Social science inspired view of the bible
“Jesus Before the Gospels” may not be Bart Ehrman’s best book so far, but it is certainly his most original. In his earlier works, he explained contradictions between - and within - 27 books of the New Testament by careful analysis of the textual sources from antiquity. In “Jesus Before the Gospels” Ehrman steps outside the 200 year old academic discipline of source criticism in which he perfected, and interpret Christianity’s based on insights and research from psychology, ethnology, social anthropology and cultural history.
Ehrman explains why the gospels are far from modern biographies which should not be taken as face value: “the disciples of Jesus did not actually write the Gospels. The disciples were lower-class, illiterate peasants who spoke Aramaic, Jesus’s own language. The Gospels, on the other hand, were written by highly educated Greek-speaking Christians forty to sixty-five years later. The stories had been in circulation for decades, not simply among disciples who allegedly memorized Jesus’s words and deeds, but also among all sorts of people, most of whom had never laid eyes on an eyewitness or even on anyone else who had. And so, just as there is no evidence that Jesus’s followers memorized his teachings, the idea that everyone throughout Christendom telling stories about Jesus had memorized them is beyond belief”
But how can our modern knowledge on how stories change when they are retold for decades?
“We know in fact that they were changed, because we can compare different accounts of the same words or activities of Jesus and find discrepancies. Yet other accounts are historically implausible, and so appear to have been created in the years of transmission as people recounted what they had heard about the life of their Savior.” Ehrman cites many interesting interdisciplinary examples as well as classic studies from a broad range of fields in support for his view. Ehrman also tries to explain how social groups remember, as opposed to how individuals remember stories:
“From that point on, as more members of a group recount this distorted memory, the other members of the group—even if they either distinctly think that the memory is wrong or don’t remember it — feel considerable social pressure to agree with everyone else.”
The early Christians “… told stories that remembered Jesus’s past in light of the community’s present. These may have been “distorted” memories in the sense that—for the form critics—they involved words and deeds that did not actually go back to the historical Jesus. But they were valuable memories nonetheless, and no less real to the people who held and shared them than recollections that actually were rooted in the life of the historical Jesus”
When writing about a subject like New Testamant history, repetitions are unavoidable. If you have read Ehrman’s earlier works, you will recognize more than half of the repeated from earlier works. (This is the reason I give it 4 not 5 stars). There may be decades between each time new and important written source may be discovered. Finding support from social science for writing about history gives new perspectives. Other fields of history has gained significantly from methods from social history, ever since historians of the “annales-school” started this movement of memory history more than fifty years ago.
Of Ehrman’s books my favouries are “How Jesus became god” and ” The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings “. The newest book” How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee ” is great, but not as excellent as these.
Reviewed at Amazon
Social science inspired view of the bible
“Jesus Before the Gospels” may not be Bart Ehrman’s best book so far, but it is certainly his most original. In his earlier works, he explained contradictions between - and within - 27 books of the New Testament by careful analysis of the textual sources from antiquity. In “Jesus Before the Gospels” Ehrman steps outside the 200 year old academic discipline of source criticism in which he perfected, and interpret Christianity’s based on insights and research from psychology, ethnology, social anthropology and cultural history.
Ehrman explains why the gospels are far from modern biographies which should not be taken as face value: “the disciples of Jesus did not actually write the Gospels. The disciples were lower-class, illiterate peasants who spoke Aramaic, Jesus’s own language. The Gospels, on the other hand, were written by highly educated Greek-speaking Christians forty to sixty-five years later. The stories had been in circulation for decades, not simply among disciples who allegedly memorized Jesus’s words and deeds, but also among all sorts of people, most of whom had never laid eyes on an eyewitness or even on anyone else who had. And so, just as there is no evidence that Jesus’s followers memorized his teachings, the idea that everyone throughout Christendom telling stories about Jesus had memorized them is beyond belief”
But how can our modern knowledge on how stories change when they are retold for decades?
“We know in fact that they were changed, because we can compare different accounts of the same words or activities of Jesus and find discrepancies. Yet other accounts are historically implausible, and so appear to have been created in the years of transmission as people recounted what they had heard about the life of their Savior.” Ehrman cites many interesting interdisciplinary examples as well as classic studies from a broad range of fields in support for his view. Ehrman also tries to explain how social groups remember, as opposed to how individuals remember stories:
“From that point on, as more members of a group recount this distorted memory, the other members of the group—even if they either distinctly think that the memory is wrong or don’t remember it — feel considerable social pressure to agree with everyone else.”
The early Christians “… told stories that remembered Jesus’s past in light of the community’s present. These may have been “distorted” memories in the sense that—for the form critics—they involved words and deeds that did not actually go back to the historical Jesus. But they were valuable memories nonetheless, and no less real to the people who held and shared them than recollections that actually were rooted in the life of the historical Jesus”
When writing about a subject like New Testamant history, repetitions are unavoidable. If you have read Ehrman’s earlier works, you will recognize more than half of the repeated from earlier works. (This is the reason I give it 4 not 5 stars). There may be decades between each time new and important written source may be discovered. Finding support from social science for writing about history gives new perspectives. Other fields of history has gained significantly from methods from social history, ever since historians of the “annales-school” started this movement of memory history more than fifty years ago.
Of Ehrman’s books my favouries are “How Jesus became god” and ” The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings “. The newest book” How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee ” is great, but not as excellent as these.
Reviewed at Amazon