Post by Tom Green on Feb 9, 2007 23:55:03 GMT -5
"MisQuoting Jesus"
"St. Joan of Arc Bible Study is an open and growing group that meets for fellowship and to discuss the Bible and other faith-centered literature. Our informal study group draws from biblical scholarship, historical perspectives, current events and personal reflections. We welcome honor and respect the personal ideas and spiritual journeys of all who join us."
Greetings
A good sized group appeared tonight in the basement of the old country church to start in on Bart Erhman's "Misquoting Jesus: the story behind who changed the Bible and why"
Of course, a break for refreshments was called at the appropriate time, and we adjourned to the treats counter. There we were met with a double barreled choice: homemade rhubarb cake with whipped cream, or fresh orange slices sprinkled with cinnamon. The decision making effort was so great that many of us did the tie-breaker and tried both. We easily met our quota of five healthy servings of fruit per day.
Bob was kind enough to get us started and did a bang up job of facilitating and keeping the rabble to a low rumble! Here follows Bob's overview...
SJA BIBLE STUDY
June 6, 2006
Misquoting Jesus, the story behind who changed the Bible and why
by Bart D. Ehrman
Introduction and Chapter 1
The author tells us that this book is about the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, but that he needed to give us some personal background on how studying these manuscripts made a real difference to himself emotionally and intellectually. When he was a sophomore in high school, he became a "born again" Christian. The Bible as the inerrant word of God was the center of this faith. He was so serious about this faith that he studied at the Moody Bible Institute, a premier institution among Bible based denominations. He continued his education at Wheaton College, despite the warnings from Moody that Wheaton was not Christian enough (alums Billy Graham and Ronald Reagan notwithstanding). There he learned Greek and heard from teachers who were bold enough to ask questions and not just spout authoritative answers about the Bible.
The questions the author faced were how a Christian can feel confident in the inerrancy of the Bible if she or he could read only a translation of the original Bible and how could anyone feel confidence if we didn't have the original manuscripts but only copies of copies.
He went on to study at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he struggled to "keep the faith" in the inerrancy of the Bible. He wrote a lengthy paper working around an apparent discrepancy in the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus defended his hungry disciples picking grain on the Sabbath, akin to King David's hungry warriors eating the sacred bread "when Abiathar was the high priest". In fact it was when Ahimelech was the high priest. The professor's comment was "Maybe Mark just made a mistake".
This discovery and admission that the Bible did contain mistakes and variations led to a radical rethinking of his understanding of what the Bible is - a very human book. Read page 11 last paragraph.
Since God did not see fit to preserve the original manuscripts, as an all-powerful God presumably can do, that is a pretty good sign that the Bible is not inerrant, much less a foolproof guide to the questions of the present age, such as abortion, women's rights, gay rights, religious supremacy, Western-style democracy, etc. We can't set up the Bible as a false idol.
Having explained his own faith journey, directly inspired by the Bible as a set of cobbled together books and not as the inerrant word of God, the author describes what textual criticism is and why everyone who has an interest in the Bible, "whether a literalist, a recovering literalist, a never-in-your-life-would-I-ever-be-a-literalist, or even just anyone with a remote interest on the Bible as a historical and cultural phenomenon" should be aware of the science and art of textual criticism. The experts have been studying it for almost 300 hundred years, but there has been little available for the lay audience. Read page 15 last paragraph. "In many ways, then, this is a very personal book for me, the end result of a long journey. Maybe, for others, it can be part of a journey of their own".
Discussion questions:
Why, if our beliefs are more profound and more rational, do we need to denigrate the gullibility and obstinacy of Bible literalists? Why does their faith appear to be more intense than ours (or does it)?
If the Bible is not the inerrant word of God, what value does it have?
Has our experience with the Bible led to any faith journey changes of course among us, as happened to the author?
Chapter 1 The Beginnings of Christian Scripture
Judaism as a Religion of the Book
Judaism was unique among religions in the Roman world: first, it became a believer in true monotheism, not just tribal monotheism, much less polytheism as was held in most of the world; and second, it was "bookish". No other major religion maintained a written Law or Prophets as a central part of the exercise of the faith. This is hard to believe in our immersion in the bookish faiths of today, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. This unique reverence for Scripture by Jesus, Paul, and the writers of the Christian Testament made Christianity also a distinctive sect among the Roman empire religions.
