “conservative,”-much less “he said, she said”-- but that serious scholars, the great majority of them Christians, like you and me, can honestly interpret these letters differently. Those who want to read more about the various viewpoints will find here suggestions of a few places to start, so that they may come to their own decisions.There's lots of material of interest, though I can't help thinking -- as with the Crossan / Witherington exchange -- that there is much too much talking past each other. There is not enough of the kind of really stimulating direct exchange of views that one might have expected. One of them will ask a question and the other will not answer it or will answer it only indirectly. I wonder if they would benefit from some of the everyday cut-and-thrust of the academic e-lists which can often hold one to account in a pretty direct way. If you don't answer a question, someone will ask it to you again; if your answer skates around the issue, someone will point this out. One of the things I like about the e-lists is the (intelligent) use of the in-line comment -- quoting your dialogue partner's views and engaging with them. I am enjoying these new "Scholarly Smackdowns" (though I still hate the title); I hope beliefnet do more of these in the future; and I think that they are more than just a series of mini-articles from contrasting perspectives; but I would like to see the participants engaging with each other a little more directly than they sometimes do at present.
Crossan on The Passion again
Bible and Interpretation list this article from the Toronto Star (TheStar.com):
Christian scholar questions Gibson's depiction of Jesus
Theology taken from nun's meditations
Passion is dangerous, sadistic, expert says
RON CSILLAG
Christian scholar questions Gibson's depiction of Jesus
Theology taken from nun's meditations
Passion is dangerous, sadistic, expert says
RON CSILLAG
"This is the most savage movie I have ever seen. I've never seen anything like it. It is two hours of unrelenting brutality." . . . .Several of the items here have appeared in other comments made by Crossan on the film. But some comments on specific elements raised here. First, hyperbole. Perhaps this is the most savage film that Crossan has seen, but its violence is nothing like as strong as it is sometimes claimed to be. It is certainly not one of the most violent films made. Nor is it "two hours of unrelenting brutality"; there is a lot of relenting, whether in terms of the camera's gaze, the witnesses' reactions or the flashbacks. Second, harmonizing. I don't know that one can criticize the filmmakers for harmonizing the four Gospels (to "reduce them to one"). Of course we'd like them to do the work that we love doing with the Synopsis, but this is not realistic when one is looking at Christian storytelling. Third, more hyperbole. The film is indeed more dependent on Emmerich's visions than many realise. I was quite struck myself by how many details came from the Dolorous Passion when I began to read it. But 5 per cent Gospels and 80 per cent Emmerich is seriously overstating it.
. . . . "I have said that if this is the way God is, this punishing God who takes it out on Jesus instead of us, then we should not worship that God. We're dealing with a savage God and we are in really serious trouble if that's what God is like."
Crossan isn't done with his question: "Is your God a punishing God who demands punishment for sin but, who instead of taking it out on us, takes it out on his own beloved son?
"I'm waiting for some strong evangelical with a conscience to say, `Wait a minute. This is not our Jesus. This is not our God.'" . . . .
. . . . . But Crossan is aware of the movie's intent. He knows Gibson's title says it all.
"He said he's not interested in (Jesus') ministry and resurrection, but his sacrifice. But (Gibson) has gone from sacrifice to suffering, and from suffering to sadism. What he's decided to do, and what every passion play does, is to take the four Gospels and reduce them to one. Then you take what each of them does and reduce that to (Jesus') death.
"Then you reduce death to passion, which means to suffer. He shows the last hours (in Jesus' life) as suffering, and I think at that point, it becomes sadism because all that shows you is people thoroughly enjoying beating Jesus to a bloody pulp.
"I'm sure the Crucifixion was horrible," Crossan goes on. "I'm sure the scourging was horrible. I think rape is also horrible but I don't think we should dramatize it or show it in detail. It would be pornography." . . . . .
. . . . . The movie is 5 per cent from the Gospels, 80 per cent from Anne Catherine Emmerich and the rest from Gibson. If she was copyrighted, he'd be sued, or she would get a major screenwriting credit," Crossan says with a chuckle.
But he becomes very earnest when he says he finds it a "huge irony that all these conservative Christians are awestruck over a movie that is based on an extremely conservative Roman Catholic nun's meditations," and not on the very scriptures they hold as inerrant . . . .
. . . . . Ultimately, what the film will convey to foreign markets is that "there are Jews who are bad and there are ex-Jews, called Christians, who are good."
