Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] My first trade book, apocalyptic prophet by Bart D. Ehrman, read by John Paul Middlesworth.
[00:00:09] I have started a thread discussing the books I've written for broader audiences. My first actual trade book was Jesus, apocalyptic prophet of the new millennium, Oxford University Press, 1999. That would be 25 years ago.
[00:00:25] Here is how I explain the book and its raison d'aute in the preface. In case you wonder, I still hold the same basic views of Jesus now that I did then, and still find the arguments I adduce convincing.
[00:00:38] Preface when anyone has asked me why I'm writing a book about the historical Jesus, I've usually replied, well, it's about time someone did. Actually, at last count, there were something like eight zillion books written about Jesus, and those are just the ones written by scholars. A good number of these, mainly the lesser known ones, are written by scholars for scholars to promote scholarship. Others are written by scholars to popularize scholarly views. The present book is one of the latter kind. I really don't have a lot to say to scholars who have already spent a good portion of their lives delving into the complex world of first century Palestine and the place that Jesus of Nazareth occupied within it. And frankly, having read tons of the books written by scholars for scholars, I don't think anyone else has much more to say either. This is a well beaten and much trod path. There does seem, though, to be room for another book for popular, that is, general reading audiences. It's not that there aren't enough books about Jesus out there. It's that there aren't enough of the right kind of book. Very, very few. In fact, I'd say about one and a half. For one thing, most popular treatments are inexcusably dull and or idiosyncratic. I've worked hard to make this one neither. You have to decide for yourself whether it's dull. But I would like to say a word about idiosyncrasy.
[00:02:04] It's true that some rather unusual views of Jesus sell well. Jesus was a marxist. Jesus was a feminist. Jesus was a gay magician. After all, if any of these views should be right, it might be worth knowing. What has struck me over the years, though, is that the view shared probably by the majority of scholars over the course of this century, at least in Germany and America, is equally shocking for most non specialist readers, and yet it is scarcely known to the general reading public.
[00:02:36] This is the view that is embraced in this book. In a nutshell, it's a view first advanced most persuasively by none other than the great 20th century humanitarian Albert Schweitzer. It claims that Jesus is best understood as a first century apocalypticist. This is a shorthand way of saying that Jesus fully expected that the history of the world as we know it, well, as he knew it, was going to come to a screeching halt, that God was soon going to intervene in the affairs of this world, overthrow the forces of evil in a cosmic act of judgment, destroy huge masses of humanity, and abolish all existing human, political, and religious institutions.
[00:03:18] All this would be a prelude to the arrival of a new order on earth, the kingdom of God.
[00:03:24] Moreover, Jesus expected that this cataclysmic end of history would come in his own generation, at least during the lifetime of his disciples. It's pretty shocking stuff, really, and the evidence that Jesus believed and taught it is pretty impressive. Odd that scholars haven't gone out of their way to share the evidence with everyone else. Maybe they've had reasons of their own.
[00:03:47] The evidence itself plays a major role in this book. Most other popular treatments of Jesus never discuss evidence. That's a particularly useful move to avoid mentioning the evidence. If you're going to present a case that's hard to defend. Maybe if you just tell someone what you think, they'll take your word for it.
[00:04:07] In my opinion, though, a reader has the right to know not only what scholars think about Jesus, or about any other person or event from the past, but also why they think what they think. That is, readers have the right to know what the evidence is.
[00:04:23] I think that the process of understanding history is analogous to taking a long trip by cardinal. If you know your driver well, you can simply say, take me to Pensacola and assume that when you get there, he'll let you know. If your driver is a complete stranger, though, you are probably better off getting a map and figuring out the route yourself, just in case. The scholars who write books about Jesus are probably strangers to you, and in many cases, they are stranger than you. If they are going to take you on a trip through history, you have the right to know which map they've decided to use and which route they've decided to follow. The reality is that a lot of drivers along this particular road take shortcuts that end up going nowhere, and others find themselves revving their engines for effect in dead ends. More commonly, they end up in California when you wanted to go to Florida, but they tell you it is Florida, and since you haven't been shown a map, you pretty much have to take their word for it.
[00:05:21] For this book, I want not only to state my views of the historical Jesus, but also to show why they are my views. As it turns out, the map itself is pretty interesting. Pity that it is so unfamiliar to the people who would be most interested in it. At any event, I plan to use this book not only to map out a consensus view of the historical Jesus, a strange new land for many first time travelers, but also to trace the route through the intriguing twists and turns of history, showing what the surviving evidence is and how it can be used. Anyone who doesn't like where the journey takes us will therefore be able to retrace his or her steps, figure out where I've gone astray, and take a different path that leads elsewhere. For all those who stay with me to the point of destination, both those who decide to stay there and those who choose to explore some other routes, I'd like to say I'm glad you're along for the ride, and I hope you enjoy the trip.
[00:06:20] Let me end these brief, prefatory remarks by acknowledging some of my debts. I asked several people to read this manuscript and found their comments enormously helpful. First was my incisive graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Diane Woodle, one of the few people on the face of the planet who actually seems busier than me. Then came three relatively young we keep hoping this, but seasoned this one is assured scholars in the field, friends with incisive minds, quick pens, and the good sense to agree with me on lots of interpretive issues Dale Allison of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a prolific and learned scholar Susan Garrett of Louisville Theological Seminary, one of the most sensible exegetes in the business and Dale Martin of Duke University, the smartest New Testament scholar I know. Last, and with apologies to the others, best for reasons unrelated to the manuscript, was my partner, Sarah Beckwith, a brilliant medievalist in the english department at Duke whose mind is something to behold. I am dedicating this book to Kelly and Derek, my kids, so different from one another, and, luckily for them, from me. Yet both so terrific and so much a part of who I am, they mean far more to me than they will ever know. I would give them the world, but since I'm a bit constrained in my resources, they'll have to settle for this book.
[00:07:45] Translations of the Greek New Testament and of the coptic writings of the Nag Hammadi library are my own. For the Hebrew Bible, I've used the NRSV.