Christianity as a Religion of the Book
Early Christian Letters, such as the Epistles of Paul, are the earliest known writings in the post-resurrection church. We know from some of Fr. Jim deB's homilies that Paul did not intend some of his writings to become sacred, foundational scripture because they were responses to localized, temporary crises. However, it is clear from some of Paul's letters that he was writing a lesson for everyone: 1 Thessalonians 5:26-27 "...I strongly adjure you in the name of the Lord that you have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters." Further, Paul frequently quoted from the Jewish books.
"My point is that the letters were important to the lives of the early Christian communities. These were written documents that were to guide them in their faith and practice. They bound the churches together." Page 23
Early Gospels were the stories of Jesus, and besides Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have the gospels of Philip, Judas Thomas, and Mary Magdalene. We also know of lost gospels, such as Q, which with Mark was a source to both Matthew and Luke.
Early Acts of the Apostles, were the stories of the adventures and exploits of the apostles after the death and resurrection of Jesus, such as Luke's Acts of the Apostles in the Bible and others such as the Acts of Paul, the Acts of Peter, and the Acts of Thomas.
Christian Apocalypses were about what the early Christians believed to be the imminent return of Jesus: the Apocalypse of John in the Bible, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Shepherd by Hermas.
Church Orders were directions on practice and doctrine, such as the Didache of the Twelve Apostles written about 100 C.E.
Christian Apologies were arguments in debate style defending the new Christian faith.
Christian Martyrologies were the stories of persecutions and executions of people like Polycarp.
Antiheretical Tractates were writings against the ideas propounded by "false teachers" (who in turn wrote tracts denouncing what is seen now as the orthodox position to be itself heretical.
Early Christian Commentaries were written to explain scripture, such as Heracleon's commentary on the Gospel of John.
Read page 29 first full paragraph.
The Formation of the Christian Canon
How the books of the Bible became official (the canon) is a lengthy, complex, and incomplete story. Why some writings are considered sacred and others are deemed merely interesting is confusing. It is clear from early writings that Christian worship services included reading of the memoirs of the apostles (the gospels) or the prophets, bestowing on them a sacred aura. The heretic Marcion is the first person known to have edited a collection of sacred books and declared them to be holy scripture, about 150 C.E.. He had a form of the Gospel of Luke and ten letters of Paul. However, to support his argument that the God of Christianity was a different God of the Jews, he "corrected" the texts to delete any reference to them as the same God. We shall see in later chapters how other such "corrections" were made.
Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons, wrote Against Heretics about 180 C.E. He decreed that the groups which insisted on only one or the other of the Gospels to be "The Gospel" to be heretics. Four Gospels were to be included. [This is interesting because of the discrepancies between the four; wouldn't church authorities concerned with "The Truth" have logically picked one of the four? Maybe it's a sign of their faith that they could live with these differences.]
Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria set out the list of 27 familiar books now in the Christian Testament as official in the year 367 C.E. [He also condemned all the others, demanding their destruction. This led to the concealment of the Nag Hamadi manuscripts in clay jars buried in the Nile River bank, which when discovered in 1946 revealed to us the Gnostic gospels of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Thomas, and others]
Literacy
Because books were so rare in the times of the early church, only a small percentage of the people could read. In the church, it became their ministry or charism to read the sacred books out loud to the assemblies of worshippers. Origen in his work Against Celsus appears to agree with the accusation that most of the early Christians were uneducated, but he says they are wise with respect to God, if not to the things of the world. Many people knew scripture even if they could not read it.
Questions for Discussion
What assumptions do we have from our familiarity with the written word which we must lay aside to understand how the Christian Testament developed?
Did the rarity and expense of the books increase the "sacredness" of the readings during the liturgy?
If a buried jar today revealed irrefutable proof that it contained the original manuscripts of the four Gospels, what difference would it make to Vatican II Christians? To literalists?
Well, one can almost visualize the dynamic small group discussions. Very interesting indeed. Thanks Bob!
