tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4753305954289256652.post5938987709359309429..comments2023-06-03T10:46:52.222-07:00Comments on The Mythicism Files: Hermann DeteringQuixiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03126711689901268060noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4753305954289256652.post-34859136293659182182020-07-13T15:02:50.120-07:002020-07-13T15:02:50.120-07:00https://mythicismfiles.blogspot.com/2015/01/contin...https://mythicismfiles.blogspot.com/2015/01/continuity-acts-puzzle.htmlQuixiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03126711689901268060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4753305954289256652.post-26889678429990317532020-07-13T14:54:24.308-07:002020-07-13T14:54:24.308-07:00Sorry for the delayed response, but I had not noti...Sorry for the delayed response, but I had not noticed this comment when it arrived. After Hurricane Maria (I was in Puerto Rico at the time), I had to stop all activity on this blog, and I've been thinking of resuming work on it lately.<br /><br />Thank you for commenting. I more or less agree with you on this. <br /><br />Side note: What gave you the impression that I think Acts is history? I certainly (and clearly, I think) don't think that. Quixiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03126711689901268060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4753305954289256652.post-38970508327715816132019-10-31T06:52:56.593-07:002019-10-31T06:52:56.593-07:00Well, I wasn't so charitable in my review of D...Well, I wasn't so charitable in my review of Detering:<br /><br />I made it about 75 pages in and had to stop. There is so much wrong with this book that I don't even know where to begin.<br /><br />Well, first of all, the author comes across as a whining Liberal - his authorial tone is truly grating.<br /><br />Second, his ignorance of a wide range of literature is abyssal and that comes up over and over again right at the start.<br /><br />Yes, there are serious issues with understanding what was going on before, during, and after the time that Paul wrote his epistles, and that is what one must attempt to grasp before even applying any tests to the texts themselves.<br /><br />Yes, there are numerous interpolations in the texts, but you can't figure out what they must be if you don't have a sound grasp of the context, the background, the atmosphere of the time and places.<br /><br />The best way to get that crucial information, IMHO, is to begin with S. G. F. Brandon's "The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church: A Study of the Effects of the Jewish Overthrow of AD 70 on Christianity". Then follow up with Brandon's "Jesus and the Zealots."<br /><br />Carrier's "On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt" has a decent discussion on editing, interpolating, and destruction of texts for religion-political agendas, though he doesn't seem to really grasp the seriousness of those people. Another good discussion on that topic is in Walker's "Interpolations in the Pauline Letters". But again, he does not take the evidence as what it really is; they all want to excuse the "pious frauds" as being well-meaning.<br /><br />Finally, as to the very early existence of the Pauline letters, see "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul" by David Oliver Smith. He's done a bang-up job, but then, he's a lawyer and not a snowflaky New Testament Scholar.<br /><br />I could list a couple dozen more books, each of which gives an angle of view that assists in building a proper picture of the times, the places, the peoples, the ideas, and what likely happened, but the above are already enough to pretty much condemn this book to the dustbin.<br /><br />And, by the way, a close and careful reading of Josephus and Tacitus just MIGHT reveal intimations of the knowledge of Paul even though the church thought it had sanitized the two pretty well.<br /><br />I'm sorry, like I said, there's just so much wrong, so many ignorant assumptions, so much whining, going on in this book that I just can't finish it. It's all black and white thinking and reminds me of arguing with a 6 year old; no nuances, no comprehensive scholarship; no wide learning at all.<br /><br />Oh, by the way: Acts is NOT history, it's historical fiction based on the letters of Paul, Josephus, and more. And I doubt that Paul meant that he was fighting beast in an arena; more likely he had to deal with wild animals while traveling.Laura Knight Jadczykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17426976468591487213noreply@blogger.com