tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post243762268402124577..comments2024-03-21T14:59:20.729-04:00Comments on NT Blog: The Bride of God or the Lost Gospel of Joseph and Asyath, Richard BauckhamMark Goodacrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115370166754797529noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-80319961524191345672013-10-25T06:21:29.798-04:002013-10-25T06:21:29.798-04:00"I do not read Syriac" — shame!
The Lat..."I do not read Syriac" — shame!<br /><br />The Latin is accurate enough for this sort of thing, but it just doesn't look good.Gareth Hugheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04698616008345958993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-33339806707559530162013-10-22T09:26:38.984-04:002013-10-22T09:26:38.984-04:00I don't understand how people can think a coup...I don't understand how people can think a couple of well written, non-defamatory blog posts on a topic totally relevant to the theme of the blog is considered some sort of un-scholarly attack on Simcha.<br /><br />If you're super-sensitive to Prof. Goodacre's mild, good-natured, and informative blog on the NT (a field he carries expertise in) your mind will probably melt reading some of the other blogs out there in the blogosphere (like Simcha Jacobovici for instance).Richie Daggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01679528654977873369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-91759557692966790252013-10-21T19:56:03.791-04:002013-10-21T19:56:03.791-04:00Maybe it’s just me but I don’t find it particularl...Maybe it’s just me but I don’t find it particularly “scholarly” to attack a book before it’s been published – maybe before it’s been written! What’s the point? Isn’t it odd for Richard Bauckham – going on a tip – trying to imagine what their argument is and then attacking it? In the meantime, Simcha goes off to Cannes, seems to have a lovely time, has a lovely wife and takes home a gold award (Jerusalem Post:http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Arts/Naked-Archeologist-Simcha-Jacobovici-wins-docu-TV-award-at-Cannes-329265 and Times Of Israel: http://www.timesofisrael.com/jacobovici-wins-gold-at-cannes-tv-awards/). I used to believe the attacks on him but now I’m beginning to wonder....Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17914084831073386178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-75052249445564546062013-10-18T10:19:26.346-04:002013-10-18T10:19:26.346-04:00Re-reading these texts reminded me that it was hig...Re-reading these texts reminded me that it was high time I updated my Aseneth Home page. It's remarkable just how many texts and translations are now available on the web for free in toto via archive.org and google books, including Greek, Syriac and Latin texts, and three English translations! <br /><br />Here's the link to the Aseneth home page:<br /><br />http://markgoodacre.org/aseneth/<br /><br />And here is the link to the hyperlinked bibliography featuring those newly available texts and translations:<br /><br />http://markgoodacre.org/aseneth/biblio.htm<br /><br />(With respect to the latter, I realize that lower down the page there are tons of dead links which will need correcting. I'll get on to that next).Mark Goodacrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05115370166754797529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-91518114026837692172013-10-18T04:07:41.448-04:002013-10-18T04:07:41.448-04:00As a footnote to my post: I see it has been sugges...As a footnote to my post: I see it has been suggested that the broken sentence at the end of Moses of Ingila's letter is referring to an allegorical interpretation of the story as a Gnostic union of the soul (represented by Aseneth) with the divine Logos/Word of God (represented by Joseph). This is certainly incorrect. At the point where the sentence is broken Moses is using standard patristic language about the nature of the incarnation, which entailed the divine Logos assuming a human nature, including a human rational soul. That the Logos in incarnation was joined not just to a human body but to a human soul was a point that orthodox statement of the incarnation always made after Apollinarius (who had denied that there was a human soul in Christ). I think that Moses' account of the allegorical meaning of the story can be only just beginning at the point where the text breaks off. He is not yet talking about the union of the incarnate Lggos (= Joseph in the story) with Asenath (= the church the bride of Christ).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10236291721790244010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-26036024849691580532013-10-17T17:25:04.121-04:002013-10-17T17:25:04.121-04:00I agree that it is not the place of scholarship to...I agree that it is not the place of scholarship to worry about undermining the beliefs of others.<br /><br />But I do think it is the place of scholarship to worry about others misusing and hijacking scholarship to do so. I think we have seen this a couple of times in publications already this summer.