You don't want to miss next week when Betty will take us thru chapter II of Misquoting Jesus - the Copyists
Facilitator: Betty
Opening prayer: Vi
Treats: Margaret
Closing prayer: Rita
U B Peace
Rik Murray
(612) 872-8694
"St. Joan of Arc Bible Study is an open and growing group that meets for fellowship and to discuss the Bible and other faith-centered literature. Our informal study group draws from biblical scholarship, historical perspectives, current events and personal reflections. We welcome honor and respect the personal ideas and spiritual journeys of all who join us."
Greetings
A good sized group appeared tonight in the basement of the old country church to start in on Bart Erhman's "Misquoting Jesus: the story behind who changed the Bible and why"
Of course, a break for refreshments was called at the appropriate time, and we adjourned to the treats counter. There we were met with a double barreled choice: homemade rhubarb cake with whipped cream, or fresh orange slices sprinkled with cinnamon. The decision making effort was so great that many of us did the tie-breaker and tried both. We easily met our quota of five healthy servings of fruit per day.
Bob was kind enough to get us started and did a bang up job of facilitating and keeping the rabble to a low rumble! Here follows Bob's overview...
SJA BIBLE STUDY
June 6, 2006
Misquoting Jesus, the story behind who changed the Bible and why
by Bart D. Ehrman
Introduction and Chapter 1
The author tells us that this book is about the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, but that he needed to give us some personal background on how studying these manuscripts made a real difference to himself emotionally and intellectually. When he was a sophomore in high school, he became a "born again" Christian. The Bible as the inerrant word of God was the center of this faith. He was so serious about this faith that he studied at the Moody Bible Institute, a premier institution among Bible based denominations. He continued his education at Wheaton College, despite the warnings from Moody that Wheaton was not Christian enough (alums Billy Graham and Ronald Reagan notwithstanding). There he learned Greek and heard from teachers who were bold enough to ask questions and not just spout authoritative answers about the Bible.
The questions the author faced were how a Christian can feel confident in the inerrancy of the Bible if she or he could read only a translation of the original Bible and how could anyone feel confidence if we didn't have the original manuscripts but only copies of copies.
He went on to study at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he struggled to "keep the faith" in the inerrancy of the Bible. He wrote a lengthy paper working around an apparent discrepancy in the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus defended his hungry disciples picking grain on the Sabbath, akin to King David's hungry warriors eating the sacred bread "when Abiathar was the high priest". In fact it was when Ahimelech was the high priest. The professor's comment was "Maybe Mark just made a mistake".
This discovery and admission that the Bible did contain mistakes and variations led to a radical rethinking of his understanding of what the Bible is - a very human book. Read page 11 last paragraph.
Since God did not see fit to preserve the original manuscripts, as an all-powerful God presumably can do, that is a pretty good sign that the Bible is not inerrant, much less a foolproof guide to the questions of the present age, such as abortion, women's rights, gay rights, religious supremacy, Western-style democracy, etc. We can't set up the Bible as a false idol.
Having explained his own faith journey, directly inspired by the Bible as a set of cobbled together books and not as the inerrant word of God, the author describes what textual criticism is and why everyone who has an interest in the Bible, "whether a literalist, a recovering literalist, a never-in-your-life-would-I-ever-be-a-literalist, or even just anyone with a remote interest on the Bible as a historical and cultural phenomenon" should be aware of the science and art of textual criticism. The experts have been studying it for almost 300 hundred years, but there has been little available for the lay audience. Read page 15 last paragraph. "In many ways, then, this is a very personal book for me, the end result of a long journey. Maybe, for others, it can be part of a journey of their own".
Discussion questions:
Why, if our beliefs are more profound and more rational, do we need to denigrate the gullibility and obstinacy of Bible literalists? Why does their faith appear to be more intense than ours (or does it)?
If the Bible is not the inerrant word of God, what value does it have?
Has our experience with the Bible led to any faith journey changes of course among us, as happened to the author?
Chapter 1 The Beginnings of Christian Scripture
Judaism as a Religion of the Book
Judaism was unique among religions in the Roman world: first, it became a believer in true monotheism, not just tribal monotheism, much less polytheism as was held in most of the world; and second, it was "bookish". No other major religion maintained a written Law or Prophets as a central part of the exercise of the faith. This is hard to believe in our immersion in the bookish faiths of today, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. This unique reverence for Scripture by Jesus, Paul, and the writers of the Christian Testament made Christianity also a distinctive sect among the Roman empire religions.
