Historiography
Book review: Anthony Le Donne’s Historical Jesus.
Anthony Le Donne. Historical Jesus: What Can We Know and How Can We Know It? Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2011. Kindle Edition. Anthony Le Donne’s Historical Jesus is one of the finest short works I’ve read on historical Jesus studies, human memory, and historiography. Le Donne positions himself as a “postmodern historian” whose task is not [...]
Interview with Craig Keener.
Brian Auten of Apologetics 315 has interviewed Craig Keener about his scholarly work, especially his recent work in historiography and the miraculous. Listen here.
Historiography and the miraculous.
In the second debate between Craig A. Evans and Bart D. Ehrman (see “Ehrman-Evans 2012 debates”) Evans was asked about the miraculous as relates to doing history. The question was framed in such as way as to discover whether or not Evans is consistent when he reads claims about miracles in ancient literature. In other [...]
Rethinking history with Keith Jenkins (Pt. 3).
If you’ve haven’t had an opportunity to read Part 1 and Part 2 of my interaction with Keith Jenkins’ Re-thinking History I recommend reading those post first. In the third and final chapter of this book titled “Doing history in the post-modern world” Jenkins presents his logic for still doing historical work, even though he has [...]
Rethinking history with Keith Jenkins (Pt. 2).
In my previous engagement with Keith Jenkins’ Rethinking History (see part 1) I examine his assault on the idea that history = the past, that history is singular, and that history can be objectively understood. Today I ponder his arguments in Chapter Two: “On some questions and some answers”. These are the seven questions he [...]
Rethinking history with Keith Jenkins (Pt. 1).
Recently I finished Keith Jenkins’ book Re-Thinking History (Routledge, 1991). Jenkins is a professor of history at the University of Chichester who is known for his advocating of a postmodern historiography. What characterizes a “postmodern” historiography? Well, oddly enough this statement by the philosopher Voltaire works quite well: ”There is no history, only fictions of varying [...]
Anthony Le Donne on “the game of telephone”.
You may have heard some scholars compare the oral traditions of the early church to the “the game of telephone” wherein you gather a circle of children, tell the first one something, then watch as it morphs until it is barely recognizable when it has gone all the way around. This analogy is used to [...]
More of Anthony Le Donne’s historical Jesus.
Several days ago I posted some excerpts from Anthony Le Donne’s Historical Jesus: What Can We Know and How Can We Know It? (see here) Here are some more statements that caught my eye: “The first perceptions of Jesus were shaped by the external spurs and constraints unique to his historical context.” (p. 23). Kindle Edition. [...]
“Apologist” as a dismissive label.
There are some people who are self-designated apologists that I struggle to take seriously. I am skeptical of what they write because I sense that it is tainted with a misguided agenda. I imagine that if I sat down for coffee with one of these folks he would raise his voice until it got uncomfortable, [...]
Anthony Le Donne’s historical Jesus.
I am grateful to Nick Norelli who was adamant that I read Anthony Le Donne‘s Historical Jesus: What Can We Know and How Can We Know It? These are some excerpts from the early part of the book that have caught my attention: “…it must be said that there is no need to draw a line [...]
Book Review: History: A Very Short Introduction by John H. Arnold
Arnold, John H. History: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. One thing that was made obvious to me while reading Michael Licona’s The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach is that I have not thought through what principles guide me as I study history and that I am not alone in that [...]
Sources do not speak: the impossibility and possibility of history.
Another great thought from John H. Arnold (History : A Very Short Introduction, 78-79): “The sources do not speak, and they do not tell all. This is, as a French historian recently put it, at once the impossibility is the possibility of history: that history, which aims at the whole truth, cannot ever reach it (can [...]
History as “true story”.
Let me know what you think of this statement by John H. Arnold in History: A Very Short Introduction, p. 13: “…I have used the term ‘true stories’ to talk about history. There is a necessary tension here: history is ‘true’ in that it must agree with the evidence, the facts that it calls upon; [...]
Book Review: The Resurrection of Jesus by Michael R. Licona
Licona, Michael R. (2010) The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. (Buy from IVPress.com here) Note: I was going to attempt to blog through this book in multiple parts, but it became apparent that this was distracting and disinteresting to readers. Therefore, I have decided to provide one large overview. If you want to [...]
Rembrandt and the Jewish Jesus
I just came across an interesting article written by Lloyd Dewitt on the Huffington Post (07.25.2011) about the art of Rembrandt van Rijn. It is titled “Rembrandt and the Jewish Jesus”. The gist of the article is that Rembrandt showed great innovation in painting a Jesus that he thought was more like the Jewish Jesus [...]
Tim Henderson asks, “Can historical Jesus work be done by those affirming inerrancy?”
Tim Henderson who blogs at Earliest Christianity asks, “Can historical Jesus work be done by those who affirm inerrancy?” I can think of a few people who I think affirm inerrancy and do well in the arena of historical Jesus studies: Nicholas Perrin, Michael Licona, Craig Blomberg, and Darrell L. Bock come to mind (Ben Witherington?). [...]
Licona on the Resurrection (Pt. 5)
Licona, Michael R. (2010) The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. (Buy from IVPress.com here) Read Pt. 1 here. Read Pt. 2 here. Read Pt. 3 here. Read Pt. 4 here. Now that we have just celebrated Easter (i.e. “Resurrection Sunday) it is time to continue the journey through Michael Licona’s The Resurrection of Jesus: A New [...]
Licona on the Resurrection (Pt. 4)
Licona, Michael R. (2010) The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. (Buy from IVPress.com here) Read Pt. 1 here. Read Pt. 2 here. Read Pt. 3 here. In previous entries about this book the subjects have been the goals of the author for this book, his definition and approach to historiography, and historical epistemology [...]
Licona on the Resurrection of Jesus (Pt. 4)
Pt. 1 here Pt. 2 here Pt. 3 here __________ Licona, Michael R. (2010) The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. (Buy from IVPress.com here) At this juncture Licona introduces his methodology to approaching the subject of the resurrection of Jesus. He covers three subjects: (1) methods for weighing historical hypothess; [...]
Licona on the Resurrection of Jesus (Pt. 3)
Licona, Michael R. (2010) The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. (Buy from IVPress.com here) In the first part of this review we outlined the goals of the author for this book (Pt. 1 here). In the second part we surveyed definition of history and his approach to historiography (Pt. [...]
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