NT Pod 48: Why Study the Historical Jesus?

The latest episode of the NT Pod came out earlier this week and the topic this time is Why Study the Historical Jesus?. It is at the beginning of a series of podcasts on the Historical Jesus that I hope to run alongside my course on the Historical Jesus at Duke this semester.

If you are interested in other episodes of the podcast, please visit the NT Pod web page or subscribe in your preferred reader or subscribe via iTunes. Or, of course, you can follow the NT Pod on Twitter or on the NT Pod Facebook page.

Has Religion-Online gone for good?

One of the oldest and most useful sites in our area, Religion Online, appears to have vanished from the net. The site was a repository of hundreds of online articles and books, lots by the giants of the discipline.  It was a no-frills, what-you-see-is-what-you-get, basic text kind of set up.  I hope it has not gone for good.  Luckily, the files are retrievable from the internet archive, e.g. this is one of the most recent archives: Religion Online (Internet Archive).  The site appears not to have been updated since 2008, so it may be that its author has simply ceased maintaining it and that the domain name has gone.

King James Bible Programmes on Radio 4

It's been a real treat of the new year to have some excellent programmes on Radio 4 to celebrate the 400th year anniversary of the King James Bible. Let me strongly recommend in particular the three part series presented by James Naughtie:

The Story of the King James Bible

It's a lively, clear and entertaining series with three episodes of 45 minutes each. It features scholars like Alistair McGrath. It's available on the iPlayer for all, international users included, so there are no excuses for not catching up with this. Go to the main link above or to individual episodes here:

1. The Commission
2. The Translation
3. The Legacy

Then don't miss Sunday from 9 January when a whole episode was devoted to the King James Bible. It includes interviews with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Ed Kessler and Simon Gathercole. As always with Sunday, it is available as a podcast.

Also worth catching is a discussion on Beyond Belief on 3 January on Translation and this one you can get as a podcast. It is a discussion of translation more broadly but the catalyst is the King James Bible anniversary.

Lots to enjoy there, but the series is the top priority -- well worth a listen.

Don't you just love Radio 4?

Happy birthday, Albert Schweitzer

As regular readers may remember, I like to honour the birthday of Albert Schweitzer on January 14 1875.  As it happens, this often falls just when I am teaching the class on Schweitzer in my Historical Jesus course. I am going to be talking about the great man and his legacy next Wednesday, when I hope to use a few clips from the web, which I will also blog here.

Since I last taught the course, in Spring 2009, there has been a fantastic addition to the number of online videos on Schweitzer, a complete online version of the 1956 documentary Albert Schweitzer.  (The date is usually given as 1957, but the film itself bears the date 1956).  The film earned an Academy Award for "Best documentary" in 1957.  Here is Part 1 of 8 over on Youtube:



The other seven parts are easy to find on Youtube -- links will appear alongside the video above. Also available is the German version of the same documentary, this time in glorious colour:



That's the first of eleven parts and again, the rest are easy to find.  If you prefer, you can catch the whole thing in good quality at IMDb / Hulu :



Next, there is a short one minute celebration of Schweitzer's life on History.com.

Third, a remarkable French piece featuring a fairly lengthy interview with Schweitzer (in French) from dailymotion.com: Video Docteur Albert Schweitzer. It is apparently from 1961 and the quality is very good.

Docteur Albert Schweitzer
Uploaded by albertschweitzer

At about eight minutes in, you can watch the eighty-six year old Schweitzer playing the piano. One delightful thing about this footage is that there is a lot of humour -- Schweitzer comes across as a warm, friendly and funny person. Watch all the way to the end to see him waving at the camera as it departs in a boat.

If you would like to see film of the younger Schweitzer, you will have to make do with a reconstruction. This short clip from the Young Indiana Jones features Schweitzer at the piano, while Indiana Jones surveys his books, including Paul and his Interpreters:



Here is a second clip from the same episode, with Schweitzer on a boat with Indiana:



Here is a third clip, on a boat talking about "reverence for life":



Here is a clip of Schweitzer receiving his honorary degree at Cambridge in 1955 from British Pathe News. Click on the picture to view:

SCHWEITZER AT CAMBRIDGE

And finally, also from British Pathe News, some footage of Schweitzer at home in Alsace, including writing and organ playing, from 1959:

ALBERT SCHWEITZER AT HOME IN ALSACE

NT Pod 47: Did Jesus Exist?

