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| == References == | | == References == |
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| == Historical Jesus Practice ==
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| '''Jesus's Ethical teachings and their apocalyptic context'''
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| Alongside the direct quotes of an imminent apocalypse and judgments, we have morals that make little sense as long-term ethical teachings for a religion, but do if one expected judgment to arrive within very soon within their lifetimes. If the Jesus truly was the Qur'anic one, it is difficult to imagine why his early followers would have believed such things so contrary to Islam.
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| ''As a corollary, people should give all they have for the sake of others. In our earliest accounts Jesus not only urges indifference to the good things of this life (which, when seen from an apocalyptic perspective, are actually not all that good-since they too will be destroyed in the coming Kingdom), he rails against them, telling his followers to be rid of them. And thus, when a rich person comes to Jesus to ask about inheriting eternal life, upon finding out that he has already observed the commandments of God found in the Law he hasn't murdered, committed adultery, stolen, or borne false witness, for example-Jesus tells him, "You still lack one thing: go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven" (Mark 10:17-21).'' Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 168). Oxford University Press. AND Dale C. Allison Jr.. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Locations 834-837). Kindle Edition.
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| Followers are essentially told not to save money for long-term goals or the next generation, only focusing on preparing for heaven.
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| Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21, NRSV)
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| Madison, David. Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (p. 19). Insighting Growth Publications. Kindle Edition.
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| (Don’t worry about basic human needs)
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| ...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (Matthew 6:25-26, NRSV) Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’
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| Madison, David. Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (p. 20). Insighting Growth Publications. Kindle Edition.
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| (don't worry about clothing)
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| Jesus taught his followers to be encouraged by how God “clothes” the lilies of the field. And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? (Matthew 6:28-30, NRSV)
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| Madison, David. Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (p. 23). Insighting Growth Publications. Kindle Edition.
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| (never say no to a borrower)
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| Just in case you still don’t think Jesus taught his followers to be financially irresponsible, here’s another thing Christians certainly wish he hadn’t said. ...do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:42, NRSV) [also Gospel of Thomas 95 (an early gnostic gospel with independent traditions] [4]
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| Madison, David. Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (p. 25). Insighting Growth Publications. Kindle Edition.
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| (complete pacifism - believes god will destroy all follower sin their lifetime - and very different to Islamic jihad quote self-defence and offensive warfare verses)
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| You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, ‘Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:38-42, NRSV)
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| Madison, David. Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (p. 26). Insighting Growth Publications. Kindle Edition.
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| (give away all your possession - very impractical unless world ending and soon will have no need for them
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| So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. (Luke 14:33 NRSV) (Dale C. Allison Jr.. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Locations 834-837). Kindle Edition.)
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| Madison, David. Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (pp. 34-35). Insighting Growth Publications. Kindle Edition.
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| (will receive 100 fold in 'this' life)
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| Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30, NRSV) We can’t test the promise of eternal life since none of us reading this book have died, but we know that the hundredfold reimbursement in this life makes no sense whatever. I guess televangelists with private jets can make a case that the hundredfold reward Jesus promised in this life works for them,
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| Madison, David. Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (p. 36). Insighting Growth Publications. Kindle Edition.
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| Further than direct references, Jesus's prediction of an imminent apocalypse underpins many of his teachings, such as advising not to worry about the future “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself” (Matthew 6:34), which make little sense outside of this apocalyptic context.
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| See: Madison, David. Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (pp. 78-79). Insighting Growth Publications. Kindle Edition. For additions to Luke on apocalypticism.
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| Dale Allison: https://www.thecontemplativelife.org/blog/historical-jesus-dale-allison-jesus-apocalyptic-prophet • ''Several times Jesus admonishes people to be on the alert because the eschatological crisis may come at any time: Matt. 24:43-51 = Luke 12:39-46; Mark 13:33-37; Matt. 25:1-13; Luke 12:35-38; 21:34-36.''
