It is with delight that I announce that Wipf and Stock have agreed to publish a new book I’m working on. It will concentrate on ethnicity theory and will be a combination of work old and new. The proposed title is: Walking In Their Sandals: A Guide to First-Century Israelite Ethnic Identity. It should be ready some time towards the end of the year.
I am really going to miss being at the CGM this year. Stimulating papers, discussion and feedback, and socialising, oh, wish I could be there. I hope that the plans for the CGM to come to South Africa in 2010 will happen, then most can get a taste of SA culture (and of course, food!). Wishing all fellow contexters a great time.
BTW, I have received “The Social World of the New Testament. Insights and Methods” (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), edited by Jerry Neyrey and Eric Stewart for review in Neotestamentica. At least this will help a bit.
I should also mention that I picked up the book from the wife of Prof Gert Steyn (Department New Testament, University of Pretoria) at the hospital where Prof Steyn was undergoing heart surgery. Unfortunately I could not see him, but I wish him a speedy recovery.
I have recently finished reading the book, “The Life of a Galilean Shaman: Jesus of Nazareth in Anthropological-Historical Perspective”, written by Pieter Craffert. Unfortunately I could not attend a discussion on it today in Pretoria (due to the responsibilities towards wife and our newborn baby) but had attended one last month at the NTSSA annual meeting where it was briefly discussed.
Overall I find Craffert’s approach quite convincing, well, at least most of it, barring that he falls short of explaining Jesus’ arrest, trial and execution, and other aspects as well (eg why he was believed to be Israel’s Messiah), which also was not the purpose of the book. The description below of the book is from memory and aims to give a brief overview of Craffert’s most salient arguments.
Craffert argues that historical Jesus scholars are trapped in the positivistic historiographical framework which basically points to the following: the real Jesus cannot be like the Jesus portrayed in the gospels. The real Jesus lies somewhere beneath the text and must be approached by identifying “authentic” material. Historical reconstructions are then based on these “authentic” materials. Craffert argues, however, that scholars must move away from their ontological monism, and accept that there are a plurality of worldviews, the first century Galilean context of Jesus notwithstanding. In this regard the historical Jesus lies within (not somewhere beneath) the text (something he also emphasised to me in a personal conversation). The gospels must be seen as cultural artifcats produced by a particular culture about a specific type of social personage. Using a cross-cultural approach this social personage can be understood, or better approached when appreciating the cultural context, quite different to that of the western world.
As a social personage, Craffert argues that the best model that fits Jesus is the shamanic complex. Shamans (and related spiritual experts) regularly enter ASC’s (altered states of consciousness) which translates into healing and new wisdom/knowledge for their communities. Craffert sees Jesus baptism and the transformation on the mountain as ASC’s, for example. Also like shamans, Jesus was “possessed” by a spirit, but in this case it was claimed to be the Holy Spirit. He also sees that Jesus’ regular visits to the divine world explains the language of Jesus as “Son of God” and the “Son of Man”.
Also Jesus’ healing must be seen within its context. Craffert, and here much controversy will ensue, argues that Jesus healing was aimed at culturally conditioned illnesses . Jesus’ reputation as a healer spread and performed “biopsychosocial” healing , where illness and cure was determined as much by people’s beliefs and the social/cultural environment as belief in the healer (similar to the placebo effect). If believing in something can make you ill, believing in a doctor or a pill, much like a healer will also affect healing. I just wonder whether biopsychosocial healing can explain all the healing accounts in the gospels.
Craffert also argues that the birth narratives would have taken shape already in Jesus’ lifetime, due to his reputation, and were not later legendary material added to the tradition. The resurrection appearances can also be explained in terms of ASC’s of his followers. They continued in what was already ocurring before Jesus’ death – this argument I do not find convincing in all cases.
What Craffert’s book does is to open a world very different to that of the westerner and to appreciate the otherness of Jesus, his person and his social and cultural world. The challenge for historical Jesus scholars is to follow in the footsteps of Craffert and thoroughly take their investigations into this alien world and to reconstruct Jesus as part of that world, and not their own. The other challenge remaining would be to translate that Jesus for contemporary relevance, so that Jesus is not merely a Galilean Shaman that lived in the first century, but a Lord who is understandable and also lives in our world today.
On a more personal note, my wife Joy and I today celebrate our first wedding anniversary. Thanks to my lovely wife for a wondeful year!
Here is a photo from our wedding day:
As he had promised at the Context Group Meeting in Portand (March, 2008), Douglas Oakman sent me a copy of his latest book, “Jesus and the Peasants” (Cascade Books, 2008). It is published in the same series my book was published: Matrix: The Bible in Mediterrannean Context).
Containing both previously published and new articles, the outline of the book is as follows:
Part 1: Political Economy and the Peasant Values of Jesus
1. Jesus and Agrarian Palestine: The Factor of Debt
2. Jesus and the Problem of Debt in Ancient Palestine
3. The Buying Power of Two Denarii (Luke 10:35)
4. How Large Is a “Great Crowd”? (Mark 6:34)
5. The Ancient Economy
6. The Ancient Economy and St. Johns Apocalypse
7. Money in the Moral Universe of the New Testament
8. The Economics of Palestine
Part 2: The Jesus Traditions within Peasant Realities
9. Social Meaning and Rural Context: The Mustard Seed Parable of Jesus
10. Rulers’ Houses, Thieves, and Usurpers: The Beelzebul Pericope
11. “All the Surrounding Country”: The Countryside in Luke-Acts
12. Was Jesus a Peasant? (Luke 10:30-35)
13. Cursing Fig Trees and Robbers’ Dens (Mark 11:12-25)
14. The Lord’s Prayer in Social Perspective
Part 3: The Peasant Aims of Jesus
15. Models and Archaeology in the Social Interpretation of Jesus
16. Jesus the Tax-Resister
17. Jesus, Q, and Ancient Literacy in Social Perspective
Also present are a number of models and figures. I have not read it as yet, but I look forward to doing so! Thanks Doug!
I came across the following “brain teaser” recently:
The statement below is true
———————————————-
The statement above is false
Try it out. It ad infinitum makes the one and the other statement variously “true” or “false”.
Perhaps a usefull model for post-modern interpretation of the Bible? – or perhaps a reminder of the oftimes arbitrary statements of scholars regarding events or Jesus sayings being “true” (authentic) or “false” (inauthentic)?
For those who are interested, some of my published articles are available on-line. See the “Publications” page where I added links to the relevant articles.
Hi all, and welcome to my blog! This is all kind of new to me so do not hold back on any advice.
These are the first cautionary steps whereby I want to share my love for the study of the Bible with others. In due course, the site will contain other content – but little steps at a time.
Again, welcome, and feel free to drop a comment or two.
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