Fernando Bermejo-Rubio
Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2024 2:41 am
Rather than continue with the thread - 'The end of the seditious Jesus hypothesis' - I thought a thread, dealing with Fernando Bermejo-Rubio seditious Jesus theory, would be better served in a separate thread. A seditious Jesus theory is not new - and doubters aside - it's a theory that has staying power.
10 years ago Bermejo-Rubio published an answer to doubters of his hypothesis.
“Has the Hypothesis of a Seditionist Jesus Been Dealt a Fatal Blow? A Systematic Answer to the Doubters”, Bandue 7 (2013) 19-57..
https://www.academia.edu/8156663/_Has_t ... 013_19_57_
He has now published a book: September 2023.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/They-Suffered- ... 162&sr=8-4
I have bought the Kindle copy of the book.
I am not a Jesus historicists. I view the gospel Jesus as a composite literary figure. That allows me to consider the seditious elements within the gospel story as indicative of a historical backstory to the gospel story.
Interestingly, Bermejo-Rubio, said the following in relation to the mythicist position:
I think that is a valid point - Carrier, for instance, has his Jesus from outer space - an imaginative idea without a historical relevance. If this is the best hypothesise mythicists can offer - it is their hypothesise, not Bermejo-Rubio's seditious Jesus hypothesis, that is reaching it's end time.
It has never been a choice between history and myth. It's never been a choice between a historical gospel Jesus (of whatever version scholars have proposed) and a mythicist Jesus from outer space or, as Bermejo-Rubio said above - a Jesus created 'ex nihilo'. The gospel story had legs to run - not imaginary legs - but historical legs. It is those 'legs', the historical core of the gospel story, that enabled and secured it's place in history.
As I go through Bermejo-Rubio's new book I'll post what I find of interest in this thread. Yes, to my mind, there are faults in his hypothesis - but his overreaching hypothesis is sound ie. the gospel story contains an element of sedition. It contains a seditious Jesus.
10 years ago Bermejo-Rubio published an answer to doubters of his hypothesis.
“Has the Hypothesis of a Seditionist Jesus Been Dealt a Fatal Blow? A Systematic Answer to the Doubters”, Bandue 7 (2013) 19-57..
https://www.academia.edu/8156663/_Has_t ... 013_19_57_
He has now published a book: September 2023.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/They-Suffered- ... 162&sr=8-4
I have bought the Kindle copy of the book.
I am not a Jesus historicists. I view the gospel Jesus as a composite literary figure. That allows me to consider the seditious elements within the gospel story as indicative of a historical backstory to the gospel story.
Interestingly, Bermejo-Rubio, said the following in relation to the mythicist position:
The fact that an underlying story can be glimpsed behind the Gospels means in turn that, in these writings, not everything is reducible to literary borrowing, and strongly suggests that, unlike what the mythicists would have us believe, the Gospels’ Jesus was not created ex nihilo. Unfortunately, since mythicists assume as a matter of fact the nonhistoricity of the character, they do not make the effort to obtain a historically credible reconstruction of him.
Bermejo-Rubio, Fernando. They Suffered under Pontius Pilate: Jewish Anti-Roman Resistance and the Crosses at Golgotha (p. 74). Lexington Books. Kindle Edition.
Bermejo-Rubio, Fernando. They Suffered under Pontius Pilate: Jewish Anti-Roman Resistance and the Crosses at Golgotha (p. 74). Lexington Books. Kindle Edition.
I think that is a valid point - Carrier, for instance, has his Jesus from outer space - an imaginative idea without a historical relevance. If this is the best hypothesise mythicists can offer - it is their hypothesise, not Bermejo-Rubio's seditious Jesus hypothesis, that is reaching it's end time.
It has never been a choice between history and myth. It's never been a choice between a historical gospel Jesus (of whatever version scholars have proposed) and a mythicist Jesus from outer space or, as Bermejo-Rubio said above - a Jesus created 'ex nihilo'. The gospel story had legs to run - not imaginary legs - but historical legs. It is those 'legs', the historical core of the gospel story, that enabled and secured it's place in history.
As I go through Bermejo-Rubio's new book I'll post what I find of interest in this thread. Yes, to my mind, there are faults in his hypothesis - but his overreaching hypothesis is sound ie. the gospel story contains an element of sedition. It contains a seditious Jesus.