AAR Petition
On his monthly blog the Dartboard, John Dart mentions the following:
AAR Joint Meetings Petition
The content is that "We the undersigned members of the American Academy of Religion petition the Board of Directors of the AAR to rescind its action taken in April and July 2003 to discontinue concurrent annual meetings with the Society of Biblical Literature." This comes with authority -- it was created by Elaine Pagels and Karen King. But as Dart points out they need to strip out some of these names before submission, and especially Red Butt Monkey, Mel Gibson School of Theology.
AAR Joint Meetings Petition
The content is that "We the undersigned members of the American Academy of Religion petition the Board of Directors of the AAR to rescind its action taken in April and July 2003 to discontinue concurrent annual meetings with the Society of Biblical Literature." This comes with authority -- it was created by Elaine Pagels and Karen King. But as Dart points out they need to strip out some of these names before submission, and especially Red Butt Monkey, Mel Gibson School of Theology.
SBL Forum
On Paleojudaica Jim Davila kindly mentions my piece on The Pleasures and Perils of Talking to the Media. I don't think I have ever read it myself (since submitting it, that is!) and have just done so. I see a split infinitive in this line: "Their working assumption is that you are likely to get treated badly and to either have your views ignored, misunderstood, or distorted." I was surprised because I feel like I am always correcting split infinitives in students' work. This looked shoddy on my part. But I looked at my own version and it is not there. What I wrote was ". . . and to have your views either ignored, misunderstood or distorted". There's another problem with that -- some would say that you should not have the structure "either . . . . , . . . . or . . . . " -- but I am relieved to see that I do not inadvertently do something I am always moaning to others about! Note to self: remember to read material you submit to web sites when it appears. Suggestion to SBL Forum: allow an author to read a "proof".
Update (17.12): SBL have already made the change. Thanks; very speedy work!
Update (17.12): SBL have already made the change. Thanks; very speedy work!
Passion of the Christ Success in Holy Week
Thanks to David Mackinder for the link to this article from today's (now for me yesterday's) New York Times:
Holy Week Pilgrims Flock to 'Passion'
By ANNE THOMPSON
Holy Week Pilgrims Flock to 'Passion'
By ANNE THOMPSON
Attendance grew steadily through the week and reached its highest on Good Friday, the commemoration of the Crucifixion, said Bob Berney, the president of the movie's distributor, Newmarket Films.
"Every night since Palm Sunday the numbers have gone up," he said on Friday. "It's a very rare movie that returns to No. 1 in its seventh week."
"The Passion" earned an estimated $17 million on 3,240 screens, Mr. Berney said, up 61 percent from the previous weekend. Since opening it has grossed $354.8 million in the United States, Mr. Berney said, making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time . . . . .
. . . . . "It was a campaign-style marketing plan," Mr. Berney said. "Bush conservatives were the target audience, but it spread beyond that."
When Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks released "The Prince of Egypt" in 1998, he took a different approach. He spent four years building support among Jews and Christians alike for that animated family film about Moses, which earned $101 million. "Mel embraced controversy," Mr. Katzenberg said. "I avoided it and built consensus." . . . . .
New SBL Forum content
On Paleojudaica and Biblical Software Review Weblog there are notices of new content on the SBL Forum. There are three articles in the Features section, no doubt with more to come:
How I Met the Computer, and How it Changed my Life
by Robert A. Kraft
Technology and the Transmission of the Biblical Text
by James R. Adair
Transferring Biblical Narrative to Graphic Novel
by David G. Burke and Lydia Lebrón-Rivera
Incidentally, it is good to see that SBL Forum are using permanent URLs, i.e. any individual articles one links to from previous issues of the Forum have remained constant. But I wonder whether an indexing of previous articles would also be useful. At present you can search the archives but I think a browsing facility would also be useful. I would also be interested to see this "Forum" opening up another forum for SBL members to discuss the articles posted. I will write with these suggestions while they are fresh on my mind.
How I Met the Computer, and How it Changed my Life
by Robert A. Kraft
Technology and the Transmission of the Biblical Text
by James R. Adair
Transferring Biblical Narrative to Graphic Novel
by David G. Burke and Lydia Lebrón-Rivera
Incidentally, it is good to see that SBL Forum are using permanent URLs, i.e. any individual articles one links to from previous issues of the Forum have remained constant. But I wonder whether an indexing of previous articles would also be useful. At present you can search the archives but I think a browsing facility would also be useful. I would also be interested to see this "Forum" opening up another forum for SBL members to discuss the articles posted. I will write with these suggestions while they are fresh on my mind.