The first episode of the NT Pod in 2011 came out last night and it is headed "Did Jesus exist?"  It is a short series of reflections on the so-called "mythicist" case with specific reference to two mythicists I have met, George Wells and Timothy Freke.  I first met Tim on Channel 4's Right to Reply, in 2001, when he had recorded a piece critical of the BBC's Son of God  (Jesus: The Complete Story in the USA).  His piece criticized the BBC for not tackling the mythicist case head-on, and the article also featured short critiques of the series from Tom Wright and Judith Lieu.  I was in the studio with Right to Reply presenter Roger Boulton, co-producer of Son of God Michael Wakelin and Timothy Freke.

I also reflect briefly on an earlier appearance on Right to Reply, back in 1984, when I was just 17.  I was responding to the series Jesus: The Evidence, which featured several scholars of interest -- Geza Vermes, Helmut Koester, Dennis Nineham, Morton Smith.  I was a precocious schoolboy and I recorded my little piece in the "video box" in Charlotte Street in London and was amazed when they decided to include it in the programme the next day.  The video clip is long since lost (thank goodness), but the series itself survives in several scratchy Youtube versions, which I have blogged about on several occasions (previous blog posts on this series here).  It looks peculiarly dated for something not that old, but it retains a real fascination for me.  As far as I know, it is the only series ever to provide mini-reconstructions of the life of Rudolf Bultmann.

Anyway, the first episode of Jesus: The Evidence featured George Wells (Youtube excerpt of the Wells segement here) and I discuss that in the latest podcast.  Twenty years later, I got to meet George Wells in London when he graciously came along to listen at a lecture series day in London which I shared with John Barton and John Muddiman.  I greatly enjoyed our chat.

Wading into an area like Jesus mythicism is, of course, a risky business, but I think it is worthwhile, not least because it is something that can keep Historical Jesus scholars honest.  I think it helps us to reflect too on the nature of ancient history.  This episode came about because I am about to begin teaching my course on the Historical Jesus this week, and it's a topic that will be in my thinking.

If you are interested in other episodes of the podcast, please visit the NT Pod web page or subscribe in your preferred reader or subscribe via iTunes. Or, of course, you can follow the NT Pod on Twitter or on the NT Pod Facebook page.

How do I get the Greek New Testament on my Android Device?

It's the kind of question that you might see on a techie blog, like Mark Hoffman's Bible Studies and Technological Tools and it is the kind of question that could hardly have been less interesting to me until this week.  But this week I finally entered the twenty-first century and got myself a smartphone.  As a committed Logos user, I did know that they did not yet have anything for Android devices, though something is planned but what was I to do in the mean time?

Mark Hoffman's post Bible Software for Android came just in the nick of time. The place to go is Olive Tree Bible Software.  I must admit that I hadn't visited Olive Tree for years.  But they are the place to go if you have an Android phone.  It's pretty straightforward.  I just went to market place on my phone, looked for Olive Tree, found their "KJV Bible Reader", downloaded it and then went, within Olive Tree, to "Browse Online Book Store".

Now here's the trick.  It's easy to think that the only option is to pay $35.99 for a Greek NT (NA27), and I couldn't find any other option in the "Bibles" section or in the "Greek and Hebrew" section.  But I knew that Olive Tree had the SBL Greek New Testament because Mark Hoffman had told me so.  And the place to look is in "Free Books".  It takes seconds to download, and is just the kind of thing you want on your phone, i.e. when you are on the go.  Back in the study, there are the books and there is Logos.  But Olive Tree's reader and the SBL Greek NT is just what I wanted when out and about.

Academic New Year Resolutions: On Being Less Nice

Back in January 2009, I published some Academic New Year Resolutions.  The one that generated the most comments was the following:

Be less nice: I need to be much less nice. I notice that other academics focus on their own careers, they ignore emails, or they default to "no" every time. They look after number 1. In recent years, I have spent far, far too much time trying to be kind, collegiate and helpful.

A couple of years on and I think I may have failed. My productivity is still not as high as it should be and I still find myself saying Yes to too many things.  So I am wondering whether it is time once again to make the all important academic's New Year's Resolution to be a bit less nice in 2011.

