All introductory textbooks to the New Testament have something to say about the miracles and resurrection of Jesus, sometimes implicitly but more often explicitly. Not surprisingly, conservative textbooks take a conservative approach, rejecting outright the “naturalism” that governs other human and natural sciences. Yet even liberal textbooks stop short of assuming a fully naturalistic paradigm. This paper analyses the assumptions that serve as the foundation of both conservative and liberal treatments of the miraculous, and joins others in calling for the academic study of Christian Origins to situate itself more fully within the academic study of religion. Tous les manuels d’introduction au Nouveau Testament ont quelque chose à dire sur les miracles et la résurrection de Jésus, parfois implicitement, mais le plus souvent de manière explicite. Comme on pouvait s'y attendre, les manuels conservateurs adoptent une approche conservatrice, en rejetant purement et simplement le « naturalisme » qui régit les autres sciences humaines et naturelles. Pourtant, même les manuels libéraux s'arrêtent avant d’assumer un paradigme entièrement naturaliste. Cet article analyse les hypothèses qui servent de base aux traitements conservateurs et libéraux du miraculeux, et s'unit à d’autres pour l’appel à une étude universitaire des origines chrétiennes afin de s'intégrer pleinement dans l’étude scientifique de la religion.
This article looks at the nature of ancient loyalty, stressing its external (relationship) as opposed to its internal (emotional) features, and confirms this through an analysis of loyalty within three types of Graeco-Roman patronage— client kingship, manumission, and relationships with philosophical teachers. It then looks at examples of loyalty in the First and Second Testaments, noting the extent to which the former are similar or different from the latter, and makes some observations concerning the vocabulary of biblical loyalty.
It is not uncommon to read studies that either state explicitly or work under the assumption that the synoptic problem has been solved. Using the parables of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven as a test-case, it becomes clear that the problem is far from a solution. Each of the three major source hypotheses has its strengths (and weaknesses) when it attempts to account for the data generated by these two peri copae. Although this paper concludes that the Two-Document Hypothesis (2DH) deals with the data with the fewest problems, the strengths of the other hypotheses coupled with the weaknesses of the 2DH should help keep the 2DH honest.
The use of memory theory in the study of the Historical Jesus and the traditions of Jesus contained in the gospels continues to surge in interesting ways. This book brings to our attention technical scientific studies in the psychological and neuro-cognitive analysis of memory, and makes an argument for the general reliability of the synoptic gospels based on these studies.
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