Authenticating Criteria in Jesus Research and Beyond

Authenticating Criteria in Jesus Research and Beyond
Author: Kevin B. Burr
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2023-10-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004549021

Are the criteria of authenticity of Jesus research idiosyncratic to New Testament studies, vehicles of subjectivity, and fundamentally flawed vestiges of form criticism as some claim today? If so, why do opponents of the criteria-approach still use them? Or, are the criteria the tools of general historiography as others assert? If true, none have adequately demonstrated where and how principles such as multiple attestation, general and historical coherence, dissimilarity and embarrassment feature in general historiographic method—until now. This study analyzes the methods of general historians and Jesus researchers (who favor or oppose the criteria) and demonstrates that, regardless of sub-discipline, authenticating criteria are inherent to the practice of historiography.

Resurrection Remembered

Resurrection Remembered
Author: David Graieg
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2024-03-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1040003311

This book is the first major study to investigate Jesus’ resurrection using a memory approach. It develops the logic for and the methodology of a memory approach, including that there were about two decades between the events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection and the recording of those events in First Corinthians. The memory of those events was frequently rehearsed, perhaps weekly. The transmission of the oral tradition occurred in various ways, including the overlooked fourth model—“formal uncontrolled.” Consideration is given to an examination of the philosophy and psychology of memory (including past and new research on (1) the constructive nature of memory, (2) social memory, (3) transience, (4) memory distortion, (5) false memories, (6) the social contagion of memory, and (7) flashbulb memory). In addition, this is the first New Testament study to consider the insights for a memory approach from the philosophical considerations of (1) forgetting and (2) the theories of remembering and from the psychological studies on (1) memory conformity, (2) memory and age, and (3) the effects of health on memory. It is argued that Paul remembers Jesus as having been resurrected with a transformed physical body. Furthermore, the centrality of Jesus’ resurrection in Paul’s theology suggests it was a deeply embedded memory of primary importance to the social identity of the early Christian communities. New Testament scholars and students will want to take note of how this work advances the discussion in historical Jesus studies. The broader Christian audience will also find the apologetic implications of interest.

Trustworthy

Trustworthy
Author: Benjamin Shaw
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2024-07-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1514007592

How do we know the New Testament is reliable? In this clear introduction, Dr. Ben Shaw systematically surveys key scholarly topics related to the New Testament's historical credibility. Concise chapters provide guidance for exploring a wide variety of evidence including archaeology, authorship, text criticism, and non-Christian sources.

“To Recover What Has Been Lost”: Essays on Eschatology, Intertextuality, and Reception History in Honor of Dale C. Allison Jr.

“To Recover What Has Been Lost”: Essays on Eschatology, Intertextuality, and Reception History in Honor of Dale C. Allison Jr.
Author: Tucker Ferda
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2020-11-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004444017

Over the course of his career, Dale Allison has enriched our understanding of Jewish and Christian hopes about the end of history, advanced nuanced readings of ancient texts in light of their scriptural and cultural conversation partners, and deepened our knowledge of the history of biblical interpretation throughout the ages. In all of these ways, he has sought, in the words of T.S. Eliot, “to recover what has been lost.” In “To Recover What Has Been Lost”: Essays on Eschatology, Intertextuality, and Reception History in Honor of Dale C. Allison Jr., leading biblical scholars and historians offer ground-breaking studies on Jewish and Christian eschatology, intertextuality, and reception history—three areas particularly evident in Allison’s scholarship. These essays reconstruct the past, advance fresh readings, and reclaim overlooked exegetical insights. In so doing, they too recover what has been lost.

Beyond Biblical Theology

Beyond Biblical Theology
Author: Timo Eskola
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 493
Release: 2013-10-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004258035

Reading Heikki Räisänen’s hermeneutics in context, Timo Eskola explores the development of Western New Testament interpretation. Reclaiming a Wredean approach to the Scriptures, Räisänen focuses on tradition and interpretation. He builds on Weberian sociology, adopted through Peter Berger’s theories, and substitutes sacralized culturalism for biblical theology. After examining fourteenth century Quran-criticism and its impact on Reimarus, Eskola discusses the genesis of the revised history-of-religion theory that Räisänen developed when investigating the Quran’s relationship to the Bible. Sociology then becomes a link between standard historicism and poststructuralism as Räisänen reinterprets Berger’s sociology of knowledge. Räisänen’s sacralized culturalism finally becomes the theory from which his magnum opus The Rise of Christian Beliefs has been written.

Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research

Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research
Author: Stanley E. Porter
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2004-12-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567043606

Historical-Jesus research continues to captivate the interests of scholars. Recently there has been renewed discussion of the criteria for authenticity. This study traces the history of this type of research, especially in terms of authenticity criteria.

Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity

Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity
Author: Chris Keith
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2012-06-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567377237

This volume discusses the new approaches regarding the criteria of authenticity and their relevance in the quest for the historical Jesus studies.

The Historical Jesus and the Temple

The Historical Jesus and the Temple
Author: Michael Patrick Barber
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2023-01-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1009210823

In this book, Michael Patrick Barber examines the role of the Jerusalem temple in the teaching of the historical Jesus. Drawing on recent discussions about methodology and memory research in Jesus studies, he advances a fresh approach to reconstructing Jesus' teaching. Barber argues that Jesus did not reject the temple's validity but that he likely participated in and endorsed its rites. Moreover, he locates Jesus' teaching within Jewish apocalyptic eschatology, showing that Jesus' message about the coming kingdom and his disciples' place in it likely involved important temple and priestly traditions that have been ignored by the quest. Barber also highlights new developments in scholarship on the Gospel of Matthew to show that its Jewish perspective offers valuable but overlooked clues about the kinds of concerns that would have likely shaped Jesus' outlook. A bold approach to a key topic in biblical studies, Barber's book is a pioneering contribution to Jesus scholarship.

History and Memory in the Dead Sea Scrolls

History and Memory in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Author: Travis B. Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 463
Release: 2019-05-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108493335

Charts a new methodological course in Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship by employing memory theory to inform historical research. This is an instructive resource for scholars who are seeking an alternative to currently constructed approaches to the subject, and will be of appeal to those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls more generally.