On the other hand, there are some really nice people who are also really productive.  Think of Michael Bird, for example.  You couldn't find a nicer chap if you tried.  Not could you find a more prolific writer.  And, come to think of it, Graham Stanton was a role model for how to be a kind, approachable academic and he wrote lots of good stuff too (see On Scholarly Conduct).  So it looks like there is no connection between meanness and productivity.

Perhaps the answer is just to become a proper workaholic. That might do the trick. So, resolution for 2011: work harder, sleep less, spend less time with other people, write more.

Happy New Year

Happy new year, everyone! A trip to England for Christmas took me away from the blog for a while, and the return to work (i.e. ploughing through the email mountain) has kept me away from it for a little longer.

I have been paying scant attention to the blogs, so the latest Biblical Studies Carnival by Joseph Kelly is a really useful way of catching up.  It's a superb achievement of clarity and comprehensiveness.

Meanwhile, all sorts of things are going on in relation to the Biblioblog Top 50 and I have not yet found the time to work out what is what.   All I can say is that if NT Wrong is involved, then I am in.

I sometimes wonder whether solo-blogging would have been the way to go.  Larry Hurtado is one who does a great job of it, and he reflects now on his first few months at it.

After all, who can keep up with hundreds and hundreds of blog posts every day?  And that's just in Jim West's blog.  But recently, it seems that James McGrath is looking to emulate Jim's rate of posting.  I hate to say it, but I find myself spending a little less long on each of his posts.  I suppose that it is a law of the blogosphere: the higher the number of posts in a given blog, the less attention each one gets.

I shouldn't worry, though.  I have recently, finally got hold of a smartphone and now I can check the blogs wherever I am.  If that takes me away from what I really want to be doing, like watching the cricket on my phone, or following reviews of the Doctor Who Christmas special, I can spend a bit of time with Bible Software for Android while I wait for Logos for Android, which is "coming soon".

BBC Nativity Round-up

One of the nice things about being in England for Christmas is catching programmes like The Nativity as they air. The fourth and final part aired at 7pm last night on BBC1 and I really loved it. I can't wait to watch it all again properly. It's all on the BBC iPlayer, of course, though international users will need to use a little jiggery-pokery to make it show up for them.

It is good to see the programme getting some coverage in the blogs. As one would expect, Matt Page, over at the Bible Films Blog, is right on top of things, with his own Full Review and then a Review Round-up with further useful commentary, noting that it has been something of a hit, both critically and in terms of viewing figures -- it pulled in more even than The Passion back in Easter 2008. In particular, it's worth noting Doug Chaplin's four part, episode by episode review. I was hoping to do something similar myself, but travel made it impossible, so I am delighted to see Doug doing a better job than I would have done. My full review will follow in due course.

Also worth a visit is Helen Bond's blog post about her involvement as historical consultant on the series.

There have only been a couple of complaints, one from Jonathan Romain concerning the depiction of a rabbi in the series (BBC Nativity drama was not "anti-Jewish") and another where the Daily Express embarrass themselves over a couple of lines of dialogue.

Also worth noting is a nice piece on the BBC blog by Tatiana Maslany, who was brilliant as Mary,Tony Jordan's Nativity: I play Mary. The piece comes with the following clip:

Latest NT Pod, Was Jesus Born in a Stable?

I always used to post the latest episodes of the NT Pod here also on the NT Blog but I have got out of the habit since NT Pod 38.  So if you used to be in the habit of picking up the news of new episodes here, then I should add that there have been eight episodes since then, 39 to 46.  I won't tire everyone by listing them all, but will point you instead to the NT Pod web page or remind you that you can subscribe in your preferred reader or subscribe via iTunes. Or, of course, you can follow the NT Pod on Twitter or on the NT Pod Facebook page.

The latest episode, 46, asks Was Jesus Born in a Stable? It pays special attention to the translation of Luke 2.7, inspired by a recent article by Stephen Carlson, and it mentions also the Protevangelium of James 18-19 and Matthew 2.11.

