John Dominic Crossan, Will the Real Jesus Please Rise? Part 4 on Religion For Life, June 7-11

From May 17th through June 18th on Religion For Life I am broadcasting a four-part series on the historical Jesus. It is called “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?” For four weeks, I interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan.

My final guest in this series is Dr. John Dominic Crossan. He is the current president of the Society of Biblical Literature. He along with Robert Funk founded the Jesus Seminar and he has written over 20 books on early Christian origins. He believes that Jesus did exist. He was not an apocalyptic prophet, however. He believes the parables are the key to understanding Jesus and his message about the kingdom of God, that comes gradually as we participate in it. Dr. Crossan speaks about his new book, The Power of Parable: How Fiction By Jesus Became Fiction About Jesus. Here is my review. This interview will be broadcast beginning June 7th. After broadcast, podcasts will be available here.

Listen via livestream…

Thursday, June 7th at 8 pm on WETS, 89.5.
Sunday, June 10th, at noon on WEHC, 90.7.
Sunday, June 10th, at 2 pm on WETS, 89.5.
Monday, June 11th at 1 pm on WEHC, 90.7.

Robert M. Price, "Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?" Part 3, May 31 - June 4

From May 17th through June 18th on Religion For Life I am broadcasting a four-part series on the historical Jesus. It is called “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?” For four weeks, I interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan.

Dr. Robert M. Price is my third guest. He is a fellow of the Jesus Seminar, a scholarly think tank that during the 1980s and 1990s evaluated all the traditions regarding Jesus to extricate his words and deeds from later fictional elements attributed to him. Even though the Seminar determined that less than 20% of the material attributed to Jesus went back to an historical person, Dr. Price thinks that was too conservative. Dr. Price is the author of The Christ Myth Theory and Its Problems. Here is my review. He makes the case that when you try to separate the mythical elements from Jesus, you are left with myth and no remainder. He thinks that everything about Jesus has antecedents in the Hebrew scriptures or from pagan literature. His interview will be broadcast beginning May 31st. After broadcast, podcasts will be available here.

Listen via livestream…

Thursday, May 31st at 8 pm on WETS, 89.5.
Sunday, June 3rd, at noon on WEHC, 90.7.
Sunday, June 3rd, at 2 pm on WETS, 89.5.
Monday, June 4th at 1 pm on WEHC, 90.7.
Via podcast beginning June 5th.

Your Own Personal [Historical] Jesus

It is entertaining watching the fur fly regarding Jesus.   The mythicists and the historicists are going at it accusing each other of tainted scholarship and dullardry all over the interwebs.   How timely it is that my series "Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?" is now airing.  

Special thanks to Progressive Christianity for promoting this series and to Bishop Spong for interviewing with me and promoting the interview.   That was a nice shot in the arm for Religion For Life.   You can catch my interview with Bishop Spong via podcast. 

Thanks to Gavin at Otagosh for this great plug! 

Bart Ehrman started all the hubbub with his new book, Did Jesus Exist?   Because of that book I thought I would check out the opposition and read Robert Price's The Christ Myth Theory.   Both of those scholars are coming up on the show.  John Dominic Crossan finishes the series discussing his book, The Power of Parable:  How Fiction by Jesus became Fiction About Jesus.    All were gracious and the interviews are engaging.

I wonder how much of the disagreement is over something rather small?   The gospels as I understand these four scholars, are mostly fiction, aren't they?  If there was a guy, you won't find out much about him by reading the gospels.   It is the gospels' authors who steal the show.  

I like the grit and guts of Frodo Baggins, but the real genius is Tolkien, right? 

Here is a secret.  None of the scholars will admit it, but it is my own personal Jesus, my ishta-deva, who is the man.  

Thanks also to Gavin for this diagram via Triangulations.     
   

Along with Gavin, I am the red egg with the little yellow yoke in the top right. 

This one is a bit more detailed with some nice images of the son of god:

I am behind door number two, "fictionalized myth based on some real person."   A "Skeptical Non-Christian" Christian.  

How about you?

Enjoy the show!

Bishop John Shelby Spong, Will the Real Jesus Please Rise? Part 1, May 17-21

This week on Religion For Life I begin my four-part series on the historical Jesus, “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?” For four weeks, I will interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan.

The series begins with Bishop John Shelby Spong. The retired Episcopal Bishop who has written over twenty books on religion, with such titles as Why Christianity Must Change Or Die, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, and Jesus for the Non-Religious talks about his new book, Reclaiming the Bible for the Non-Religious World. Bishop Spong explains the concept of midrash in understanding how the stories about Jesus came to be written.



Listen via livestream…

Thursday, May 17th at 8 pm on WETS, 89.5.
Sunday, May 20th, at noon on WEHC, 90.7.
Sunday, May 20th, at 2 pm on WETS, 89.5.
Monday, May 21st at 1 pm on WEHC, 90.7.
Via podcast beginning May 22nd.

Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?

Beginning May 17th I will be broadcasting a four-part series on the historical Jesus on Religion For Life. It is called “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?”  For four weeks, I will interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan.

The series begins with Bishop John Shelby Spong.  The retired Episcopal Bishop who has written over twenty books on religion, with such titles as Why Christianity Must Change Or Die, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, and Jesus for the Non-Religious talks about his new book, Reclaiming the Bible for the Non-Religious World.  Bishop Spong explains the concept of midrash in understanding how the stories about Jesus came to be written.  His interview will be broadcast May 17th.

Dr. Bart Ehrman teaches religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written over 25 books on early Christianity. His latest is called Did Jesus Exist? The Case for the Historical Jesus.  Here is my review.  He is responding to the “mythicist” movement that says Jesus is a fictional character from beginning to end. Erhman says that Jesus did exist, even though he is not the Jesus we learned in Sunday School.  He thinks Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who predicted God’s dramatic intervention that never came.  His interview will be broadcast beginning May 24th. 

Dr. Robert M. Price is my third guest. He is a fellow of the Jesus Seminar, a scholarly think tank that during the 1980s and 1990s evaluated all the traditions regarding Jesus to extricate his words and deeds from later fictional elements attributed to him. Even though the Seminar determined that less than 20% of the material attributed to Jesus went back to an historical person, Dr. Price thinks that was too conservative. Dr. Price is the author of The Christ Myth Theory and Its Problems.   Here is my review.  He makes the case that when you try to separate the mythical elements from Jesus, you are left with myth and no remainder. He thinks that everything about Jesus has antecedents in the Hebrew scriptures or from pagan literature. His interview will be broadcast beginning May 31st.

My final guest in this series is Dr. John Dominic Crossan. He is the current president of the Society of Biblical Literature. He along with Robert Funk founded the Jesus Seminar and he has written over 20 books on early Christian origins. He believes that Jesus did exist. He was not an apocalyptic prophet, however. He believes the parables are the key to understanding Jesus and his message about the kingdom of God, that comes gradually as we participate in it. Dr. Crossan speaks about his new book, The Power of Parable: How Fiction By Jesus Became Fiction About Jesus.   Here is my review.  This interview will be broadcast beginning June 7th.


Religion For Life can be heard Thursdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm on WETS 89.5 FM and WETS HD-1, Johnson City, TN and Sundays at noon and Mondays at 1 pm on WEHC, 90.7, Emory, VA.

You can find information about upcoming programs and links to podcasts at www.religionforlife.me and you can follow Religion For Life on Facebook and Twitter.

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