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Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible And Why / Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them) - Bart Ehrman

Publication1One of my favorite Teaching Company videos is Dr. Bart Ehrman’s on the New Testament, where he goes into what I now understand is the historical–critical analysis of the books of the New Testament. The lectures provide a fascinating insight into the books, along with background into when they were created, what they mean, and how they were changed throughout history.

These two books cover the same ground. The first focuses on what we know of the history of changes and alterations to the texts going back to our earliest copies, which are still removed by hundreds of years from the very first versions. The second focuses more on the differences between the texts, with Ehrman insisting that we consider what each author has to say standing alone, and recognizing that they might well be contradicting each other, and why that might be the case.

The claim that every word of the Bible is correct as it sits today is not one that I was brought up with, but Ehrman presents the case – which is well recognized in most Christian seminary and theological institutions today – that that claim simply is not sustainable, and that whether approaching the texts from an analytical or a devotional perspective, a reader benefits from understanding how the texts started and how they were changed – sometimes unintentionally and sometimes quite deliberately throughout history.

I thoroughly enjoy and think I benefit from understanding the different viewpoints of the different authors, and why they might disagree on certain points. It is also helpful to know that many of the beliefs that I hold were not in fact part of Jesus’ teachings during his lifetime, and instead reflect decisions in the early years of the church regarding doctrines that Jesus did not express opinions on. Or - and this is one of Ehrman’s points - we don’t know whether he did or not since we have no way of knowing everything that he taught, and in many cases whether what we are told he said is correct.

Now there are ways of sussing out what’s more likely true than not true that are very helpful - for example no new religion in its right mind would make up a boast that its leader who was executed as a common criminal. Or have a leader be baptized by an inferior, or grow up in a one-horse town like Nazareth. But this is what makes these things likely to have actually occurred. On the other hand, additions or changes to writings are less likely to be correct in general. So much of the books deal with these sorts of questions - what can we say about what Jesus actually said and did given the contradictions and changes.

But these are my favorite kinds of books. I learned a lot, and gained a better understanding of an area I want to know more about.

May 01, 2022 in Books, History - General, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Fisherman's Tomb: The True Story of the Vatican's Secret Search - John O'Neill

514DVEHlB+L._SY344_BO1 204 203 200_I had this book recommended to me during a recent St. Thomas More Society meeting as a good recent book about the Scavi excavations for Peter's tomb under St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  It was a good addition to what I already had, and told more of the story of how the excavation was funded and the internal politics surrounding both the excavations and how what came out of them was treated.  It's a very, very interesting subject.

November 01, 2020 in Books, History - General, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Knights of Columbus Fall-out in Old Regalia at St. Josephs

2019-06-22 17.57.34We celebrated the 110th anniversary of the Marshall Knights of Columbus chapter this evening with a mass celebrated by Bishop Strickland. 2019-06-22 16.17.03 It was bittersweet because tonight was also the last time our Assembly will fall out in the regalia we've worn for over 70 years, and I've had the privilege of wearing for the last 27.

A couple of years ago National decided to update the 4th degree's official "color guard" uniform from the traditional capes which have been worn with tux and chapeaux since 1940, and were worn for decades before that with white tie, tailcoat and top hats.  4th-Degree-Uniforms-1024x691The new look is navy blazers and neckties with dark gray slacks and a black beret.

It was a good time to get a final picture with Mom & Pop's window 2019-06-22 17.59.42 in the sacristy with my sword, which was Pop's back when he was wearing the tails and top hat in Waco in the 1910s and 1920s.  The baldric (diagonal sash which holds the sword) and sword may still be used with the new uniforms, but we don't know for sure if they will as a matter of course yet.

I actually wore Pop's tail coat as well, which was still in the attic in the early '70s in a school play as the Mad Hatter (the top hat was not original). 2019_06_22_21_35_110001

The tree behind me has a bit of family history as well - here's Mom and Pop helping Mother - wedding - 1957Mother past it on her way into the church for her wedding in 1957.

Anyway, as soon as we got home from the event, instead of putting my chapeaux back in its bag I put it up on the religion shelves in the study. (You can tell they're the religion shelves because there's a trompe l'oeil medallion of St. John Paul II over it).

2019-06-22 20.15.52I know the change is bothering a lot of Knights, but not me.  It's what we do and stand for that's important - not what we're wearing.

June 22, 2019 in Religion | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Bones of St. Peter - John Evangelist Walsh

51VU7xMAYUL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_I picked this book up in a souvenir store just off St. Peter's Square in Rome in July since when our last trip to Rome we had been on Scavi tour of the excavations under St. Peter's Basilica, including St. Peter's tomb.  The book was everything that I had hoped for – a thorough, heavily illustrated and diagrammed history of the excavations under the church. It explained the fall starts regarding what had been found, and what is known today – or more properly what was known 30 years ago when this book was released – about the bones that were found in the recess of the wall adjacent to the original grave.

I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the subject. 

September 16, 2014 in History - General, Religion | Permalink | Comments (0)

Popes and the Papacy: A History

6672 241 By a wide margin, this is my favorite course by The Learning Company so far.  In 24 lectures, Prof. Thomas F. X. Noble of the University of Notre Dame goes through the history of the papacy from its origins to the present.  He's by far the best presenter I have yet seen in these lectures, and I found myself repeatedly just enthralled by the stories he was telling about a particular period or individual.  (It may also have had something to do with watching a number of them in the study late at night fortified with a good glass of wine).
It's obvious that I learned a great deal, of course, but I also enjoyed it immensely.

September 27, 2008 in History - General, Religion | Permalink | Comments (2)