Ehud Netzer Obituary

Today's Independent has an obituary of Ehud Netzer who died in October (see Paleojudaica, Jim West, Bible Places and elsewhere for more):

Ehud Netzer: Israeli archaeologist best known for excavating King Herod's winter palace

The Nativity BBC Miniseries: Trailer

There is now a trailer for the new BBC miniseries The Nativity, which airs next week (previous posts here):



It looks like an enjoyably traditional kind of presentation, with some beautiful photography. I am really looking forward to it.

The series is beginning to get some media coverage too. Jim Davila points to a feature in The Independent, The Jesus Story with a hint of Eastenders and there is a small website run by the Church Media Network with pictures and press information.

Most Embarrassing Book Meme: "The Q Document"

I was tagged by Deane Galbraith in the "Most Embarrassing Book Meme" (see also Jim West, Mark Stevens, James McGrath and others) and after a perusal of my shelves during a spare five minutes during my office hours today, here is mine.  As I mentioned recently, I am a fan of a full range of Qs and my embarrassing book is another of these:

The book is The Q Document by James Hall Roberts, a sensationalist novel published in 1964, akin to James H. Hunter's The Mystery of Mar Saba published in 1940. James Hall Roberts is actually a pseudonym for Robert L. Duncan (1927-1999) and in case you can't catch the wording on the back cover, it reads:

"Why did Red China want the Q document?

Why did the Vatican send someone to buy it?

Why did the Nazis believe it even though its discoverer was a Jew?

Why did a Catholic priest now contemplate murder because of it?

What did the Q document  reveal?"

The Nativity BBC Miniseries: airtimes announced

The air-dates for the new BBC Nativity, written by Tony Jordan, have now been announced over on the Red Planet Pictures website:

This Christmas on BBC One - Monday 20th to Thursday 23rd December 2010 at 7pm

Here is the rest of the blurb over on their website:

Tatiana Maslany and Andrew Buchan star as Mary and Joseph in Tony Jordan's adaptation of The Nativity for BBC One this Christmas.

Over four half-hour episodes the drama tells the traditional tale known to millions from a very human perspective.

With Mary and Joseph's enduring love story at the centre this familiar story is given a contemporary twist, as the drama follows Joseph and Mary from their initial courtship – Joseph desperate to win the heart of Mary – to his emotional turmoil at her unexpected pregnancy.

Tony Jordan said: "The challenge for me was to retell a story that has been told countless times before, a story that everyone knows intimately, yet to do so in a way that will still surprise and move you, to see parts of the story you'd never seen before.

"I really think that we've achieved that and I'm incredibly proud to have been asked by the BBC to be involved in such a wonderful project."

This gripping and vibrant adaptation shows the Nativity from a fresh viewpoint, highlighting how seemingly ordinary people reacted to the extraordinary and miraculous events that befell them.

Rich in colour and humour, the remarkable events that led up to Jesus's birth will unfold across the four nights, from the epic journey of the wise men to the poignant tale of Thomas – a poor shepherd – whose waning faith in God is revived as he kneels beside the crib of the newborn king.

Jordan's Nativity is a spectacular Christmas treat for the whole family.

Andrew Buchan as Joseph, Tatiana Maslany as Mary and Peter Capaldi as Balthasar are joined by an impressive cast including: Jack Shepherd as Melchior; Obi Abili as Gaspar; Art Malik as Nicolaus; Vincent Regan as Herod; John Lynch as Gabriel; Claudie Blakley as Anna; Frances Barbour as Elizabeth; Neil Dudgeon as Joachim; Al Weaver as Thomas the Shepherd; Ruth Negga as Leah and Gawn Grainger as Levi.

'The Nativity' is a Red Planet Pictures, K Films and Temple Street production for BBC One and CBC. It is distributed by BBC Worldwide.

It's nice to see that Mary's parents are Joachim and Anna, the names they have in the Protevangelium of James.  I am also pleased to see that the distribution is by BBC Worldwide.  For The Passion, the BBC partnered with HBO.  It is now nearly three years later and the miniseries has still not made it to the HBO channel or to DVD in the US.  Hopefully The Nativity will make it much more quickly to other territories as a result.

Teaching the Bible e-pub latest

The latest Teaching the Bible e-pub is now available from the SBL.

The Natwivity

No, that's not a typo; it's The Natwivity:

Welcome to the Natwivity. From 1st December you can follow Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, Wisemen and Others on Facebook and Twitter as the Christmas story unfolds . . . .