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| ''Jesus sent forth missionaries without staff, food, or money: Matt. 10:9-10; Mark 6:8-9; Luke 10:4.'' [18]
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| Dale Allison gets same Jesus but with different methods than Ehrman ''(How can this be? Results, one might suppose, are determined by method. In my case, however, differentent methods, with and without criteria of authenticity, have produced the same result.)'' Dale C. Allison Jr.. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Locations 795-796). Kindle Edition.
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| He says instead:
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| ''We should rather be looking for repeating patterns and contemplating the big picture. We should trust first, if we are to trust at all, what is most likely to be trustworthy.''
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| Dale C. Allison Jr.. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Locations 823-824). Kindle Edition.
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| === References ===
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| [1] Durie, Mark. The Qur’an and Its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion (pp. 321-322). Lexington Books.
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| The difficulty of analyzing Arabic masīḥ opened the door to much speculation by Muslim exegetes about its interpretation. Lane’s entry for masīḥ states that the major lexicographer al-Fīrūzabādī reported that 50 different meanings had been proposed.
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| [2] What Do Muslims Think about the Gospels? IslamQA. 2023. <nowiki>https://islamqa.info/en/answers/47516/what-do-muslims-think-about-the-gospels</nowiki>
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| [3] Schweitzer, Albert. The Quest of the Historical Jesus (E.g. see pp. 358-368). Jovian Press.
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| [4] Dale C. Allison Jr.. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Location 835). Kindle Edition.
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| Jesus commanded money to be lent without interest: Matt. 5:42; Gospel pel of Thomas 95.
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| [5] Bible in Chronological Order (Every Book Ordered by Date Written). Marko Marina, Ph.D. 2024. Bart Ehram.com. <nowiki>https://www.bartehrman.com/bible-in-chronological-order/</nowiki>
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| [6] And then there was Q. Bart Ehmran blog. 2017. <nowiki>https://ehrmanblog.org/and-then-there-was-q/</nowiki>
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| Matthew and Luke obviously share a number of stories with Mark, but they also share with each other a number of passages not found in Mark. Most of these passages (all but two of them) involve sayings of Jesus — for example, the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer. Since they didn’t get these passages from Mark, where did they get them? Since the 19th century scholars have argued that Matthew did not get them from Luke or Luke from Matthew (for reasons I’ll suggest below); that probably means they got them from some other source, a document that no longer survives.
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| [7] Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 130-131). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
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| [8] At Last. Jesus and the Son of Man. Bart Ehrman Blog. 2020. <nowiki>https://ehrmanblog.org/at-last-jesus-and-the-son-of-man/</nowiki>
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| [9] Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 128). Oxford University Press.
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| Throughout the earliest accounts of Jesus’ words are found predictions of a Kingdom of God that is soon to appear, in which God will rule. This will be an actual kingdom here on earth. When it comes, the forces of evil will be overthrown, along with everyone who has sided with them, and only those who repent and follow Jesus’ teachings will be allowed to enter. Judgment on all others will be brought by the Son of Man, a cosmic figure who may arrive from heaven at any time.
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| [10] Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 130). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
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| The earliest sources record Jesus as propounding an apocalyptic message. But, interestingly enough, some of the most clearly apocalyptic traditions come to be “toned down” as we move further away from Jesus’ life in the 20s to Gospel materials produced near the end of the first century. Let me give one example. I’ve already pointed out that Mark was our earliest Gospel and was used as a source for the Gospel of Luke (along with Q and L). It’s a relatively simple business, then, to see how the earlier traditions of Mark fared later in the hands of Luke. Interestingly, some of the earlier apocalyptic emphases begin to be muted. In Mark 9:1, for example, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, there are some who are standing here who will not taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.” Luke takes over this verse—but it is worth noting what he does with it. He leaves out the last few words, so that now Jesus simply says: “Truly I tell you, there are some who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:27). The difference might seem slight, but in fact it’s huge: for now Jesus does not predict the imminent arrival of the Kingdom in power, but simply says that the disciples (in some sense) will see the Kingdom. And strikingly, in Luke (but not in our earlier source, Mark), the disciples do see the Kingdom—but not its coming in power. For according to Luke, the Kingdom has already “come to you” in Jesus own ministry (Luke 11:20, not in Mark), and it is said to “be among you” in the person of Jesus himself (Luke 17:21, also not in Mark).
