Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When the Gospels were written (or rather compiled from several pre-existing sources), journalism did not exist, and historiography was new to the cultural scene. In place of objective reportage, ancient peoples were accustomed to reading books that were written in the guise of objectivity, but were nothing more than the religious imaginations of the author or, even worse, their religious delusions.
Quote:
For one, in the introduction Scot McKnight mentions the fact that he has his students take a personality test in his Jesus course. First, they fill it out and describe what they think Jesus' personality is. Then, they fill it out and describe themselves. Lo, and behold, the tests show that people think Jesus is just like them...This is what people have always done with Jesus, and with all of their religious icons. They created them in their own image, and then, once they were finished, they worshiped the image they created and expected others to do the same.
Quote:
If there was a Church of of the Holy Huckleberry Finn, you and I would be the first ones to tell the worshipers that it was just a story, and to show them the evidence, so that they could get on with their lives. Otherwise, good people, and I would consider myself a good person, might fall prey to the fiction, and might end up devoting their lives to worshiping and serving Huck, which would be a serious problem. It's one thing to have a favorite book. It's another to have a Bible.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
