Mythicism

[shunyadragon]

Not all of his work is popular literature, but he would admit that much of his work is designed for a general, rather than specialist audience.

Didymus the Blind and the Text of the Gospels is certainly not popular literature. Jesus Before the Gospels is.

I am pleased you corrected your vague biased generalization. There is nothing wrong with also writing for the popular audience. His book The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture is not popular literature, and well researched. I have his books in my library as well as R. P. Sanders.

[psstein]

I am pleased you corrected your vague biased generalization. There is nothing wrong with also writing for the popular audience. His book The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture is not popular literature, and well researched. I have his books in my library as well as R. P. Sanders.

This is what I said:

Do yourself a favor and read Ehrman's popular literature with a critical eye. His work on memory was mediocre at best and misrepresented the sources he cited.

I have no idea how you made that into "a vague, biased generalization." I provided a specific example as well, alluding to Jesus Before the Gospels. Ehrman's work on textual criticism has been very good, though his work on forgery is somewhat idiosyncratic. Ehrman's popular work isn't anywhere nearly as good; he often portrays issues as though there's only one correct answer and everyone who disagrees is a fundamentalist.

[shunyadragon]

This is what I said:



I have no idea how you made that into "a vague, biased generalization." I provided a specific example as well, alluding to Jesus Before the Gospels. Ehrman's work on textual criticism has been very good, though his work on forgery is somewhat idiosyncratic. Ehrman's popular work isn't anywhere nearly as good; he often portrays issues as though there's only one correct answer and everyone who disagrees is a fundamentalist.

your "vague, biased generalization." is obvious in your first post without taking into consideration all his books, which to a degree you later improved and clarified with further explanation. I have live in the are for many years, since 1984, except for living in China, 1990 - 2006 and I had the opportunity to met them both and listen to their public lectures.

[Aractus]

Bart himself says he publishes books both for the "masses" and for academic audiences, I don't think that's in any doubt. I think though part of the problem is that lay people don't always understand how to process the information - like "Misquoting Jesus". I n a recent email to me Bart said he believes that Paul does say he had a vision of Jesus citing 1 Cor 15:8, 1 Cor 9:1, and Gal 1-2. 1 Cor 9:1 I think made his point, which also goes to show that there's not a huge scepticism surrounding how much of the text is "original" as many claim. In fact any good scholar would draw on the expertise of textual critics in making any such assessment.

[psstein]

your "vague, biased generalization." is obvious in your first post without taking into consideration all his books, which to a degree you later improved and clarified with further explanation. I have live in the are for many years, since 1984, except for living in China, 1990 - 2006 and I had the opportunity to met them both and listen to their public lectures.

It's rather obvious you can't read. I said to read his POPULAR literature with a critical eye. I said nothing about his academic literature, which is generally fair to his opponents.

[InspectorG]

You may be interested in the research done regarding the Dimethyltriptamine(DMT) content of the Acacia bush.

[Starlight]

You may be interested in the research done regarding the Dimethyltriptamine(DMT) content of the Acacia bush.

Yep, there are lots of plants with hallucinogenic properties. Obviously when people believed in a spirit world, and the truth of dreams etc, then things that were seen in hallucinations were understood to be true glimpses into the spirit world. And natural drugs were widely used as part of rituals to let the seekers or spirit-walkers travel into the spirit world. Also people who naturally suffered from hallucinations and the like were often understood to have been chosen by the gods as a prophet. e.g. The Sybils were women having fits, who were seen as prophets. Hallucinations, and subsequent interpretation were often a core part of prophetic literature. I think Malina and Pilch are absolutely right to see the book of Revelation as an example of this sort of practice.

[shunyadragon]

It's rather obvious you can't read. I said to read his POPULAR literature with a critical eye. I said nothing about his academic literature, which is generally fair to his opponents.

I was specific concerning your original post neglecting his academic literature. Actually, I consider all academic literature on this subject with a critical eye, because even Bart as with all scholars do have a biased slant to their work based on their underlying philosophical assumptions. I am more critical of the extremes like the mythicists on one end of the spectrum, and maximalists on the other end of the spectrum.