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I'm currently reading Zealot by Reza Aslan, which doesn't really debate whether or not there was a historical Jesus, but discusses the differences in fact vs th

I'm currently reading Zealot by Reza Aslan, which doesn't really debate whether or not there was a historical Jesus, but discusses the differences in fact vs the bible. I highly recommend it.

analog31 8y ago
I read it, and was disappointed. The book could only get so close to Jesus as to speculate what a person living during that time period might have been like, and what some of the prevailing social issues were.
- Synaesthesia 8y ago
  I thought it was a good book, as he says, he's not presenting anything new or controversial to biblical scholars, but I (as a layperson) learned a lot about Christianity, and now understand it better - how it went from being a weird Jewish sect to the imperial religion of Rome. Just finished The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey, which documents the destruction of statues, temples and artworks by Christians in the years 300-500AD in Europe. Also recommended!
  - FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago
    Unfortunately Nixey’s book is terrible. As a classisist she should know better than to regurgitate ideas from Gibbon, ignoring 200 years of scholarship. Instead she goes for sensationalism, “evil Christians destroying classical culture” and links to ISIS and such. Which isn’t needed because the period she describes is interesting enough on its own. The book is so terrible a collection of reviews from historians can be found here: https://gegrammena.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/reactions-reviews-to-catherine-nixeys-the-darkening-age-eeuwen-van-duisternis/ https://gegrammena.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/reactions-review... . I especially like this article (https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2017/10/21/hunting-the-wild-misquotation-again-the-perils-for-the-author-of-not-verifying-your-quotations/ https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2017/10/21/hunting-the-w...), focusing on how she misused a quote from Chrysostom by removing all context, which completely changed the meaning to fit her narrative. Not only that, she clearly didn’t read the original source but borrowed the interpretation from another author, who also misread it.
mgamache 8y ago
Is that the guy that misrepresents his credentials?
- jaypeg25 8y ago
  I know nothing about that but I guess it's entirely possible!
  - mgamache 8y ago
    https://youtu.be/E9RmAo6XVAA?t=178 https://youtu.be/E9RmAo6XVAA?t=178 [David Packman]

I'm currently reading Zealot by Reza Aslan, which doesn't really debate whether or not there was a historical Jesus, but discusses the differences in fact vs the bible. I highly recommend it.

analog31 8y ago

I read it, and was disappointed. The book could only get so close to Jesus as to speculate what a person living during that time period might have been like, and what some of the prevailing social issues were.

Synaesthesia 8y ago
I thought it was a good book, as he says, he's not presenting anything new or controversial to biblical scholars, but I (as a layperson) learned a lot about Christianity, and now understand it better - how it went from being a weird Jewish sect to the imperial religion of Rome. Just finished The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey, which documents the destruction of statues, temples and artworks by Christians in the years 300-500AD in Europe. Also recommended!
- FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago
  Unfortunately Nixey’s book is terrible. As a classisist she should know better than to regurgitate ideas from Gibbon, ignoring 200 years of scholarship. Instead she goes for sensationalism, “evil Christians destroying classical culture” and links to ISIS and such. Which isn’t needed because the period she describes is interesting enough on its own. The book is so terrible a collection of reviews from historians can be found here: https://gegrammena.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/reactions-reviews-to-catherine-nixeys-the-darkening-age-eeuwen-van-duisternis/ https://gegrammena.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/reactions-review... . I especially like this article (https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2017/10/21/hunting-the-wild-misquotation-again-the-perils-for-the-author-of-not-verifying-your-quotations/ https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2017/10/21/hunting-the-w...), focusing on how she misused a quote from Chrysostom by removing all context, which completely changed the meaning to fit her narrative. Not only that, she clearly didn’t read the original source but borrowed the interpretation from another author, who also misread it.

mgamache 8y ago

Is that the guy that misrepresents his credentials?

jaypeg25 8y ago
I know nothing about that but I guess it's entirely possible!
- mgamache 8y ago
  https://youtu.be/E9RmAo6XVAA?t=178 https://youtu.be/E9RmAo6XVAA?t=178 [David Packman]