Marvin Meyer on the Gospels of Mary
This is from the Religion Press Release Service (and talk about trying to milk the publicity from The Da Vinci Code!):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE GOSPELS OF MARY - MARVIN MEYER, THE FOREMOST SCHOLAR OF THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS, TRANSLATES AND INTRODUCES THE GNOSTIC AND NEW TESTAMENT TEXTS THAT REVEAL THE STORY AND IMPORTANCE OF MARY MAGDALENE.
Contact: Laina Adler (415) 477-4409
laina.adler@harpercollins.com
Almost a year after the original publication of The Da Vinci Code comes THE
GOSPELS OF MARY, the ultimate resource for those who have deciphered the code but now seek the texts and truth behind it. Written and translated by Gnostic text expert Marvin Meyer, THE GOSPELS OF MARY is the most accessible text available to help interested readers parse fact from fiction and come to their own conclusions on all matters relating to the life of Mary Magdalene.
Marvin Meyer is your resource for a "Where Are We Now" retrospective story on the impact of The Da Vinci Code. Due to this influential book, for nearly a year Mary and her place within the circle of Jesus' disciples has been a topic of fervent interest and discussion.
"...[Mary's] story is captivating because it encapsulates major unresolved issues facing Christianity -- the role of women in the church, the place of human sexuality, and the yearning for the feminine aspect of the Divine." [Christian Science Monitor | Nov.14]
THE GOSPELS OF MARY is relevant right now.
--Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, uses the Gospel of Mary as a major plot device.
--"Sales of The Da Vinci Code continue to top 100,000 copies a week, according to Nielsen BookScan." [Publishers Weekly | Feb. 9]
--With regards to sales of The Da Vinci Code and related books, Margaret
Maupin, senior buyer at the Tattered Cover in Denver, CO stated, "Bookbuyers are interested in the mysteries, but they don't necessarily want another novel -- they want the truth..." [Publishers Weekly | Feb. 9]
--Elaine Pagels' recent book Beyond Belief relies heavily on Meyer's translation of The Gospel of Thomas, and has renewed interest in the "secret gospels" or "Gnostic Gospels."
Please contact Laina Adler at (415) 477-4409 if you'd like more information on THE GOSPELS OF MARY, a copy of the book, or if you'd like to interview author Marvin Meyer.
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK ----THE GOSPELS OF MARY
"Of all the disciples of Jesus, none seems to have been as independent, strong, and close to Jesus as Mary Magdalene." -- from the Introduction
THE GOSPELS OF MARY: The Secret Tradition of Mary Magdalene, Companion of Jesus, by Marvin Meyer, is the first collection of the earliest texts, including the Gnostic Gospel of Mary and other texts -- both inside and outside the New Testament -- that describe the life of Mary Magdalene.
Marvin Meyer is the foremost expert on the Nag Hammadi texts and the texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. As he states in the Introduction, these texts unveil the importance of Mary Magdalene as Jesus' beloved disciple and an apostle and evangelist, a figure whose importance for Christianity is only now emerging from the shadows of history. Included are selections from the New Testament Gospels, extracanonical literature, and Gnostic sources, as well as the Gospel of Mary (the Gospel of Mary Magdalene).
Marvin Meyer has translated the major Gnostic texts that place Mary Magdalene at Jesus' right hand and give her high place among his followers. The Mary texts are complemented by an essay from Esther de Boer, a widely respected biblical scholar and expert on Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Mary.
Cumulatively, these texts reveal a vibrant oral tradition in which Mary Magdalene is not only a follower of Jesus but also his companion and closest disciple.
# # #
MARVIN MEYER is the foremost expert on the Nag Hammadi texts and the texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. His books and articles have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Japanese, and the Gospel of Thomas, of which his is the standard edition, has been listed as one of the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century. He is Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies and co-chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, at Chapman University, Orange, California.
ESTHER A. DE BOER is the author of Mary Magdalene: Beyond the Myth and The Gospel of Mary: Beyond a Gnostic and a Biblical Mary Magdalene.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE GOSPELS OF MARY: The Secret Tradition of Mary Magdalene, the Companion
of Jesus
by Marvin Meyer
HarperSanFrancisco; A Division of HarperCollins Publishers
May 2004 | On-sale April 6, 2004 | $17.95 | 128 Pages | ISBN: 006065581X
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE GOSPELS OF MARY - MARVIN MEYER, THE FOREMOST SCHOLAR OF THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS, TRANSLATES AND INTRODUCES THE GNOSTIC AND NEW TESTAMENT TEXTS THAT REVEAL THE STORY AND IMPORTANCE OF MARY MAGDALENE.