The Natwivity takes advantage of social media's unparalleled capacity to engage people as they go about their everyday life to re-tell the Christmas story in a fresh, personal way. People will be able to pick up the 'tweets' in their homes, in the high street using their phones and at work.

The Natwivity will give this famous story an immediate, real-life feel, transforming them from people 2,000 years ago to friends of the follower, who are going through the drama now. Followers will be able to read Mary's angst as she tries to come to terms with the birth of her child, and hear from the stunned shepherds after their encounter with a host of angels.

It's a harmonized Nativity story, featuring several tweets / status updates each day from different characters in the drama. It appears not to be in "real time" given that at the moment the story is focusing on the aftermath of the annunciation and Mary's visit to Elizabeth. There are no Biblical references supplied, so it might be a fun task to get your students to hunt down which parts are from Matthew, which are from Luke and which are from the tweeter's imagination.

There is a little mild humour too, e.g. the shepherds are currently washing their socks by night. Does this mean that in due course three kings of holly and tar will be appearing, one in a scooter, one in a car?

HT: Richard Goode.

John Bowden

I was sorry to read today on the T & T Clark Blog and Jim West's blog of the death of John Bowden.  I used to meet John from time to time in Birmingham when he was a tireless worker for SCM Press and his authors.  The chances are that even if you had not realized, you have read a Bowden translation -- Martin Hengel, Gerd Lüdemann, Hans Küng, Gerd Theissen, -- all these were his authors.  Sometimes his translation and publication work was so speedy that he would get the SCM edition of a book out more quickly than the Germans managed!  It's a great loss.

My Favourite Qs

I am always surprised when people expect me to want to denigrate Q. As it happens, I am a big fan of Q -- I even "like" it on Facebook.   So it is good to see Jim Linville bringing up the question of the existence of Q as a possibility for a Science Fiction section at the Society of Biblical Literature in San Francisco next year.  And James McGrath invokes my name in the expectation that I may not be convinced.

Actually, I am a complete sucker for the comparison between fictional Qs and had a go at it back in my 2001 introductory textbook, The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze, Chapter 5:

“Q”, the letter used for the hypothetical source that allegedly lies behind much of Matthew and Luke, sounds mysterious and intriguing. On our way through the maze, here is something that has a sense of the thrilling. To many, the term “Q” quickly conjures up images from James Bond or Star Trek. Perhaps, the reader will think, this “Q” will be like the James Bond character “Q”, played by Desmond Llewellyn, ever able to provide some suitable new gadget appropriate to the occasion, equipping us ready to help us out of some implausible yet dangerous situation. Or perhaps it will be like the “Q” of Star Trek: The Next Generation, an ever powerful, strangely illusive, oddly irritating presence always lurking on the sidelines to divert us from conducting our affairs in the way we would like.

Without doubt, the study of Q does carry a thrill for many scholars and students of the New Testament. Some think that this lost source provides us with a window onto the earliest years of the Christian movement, and the work of uncovering Q is now often likened to the work of excavating material in an archaeological dig. Not surprisingly, the “discovery” in modern times of this lost document has led to something of an industry in New Testament scholarship, attempting to reconstruct its wording, its theology, its history, its origin. But before any of this is possible, there is a prior question, a question sometimes ignored, that requires careful attention: what is the evidence for this hypothetical document? How do we know that Q existed? Is the hypothesis based on solid ground or might the Q of Gospel scholarship turn out to be as fictional as the Qs of James Bond and Star Trek?

A little predictable, perhaps.  But no one else was making the comparison at the time, and it was irresistible.

Possibly the best Biblical Studies Carnival Ever?

Here at the NT Blog, we are up late at night every night, twiddling our thumbs, hanging around and waiting for something worth reading to appear online. Usually, it is slim pickings but tonight is one of those rare occasions when our hope is more than satisfied.  Deane Galbraith has one of the best, perhaps the best Biblical Studies Carnival ever over on the Religion Bulletin:

Biblical Studies Carnival נז (November 2010)

It will take you several hours to read it properly, especially if you follow all the links, as of course you are obliged to do. Galbraith fans gather around -- it's quantity as well as quality.

Deinde Blog Move

Danny Zacharias has been in touch with news of a feed change for the Deinde Blog.  Point your readers at the new feedburner feed.