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| [11]
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| Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 130-131). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
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| Let me stress that Luke continues to think that the end of the age is going to come in his own lifetime. But he does not seem to think that it was supposed to come in the lifetime of Jesus’ companions. Why not? Evidently because he was writing after they had died, and he knew that in fact the end had not come. To deal with the “delay of the end,” he made the appropriate changes in Jesus’ predictions. This is evident as well near the end of the Gospel. At Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus boldly states to the high priest, “You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). That is, the end would come and the high priest would see it. Luke, writing many years later, after the high priest was long dead and buried, changes the saying: “from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God” (Luke 22:69). No longer does Jesus predict that the high priest himself will be alive when the end comes.
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| [12] Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 131). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
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| Here, then, is a later source that appears to have modified the earlier apocalyptic sayings of Jesus. You can see the same tendency in the Gospel of John, the last of our canonical accounts to be written. In this account, rather than speaking about
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| [13]
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| Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 131). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
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| This “de-apocalypticizing” of Jesus’ message continues into the second century. In the Gospel of Thomas, for example, written somewhat later than John, there is a clear attack on anyone who believes in a future Kingdom here on earth. In some sayings, for example, Jesus denies that the Kingdom involves an actual place but “is within
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| Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 134). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
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| Before moving on to a consideration of the specific criteria that historians use with the Gospel traditions, let me stress again here, in conclusion, my simple point about our rules of thumb. The earliest sources that we have consistently ascribe an apocalyptic message to Jesus. This message begins to be muted by the end of the first century (e.g., in Luke), until it virtually disappears (e.g., in John), and begins, then, to be explicitly rejected and spurned (e.g., in Thomas). It appears that when the end never did arrive, Christians had to take stock of the fact that Jesus said it would and changed his message accordingly. You can hardly blame them.
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| [14] See commentaries on this verse 4|157 for an explanation <nowiki>https://quranx.com/tafsirs/4.157</nowiki> of mainstream view. <nowiki>https://journal.rts.edu/article/it-was-made-to-appear-like-that-to-them-islams-denial-of-jesus-crucifixion-in-the-quran-and-dogmatic-tradition/</nowiki> for problems with it and alt explanations
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| [15] Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (p. 92). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
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| “Dissimilar” traditions, that is, those that do not support a clear Christian agenda, or that appear to work against it, are difficult to explain unless they are authentic. They are therefore more likely to be historical.
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| [16] What Can We Know about Jesus’ Birth? Bart Ehrman Blog. 2018. https://ehrmanblog.org/what-can-we-know-about-jesus-birth/
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| We don’t know what year he was born. If he was indeed born during the reign of Herod the Great, then it would have had to be before 4 BCE, since that is when Herod died (creating, of course, the intriguing irony that Jesus was born four years Before Christ!)
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| OR as related by both Matthew and Luke in the New Testament—then he must have been born no later than 4 BCE, the year of
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| Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (pp. 11-12). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
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| [17] When Did Jesus Die? Unveiling the Month & Year of His Crucifixion. Joshua Schachterle, Ph.D. 2024. Bart Ehrman.com [https://www.bartehrman.com/when-did-jesus-die/#:~:text=According%20to%20Bart%20Ehrman%2C%20the,30%20CE%20for%20Jesus'%20crucifixion. https://www.bartehrman.com/when-did-jesus-die/#:~:text=According%20to%20Bart%20Ehrman%2C%20the,30%20CE%20for%20Jesus'%20crucifixion.]
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| [18] Dale C. Allison Jr.. The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Kindle Location 829). Kindle Edition.
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