Contact: Laina Adler (415) 477-4409
laina.adler@harpercollins.com
Almost a year after the original publication of The Da Vinci Code comes THE
GOSPELS OF MARY, the ultimate resource for those who have deciphered the code but now seek the texts and truth behind it. Written and translated by Gnostic text expert Marvin Meyer, THE GOSPELS OF MARY is the most accessible text available to help interested readers parse fact from fiction and come to their own conclusions on all matters relating to the life of Mary Magdalene.
Marvin Meyer is your resource for a "Where Are We Now" retrospective story on the impact of The Da Vinci Code. Due to this influential book, for nearly a year Mary and her place within the circle of Jesus' disciples has been a topic of fervent interest and discussion.
"...[Mary's] story is captivating because it encapsulates major unresolved issues facing Christianity -- the role of women in the church, the place of human sexuality, and the yearning for the feminine aspect of the Divine." [Christian Science Monitor | Nov.14]
THE GOSPELS OF MARY is relevant right now.
--Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code, uses the Gospel of Mary as a major plot device.
--"Sales of The Da Vinci Code continue to top 100,000 copies a week, according to Nielsen BookScan." [Publishers Weekly | Feb. 9]
--With regards to sales of The Da Vinci Code and related books, Margaret
Maupin, senior buyer at the Tattered Cover in Denver, CO stated, "Bookbuyers are interested in the mysteries, but they don't necessarily want another novel -- they want the truth..." [Publishers Weekly | Feb. 9]
--Elaine Pagels' recent book Beyond Belief relies heavily on Meyer's translation of The Gospel of Thomas, and has renewed interest in the "secret gospels" or "Gnostic Gospels."
Please contact Laina Adler at (415) 477-4409 if you'd like more information on THE GOSPELS OF MARY, a copy of the book, or if you'd like to interview author Marvin Meyer.
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK ----THE GOSPELS OF MARY
"Of all the disciples of Jesus, none seems to have been as independent, strong, and close to Jesus as Mary Magdalene." -- from the Introduction
THE GOSPELS OF MARY: The Secret Tradition of Mary Magdalene, Companion of Jesus, by Marvin Meyer, is the first collection of the earliest texts, including the Gnostic Gospel of Mary and other texts -- both inside and outside the New Testament -- that describe the life of Mary Magdalene.
Marvin Meyer is the foremost expert on the Nag Hammadi texts and the texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. As he states in the Introduction, these texts unveil the importance of Mary Magdalene as Jesus' beloved disciple and an apostle and evangelist, a figure whose importance for Christianity is only now emerging from the shadows of history. Included are selections from the New Testament Gospels, extracanonical literature, and Gnostic sources, as well as the Gospel of Mary (the Gospel of Mary Magdalene).
Marvin Meyer has translated the major Gnostic texts that place Mary Magdalene at Jesus' right hand and give her high place among his followers. The Mary texts are complemented by an essay from Esther de Boer, a widely respected biblical scholar and expert on Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Mary.
Cumulatively, these texts reveal a vibrant oral tradition in which Mary Magdalene is not only a follower of Jesus but also his companion and closest disciple.
# # #
MARVIN MEYER is the foremost expert on the Nag Hammadi texts and the texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. His books and articles have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Japanese, and the Gospel of Thomas, of which his is the standard edition, has been listed as one of the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century. He is Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies and co-chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, at Chapman University, Orange, California.
ESTHER A. DE BOER is the author of Mary Magdalene: Beyond the Myth and The Gospel of Mary: Beyond a Gnostic and a Biblical Mary Magdalene.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE GOSPELS OF MARY: The Secret Tradition of Mary Magdalene, the Companion
of Jesus
by Marvin Meyer
HarperSanFrancisco; A Division of HarperCollins Publishers
May 2004 | On-sale April 6, 2004 | $17.95 | 128 Pages | ISBN: 006065581X
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday, April 12, 2004
Passion of the Christ misrepresented again
Also on Textweek, Jenee Woodard points to this article on Sojourners:
Bloody Purim & the Bloody Passion
by Rabbi Arthur Waskow
The part that catches my attention is the misrepresentation again of The Passion of the Christ:
Bloody Purim & the Bloody Passion
by Rabbi Arthur Waskow
The part that catches my attention is the misrepresentation again of The Passion of the Christ:
For centuries - and now again, in the wake of the film The Passion of the Christ and its pointing at "the Jews" as killers of the Christ - Jews have insisted that Christians look also inward for the impulse toward that killing . . . .As often, this gives the impression that the film speaks of "the Jews", in inverted commas, as a body hostile to Jesus and who killed Jesus. The film does not speak in this way. There are two people in the film whose Jewish identity is particularly stressed, Jesus and Simon of Cyrene. The term "the Jews" only appears in the expression "king of the Jews". As I have mentioned before, there is no chance of a sensible discussion about the very important issues that surround this film if elements that are not present are imported into it.