Christianity as a Religion of the Book
Early Christian Letters, such as the Epistles of Paul, are the earliest known writings in the post-resurrection church. We know from some of Fr. Jim deB's homilies that Paul did not intend some of his writings to become sacred, foundational scripture because they were responses to localized, temporary crises. However, it is clear from some of Paul's letters that he was writing a lesson for everyone: 1 Thessalonians 5:26-27 "...I strongly adjure you in the name of the Lord that you have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters." Further, Paul frequently quoted from the Jewish books.
"My point is that the letters were important to the lives of the early Christian communities. These were written documents that were to guide them in their faith and practice. They bound the churches together." Page 23
Early Gospels were the stories of Jesus, and besides Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have the gospels of Philip, Judas Thomas, and Mary Magdalene. We also know of lost gospels, such as Q, which with Mark was a source to both Matthew and Luke.
Early Acts of the Apostles, were the stories of the adventures and exploits of the apostles after the death and resurrection of Jesus, such as Luke's Acts of the Apostles in the Bible and others such as the Acts of Paul, the Acts of Peter, and the Acts of Thomas.
Christian Apocalypses were about what the early Christians believed to be the imminent return of Jesus: the Apocalypse of John in the Bible, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Shepherd by Hermas.
Church Orders were directions on practice and doctrine, such as the Didache of the Twelve Apostles written about 100 C.E.
Christian Apologies were arguments in debate style defending the new Christian faith.
Christian Martyrologies were the stories of persecutions and executions of people like Polycarp.
Antiheretical Tractates were writings against the ideas propounded by "false teachers" (who in turn wrote tracts denouncing what is seen now as the orthodox position to be itself heretical.
Early Christian Commentaries were written to explain scripture, such as Heracleon's commentary on the Gospel of John.
Read page 29 first full paragraph.
The Formation of the Christian Canon
How the books of the Bible became official (the canon) is a lengthy, complex, and incomplete story. Why some writings are considered sacred and others are deemed merely interesting is confusing. It is clear from early writings that Christian worship services included reading of the memoirs of the apostles (the gospels) or the prophets, bestowing on them a sacred aura. The heretic Marcion is the first person known to have edited a collection of sacred books and declared them to be holy scripture, about 150 C.E.. He had a form of the Gospel of Luke and ten letters of Paul. However, to support his argument that the God of Christianity was a different God of the Jews, he "corrected" the texts to delete any reference to them as the same God. We shall see in later chapters how other such "corrections" were made.
Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons, wrote Against Heretics about 180 C.E. He decreed that the groups which insisted on only one or the other of the Gospels to be "The Gospel" to be heretics. Four Gospels were to be included. [This is interesting because of the discrepancies between the four; wouldn't church authorities concerned with "The Truth" have logically picked one of the four? Maybe it's a sign of their faith that they could live with these differences.]
Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria set out the list of 27 familiar books now in the Christian Testament as official in the year 367 C.E. [He also condemned all the others, demanding their destruction. This led to the concealment of the Nag Hamadi manuscripts in clay jars buried in the Nile River bank, which when discovered in 1946 revealed to us the Gnostic gospels of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Thomas, and others]
Literacy
Because books were so rare in the times of the early church, only a small percentage of the people could read. In the church, it became their ministry or charism to read the sacred books out loud to the assemblies of worshippers. Origen in his work Against Celsus appears to agree with the accusation that most of the early Christians were uneducated, but he says they are wise with respect to God, if not to the things of the world. Many people knew scripture even if they could not read it.
Questions for Discussion
What assumptions do we have from our familiarity with the written word which we must lay aside to understand how the Christian Testament developed?
Did the rarity and expense of the books increase the "sacredness" of the readings during the liturgy?
If a buried jar today revealed irrefutable proof that it contained the original manuscripts of the four Gospels, what difference would it make to Vatican II Christians? To literalists?
Well, one can almost visualize the dynamic small group discussions. Very interesting indeed. Thanks Bob!
You don't want to miss next week when Betty will take us thru chapter II of Misquoting Jesus - the Copyists
Facilitator: Betty
Opening prayer: Vi
Treats: Margaret
Closing prayer: Rita
U B Peace
Rik Murray
(612) 872-8694