<br /><br />I also worry about the way commercialism and the desire to make a fast buck are undermining scholarship. Sensationalist claims about artefacts are seriously undermining biblical archaeology, since any 'find' is highly likely to find its way onto the black market.Ian Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08440727613424469331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-38788002203045288982013-10-17T11:53:39.577-04:002013-10-17T11:53:39.577-04:00Thanks, Tony, for your thoughts. I would doubt th...Thanks, Tony, for your thoughts. I would doubt that Simcha or Barrie would be concerned about a bit of extra pre-publicity for this project. After all, at some point soon, they will reveal more about it. For me, it's a question of scholarly curiosity. When a new "lost gospel" is announced, of course people like us are going to prick up their ears. The same thing was true with the Gospel of Judas -- there was a lot of speculation in the blogs before the Nat Geo documentary came out, some of it right, some of it off base, as it turned out.<br /><br />I love your analogy to Fostergate, and that did make me smile, but of course the difference there is that the article was published in a peer-reviewed journal and not a blog. There is something about the informality and correctability of the blog post that makes it an appropriate forum for the discussion of new theories like this. Blog posts are ephemeral in a way that formal publications are not. <br /><br />And that, of course, means that the key thing will be to read Jacobovici's and Wilson's book when it comes out, and to assess its claims with a fair mind. After all, we too might be surprised! Mark Goodacrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05115370166754797529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-9468278643302627222013-10-17T11:17:02.481-04:002013-10-17T11:17:02.481-04:00Let's face it: everyone with an ounce of schol...Let's face it: everyone with an ounce of scholarship in the field knows already, ahead of time, that Jacobovichi and Wilson's book will be sensationalised rubbish, put out before Easter to make headlines. <br /><br />So it doesn't matter what anyone says about it. We can already be pretty sure that the actual book when it comes out WILL BE EVEN WORSE than we predicted.Keen Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18171491573514489497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-18084997199344478292013-10-17T11:03:23.870-04:002013-10-17T11:03:23.870-04:00Ian, as Mark (rightly) said in the comments to his...Ian, as Mark (rightly) said in the comments to his previous post: "To be fair to them, Jens, it's not press release so much as book blurbs & Barrie Wilson's website that I am drawing attention to here. So at this point, they are being guarded about their discovery / theory. My guess is that in fullness of time, they will reveal more. I happened to stumble upon it because of my interest in and googling of 'lost gospels.'" So, there has been no "pre-release publicity." Furthermore, as scholars it is not our role to worry about undermining beliefs; if we did, we'd get nowhere. (Tony Burke)Tony Burkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07110154933246199562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-8874978716727549322013-10-17T10:31:09.578-04:002013-10-17T10:31:09.578-04:00I agree. How unfair it is to apply some careful, r...I agree. How unfair it is to apply some careful, rigorous thinking to this. I am sure that Jacobovici and Wilson have a quite disinterested academic concern for the truth, and that the different stages of pre-release publicity in no way suggest any interest in sensationalism, or a concern to undermine well-intentioned beliefs of millions.Ian Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08440727613424469331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-71754367276869885562013-10-17T10:16:48.086-04:002013-10-17T10:16:48.086-04:00I'm not sure if Simcha and Barrie should be an...I'm not sure if Simcha and Barrie should be annoyed by all this attention to a book that has yet to be released or flattered. Seems unfair though to present arguments against what you THINK a book MIGHT be about. How do other scholars feel about this? Would you want the steam taken out of a project you worked on for five years? To some extent the success of what Simcha does (as a documentary film maker, not a scholar) relies on surprise--i.e., people will tune in wondering what the program has to say. To blow that surprise, and really only out of spite because his critics don't like what he does, sabotages his work. I don't agree with Simcha on many things but I don't think this means he should be attacked in this way. And I'm not saying YOU are attacking him Mark, but your blog posts attract the attention of those who, at this point, are just out to get him. And now you have provided a forum for Bauckham to, in my mind, interfere with his work. Think too of this analogy: you post on a blog some preliminary thoughts on a text but before you get a chance to formally present those thoughts in a polished paper, someone publishes a refutation of the post in a scholarly journal. Seems a bit unfair, no? (from Tony Burke, York University)Tony Burkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07110154933246199562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5759844.post-74327529724536739412013-10-17T09:59:40.955-04:002013-10-17T09:59:40.955-04:00For anyone interested in having a look for themsel...For anyone interested in having a look for themselves, the Syriac translation of Joseph and Aseneth, with the attached correspondence, is in the public domain and can be accessed here: <br /><br />https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6259597/Zacharias%20Rhetor.pdfmaklelanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07789614421755640703noreply@blogger.com