The New Testament As Text
Before we begin, let's remember that our purpose in this course is to read influential texts, try to make them meaningful in a modern/current historical and literary context, and to explore the cultural, historical and literary and artistic processes that shaped them -- and how they went on in turn to shape these processes.
That's what we'll do with this text, just as we have and will do with all the other texts.
To do this we need to separate some related but different
questions:
1) Is there a god? If there is, what is its/his/her essence, and how should we
go about understanding that essence? This is an ontological and an
epistemological question and although it's an interesting question, we
aren't interested in it in this class.
2) Is Christ the son of God? Again, this is a very interesting question and one that has, does and will continue to impact the lives of billions of people, believers and non-believers alike, but, again, we aren't interested in it in this class.
3) What is the relationship of these stories to other stories we have and will read this semester? Ok, I'll admit, this question is, of the three, the least interesting to most people, but it's the one we are interested in in this class.
If you are interested in the other two questions, there are literally millions of different institutions through which to address them.
What is it?
a) The Gospels are the story
of the life, death and resurrection of Joshua of Nazareth. These are
roughly 160 pages of text.
b) The Acts And Epistles are mainly the story of establishing the Christian religion and theology (philosophy of religion), principally via epistles (letters). The earliest dated elements of the NT are, in fact, Paul (or Saul) of Tarsus', Epistles -- or "letters" to the first or "Pauline" churches. These are roughly 200 pages of text.
c) Revelation is a book dictated by an angel to a man named John, who lived in what is now Turkey, roughly one hundred years after the birth of Christ.
Original Language: Greek (although Matthew was likely written first in Aramaic, the common tongue of the area).
Central
Themes
This is a difficult question and one heavily debated -- or fought over -- by
various Christian sects and philosophers. Depending on one's religious
background, perhaps four or five central themes include:
a) The centrality of Judaic ethics and, within this context, justice.
Christ more or less extends the Judaic/Mosaic centrality of "law" (Gods word as
law) into a broader, more general, and in many ways more abstract ethics: to be
holy is to treat your fellow man with the same care as one would treat oneself,
and the overall culture should abide by a certain equality of legal code:
justice. As some have said, this form of justice is intended to comfort
the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
b) This second is closely related to the previous: this sense of justice and ethics transcends ritual and our superficial, surface relations with other people and the law; it must come from a deep sense of virtue, a revolution not simply of behavior but of the entire self, truly changing how one sees others and one's self.
c) The third is also closely related to the first two: this justice is predicated on love:
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (Peter 4:8).
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” (Corinthians 13:4).
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (Corinthians 13:13).
“The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:31).
d) Jesus is God and, depending on the faith tradition, this belief -- or one's behavior based upon this belief (see the previous two points) is a means toward salvation.
e) Relevant to this class, a possible fourth theme is deciding who is to blame for the death of Christ. There are three possible answers, and they are treated differently by the various authors: i) Roman occupation, ii) Jews, iii) Satan. Each of these perspectives carries radical implications, especially for Medieval and then Modern Era Jews.
"Messiah"
"Jesus" is the Latinized translation of the Greek translation (Iēsous) of the Hebrew Yeshua or "Joshua".
"Christos" is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for "messiach" or "messiah". There are some important things to understand about this often misunderstood word.
First, "messiah" was a common term for Jewish kings, who were traditionally ceremonially “anointed” (oiled) by the priests as a sign of their blessing. King David was a messiah, as was his son, Solomon etc.
Muslims, who believe Jesus was a prophet -- like Abraham, or David, or Mohamed -- also refer to Jesus as a "Messiah", although they do not believe Jesus is God.
This term was also applied by the Jews to other important people. For example, in the Hebrew scriptures/Old Testament, King Cyrus of Persia, a gentile (non-Jew), is given the title "messiah" for liberating the Jews from Babylon.
It is also true that by the time of Jesus’ birth many Jews believed that a messiah would unite the tribes against their oppressors (in this case the Romans, but also the Greeks before them, and the Babylonians before the Greeks etc.) and some sects of Judaism believed this messiah would return the people to a kind of Eden, in Israel, on earth (as opposed to in an afterlife).
Who Authored
It?
The Christian scriptures are
a collection of many
authors. There are no claims in the Bible itself that Jesus authored any of the
texts; like Socrates, he taught verbally, and we assume that his sermons were recalled and passed around orally before
being written down by others.
Most scholars now believe that there may have been up to twenty Gospels, and over time these were narrowed down to four: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. These names were not ascribed to the texts, however, until 180 AD, and none of the texts claims to have been written by people with these names.
Scholars speculate that Matthew and Luke derive from The Gospel of Mark and another, now lost source, commonly referred to as “Q” (for quelle, German for “source"). These three books are referred to as the synoptics, as they share a common vision or source, while John differs so much as to be considered having descended from another source.
How Many Books?
In its entirety, most mainstream Christian denominations count
27 individual books that
make up the New Testament. Actual numbers vary according to the
various traditions. Early Christian writings that didn't make it into the
canon are referred to as the
apocrypha.
In the past 100 or so years archeologists and scholars have also discovered
forgotten gospels, now referred to as the
Gnostic Gospels.
This should remind us that, like the Hebrew Scriptures, ancient Christians
argued over which books would or would not make it into "the Bible".
Key Dates
c. 6-4 BCE Birth of Joshua, Jesus of Nazareth (the miscalculation concerning his birth date was made in the 6th century). Scholars speculate that Jesus was likely an Essene Jew, or at least seems heavily influenced by this sect of Judaism, as well as that of the Pharisees. The Essenes were notable for their emphasis on mysticism, ritual cleansing ("baptism"), life after death and the Apocalypse, and faith healing; Pharisaic Jews emphasized a more scholarly approach to the Torah (of all the different sects of Judaism by the time of Christ's life, only Pharisaism still exists, Orthodox Judaism).
