hes not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy
May 12, 2020 12:40 PM   Subscribe

 
Bart Ehrman has several interesting books on the historical Jesus and how his mythos was shaped by the early church, including How Jesus Became God (radio interview).
posted by jb at 12:44 PM on May 12, 2020 [2 favorites]


You know, I've been recommending Ehrman's books for years, but I've never heard him speak before! Thanks for posting this!
posted by mittens at 12:51 PM on May 12, 2020


The famous 1979 debate between the Pythons and a couple of noted Christians is quite entertaining, and touches on some of these ideas.
posted by alexei at 2:35 PM on May 12, 2020 [2 favorites]


I came to post that 1979 debate but alexei beat me too it. Very interesting. And stay tuned til the end to see one of the weirdest segues from interview to musical guest in history!
posted by downtohisturtles at 3:09 PM on May 12, 2020


I can't count how many times I've referenced the Judean People's Front / People's Front of Judea argument when talking about perennial Jewish infighting.
posted by Mchelly at 4:40 PM on May 12, 2020 [4 favorites]


self-link time! I have a published paper on comedy that eventually argues that no Christian could ever be convinced that Christianity is false on the basis of enjoying Life of Brian (or even a close neighbour of the film that didn't distinguish Brian from Jesus) (that bit starts p.64 if you're interested).

Meawhile I'm enjoying working through the links. Great post!
posted by leibniz at 5:40 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


“To parody them is not necessarily to mock them.” A great point which is not often considered.

And the People’s Front of Judea/Judean People’s front conflict is applicable to all sorts of infighting!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:33 PM on May 12, 2020 [3 favorites]


Campaign for Free Galilee!
posted by Chrysostom at 9:43 PM on May 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


Nice, leibniz! "Thus if a humorous work reveals the absurdity of something, we can either find it funny and not have our attitudes significantly influenced, or else be significantly influenced but not find it funny."

Would a modern comparison be the musical BOOK OF MORMON, which is totally rude about the Mormon faith but actually very positive and affectionate - at least to my eyes?
posted by alasdair at 4:50 AM on May 13, 2020


I'm going to watch this video. Ehrman is a quite well-respected scholar, from what I've heard.
posted by Sterros at 6:15 PM on May 13, 2020


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