Sites up and down
The NT Gateway's move to a fresh server seems to have done it a lot of good -- it now seems to be faster and more efficient. Meanwhile it seems that the University of Birmingham sites are struggling -- my homepage has been down for days as has the Department of Theology of which it is a part. No doubt these sites will clunk back into action once people at the university return to work tomorrow, but perhaps I will need to think seriously about moving my homepage too to NTGateway.com.
Ched Myers on The Passion of the Christ
Over on Textweek Jenee Woodard notes this new article on Tikkun:
Why did they kill Jesus?
Ched Myers | 04.07.2004
For some reason the text in the article above has got a bit garbled -- letters missing and the like. But you can read a cleaner version on Ched Myers's own site here, though the choice of font colour and background on this one requires a bit more re-think:
Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ,” Anti-Semitism and the Gospel: Mark’s Trial Narrative as Political Parody
Like most other Biblical scholars and theologians, he hated it. Given that my own reaction is rather different from what has become the standard one among academics, I was interested in one element in his article, which confirmed to me something I have suspected about the academic reaction:
When one is looking at The Passion of the Christ it is important to analyze it as film and not as documentary. One of the questions that has been in my mind from the beginning of the controversy is how this film compares to others in the genre. One of the things that has been lacking in much of the critical reaction to the film has been any comparison between The Passion of the Christ and other Jesus films. What is it that is so peculiarly bad about this film as compared with, say, Jesus Christ Superstar or The Miracle Maker? For a properly critical case against this film to be sustained, one requires more sensitivity to the tradition from which it comes.
Why did they kill Jesus?
Ched Myers | 04.07.2004
For some reason the text in the article above has got a bit garbled -- letters missing and the like. But you can read a cleaner version on Ched Myers's own site here, though the choice of font colour and background on this one requires a bit more re-think:
Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ,” Anti-Semitism and the Gospel: Mark’s Trial Narrative as Political Parody
Like most other Biblical scholars and theologians, he hated it. Given that my own reaction is rather different from what has become the standard one among academics, I was interested in one element in his article, which confirmed to me something I have suspected about the academic reaction:
One of the many problems with Gibson’s film is that it weaves in strands from all four of our gospel versions (not to mention his own gratuitous additions). Attempts to “harmonize” what are four very different versions of the Jesus story have long been discredited because they give the editor such wide license to pick and choose. This effectively creates a “fifth” gospel—or in Gibson’s case, anti-gospel. The only way to unravel Gibson’s fabric is to examine each gospel separately, in order to see their different emphases and purposes.If one of the bases for criticizing this film is that it harmonizes the Gospels, then the problem is not with this film but with all the Jesus films with the exception of Jesus (1979), The Gospel According to St Matthew, Matthew and The Gospel of John. Has the harmonizing of the Gospels "long been discredited"? Of course this is the case if one is doing serious historical critical scholarship on the Gospels, but it is not the case when it comes to producing dramatic reworkings of the Jesus story.
When one is looking at The Passion of the Christ it is important to analyze it as film and not as documentary. One of the questions that has been in my mind from the beginning of the controversy is how this film compares to others in the genre. One of the things that has been lacking in much of the critical reaction to the film has been any comparison between The Passion of the Christ and other Jesus films. What is it that is so peculiarly bad about this film as compared with, say, Jesus Christ Superstar or The Miracle Maker? For a properly critical case against this film to be sustained, one requires more sensitivity to the tradition from which it comes.
RogueClassicism at The Passion
On RogueClassicism, David Meadows reports on his viewing of The Passion of the Christ -- some comments on his view of the Latin.
Tom Wright on the Resurrection
If you are in the UK, don't forget Resurrection on Channel 4 tonight at 6.25 pm:
Resurrection
Was Jesus resurrected or is it all a fanciful story at odds with the modern world? Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, sets out to prove the historical truth of the resurrection on a journey that takes him to the places where the real Jesus lived and died.
Resurrection
Was Jesus resurrected or is it all a fanciful story at odds with the modern world? Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, sets out to prove the historical truth of the resurrection on a journey that takes him to the places where the real Jesus lived and died.
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