30 AD: Jesus
ordered crucified by Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea.
57-58: Paul writes letters to
Corinthians, Galatians, Romans
61-63: Paul writes letters to Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians (in Rome, under
guard)
c. 63-70: Gospel of Mark (perhaps by several authors)
c. 70-80: Gospels of Matthew and Luke and the Acts of the Apostles written
c. 90-100: Gospel of John; Final text of Revelation
c. 200: First canonical compilations largely completed
c. 200-300: Canonization: the process of compiling the “final draft” of what most Christians accept as the complete New Testament took many centuries, and this remains a topic of hot debate. However, for the most part, the book we now refer to as the New Testament was compiled by the early 200s.
c. 383: First Latin (“Vulgate”) version
Some Problems With Interpreting the Text
Paul vs Jesus: From the beginning, Jesus' followers debated Christ's teaching,
and these debates can be followed in the letters of Paul, which make up nearly
half of the New Testament. A good summary of their differences can be
found here.
And debates between Paul and other early Christians concerning the Mosaic laws
-- such as circumcision and keeping kosher -- are summarized
here, as a part of the PBS Documentary
In the Footsteps of Paul.
Jesus' Divinity: Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus claim to be God, or even a god. He does refer to himself as a "child of God" or (in other translations) "son of God," but many scholars point out that this was a common Jewish name for all Jews; that, in fact, is what Judaism is: a people who believe themselves the children of the their god. Where Jesus is directly confronted by other rabbis over his divinity, he is deliberately evasive (Matthew 26 etc.).
Nowhere does Paul refer to Jesus as God, and of the four Gospels, only John claims that Jesus is divine. Recall that the book of John is believed to be the last of the gospels, written the most distant from the life of Christ himself.
Mary Magdalene: There are no references at all in Bible to her as a prostitute, and yet she is often represented this way in contemporary literature etc. This should remind us of how stories change as they are retold verbally, even when the "correct" version exists in writing.
The Woman taken in adultery: (John 7:53-8:12): (source of the quote "Let he among you without sin cast the first stone...) This story is only in this one section of the Bible but not in the oldest and most widely considered “original” versions of the Greek NT. The story is believed to have been added by a monk as an interpretation.
Jesus' Birth: Luke says that Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth just a month after they came to Bethlehem, while Matthew says that they fled to Egypt (Matt. 2:19-2:22)
Jesus' Death: Mark says Jesus was crucified the day after the Passover meal (Mark 14:12; 15:25), while John says he died the day before it was eaten (John 19:14).
This link compares John with the synoptics.
Martin Luther, founder of Protestantism, did not believe that the book of Revelation (end times, apocalypse) should be canonical, yet Revelations has become a central book among many, especially Evangelical, American Protestants.
Side-note: One of
the most important New Testament messages, the so called "Golden Rule". Is
actually first attributed to Rabbi Hillel the Elder (110-10 BCE), in his
response to a Roman Pagan who told the rabbi he would convert to Judaism
if the rabbi could recite entire Torah while standing on one leg. The
rabbi stood on one leg and said “Do unto others as you would have others
do unto you.”
Historical
Context
Christ lived -- and the
Gospels and Acts were written during or after -- widespread hostility to
outright insurrection against Roman occupiers. Many (most?) Jews hoped for a
messiah/messiach – or “anointed one” – to unify the Jewish tribes and drive
the occupiers from Israel, as the earlier prophets and kings, like Moses and David
etc, had
before.
The Roman model of occupation followed the successful Greek model (and was later adopted by most all occupying forces): install a native, puppet government friendly to the Romans and dependent on the Roman army to do the occupiers’ bidding. “Herod The Great”, friend of Augustus, was crowned by the Romans and ruled from 37-4 BCE. His son, Herod Antipas, rules from 4 BCE to 39 AD. Jesus is one of many – hundreds if not thousands – perceived threats ordered killed by the Roman-Jewish establishment.
c. 60 AD: War for Jewish independence breaks out
70 AD: Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; Jewish Diaspora: banned from Israel, Jews sent throughout the Roman empire, including those who practiced the “Reformed Judaism” that would soon become known as Christianity.
This leads to the Diaspora: the spread of Jewish Christians throughout Roman Empire, and thus throughout the Middle East and Romanized Europe.
War Literature
Some scholars have pointed out that the Gospels were written both during (or
immediately after) the lost war against Rome and certainly during the Diaspora:
the destruction of the Jewish nation and the scattering of the Jewish people
across foreign lands. The "end times" had, quite literally,
apparently come for the
Jewish people. During his lifetime, Jesus' followers -- and the
perhaps the Romans who
executed him -- believed that he would lead the Jews to victory against the
Romans; the New Testament was written as it became clear
this would not happen.
This also helps explain the tension between Jews and Christians: the first Christians were Jews and even worshipped in Jewish temples -- in some places, until as late as the 4th century -- yet over time the two religions split and Romanized Christians found themselves living among the Romans, not other Jews. Also, even beginning with Paul, the future of Christianity was seen as a religion that would flourish among Gentiles, not Jews: this would explain the growing emphasis on blaming Jews, not Romans, for killing Jesus; it was and still is difficult to convert Romans to a God that you simultaneously blame them for killing; it was much easier of course to tell the Romans that the Jews, who the Romans already had defeated and enslaved, were responsible for Jesus' death.