Who has this book and what's in it?

[ericbwonder]

R. Joseph Hoffmann & Gerald A. Larue (eds.) 1986, Jesus in History and Myth.

What's the table of contents and is the book any good?

[GakuseiDon]

According to this website: http://www.prometheusbooks.com/index.ph ... h5rcvgeip7

• Was there a person by the name of Jesus who lived in Palestine in the first century A.D.? Do the gospels and the letters of the New Testament really attest to the actual existence of a Messiah, or were these documents written by clever propagandists for the faith rather than by objective historians? These and other intriguing questions are explored in Jesus in History and Myth, which emerged from a powerful symposium held in 1985 under the auspices of the Biblical Criticism Research Project of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER).
  
  The Project team, incorporating the work of biblical scholars, historians, archaeologists, and experts in the cognate fields of religious studies, is designed to make available to a wider public the results of the very best biblical criticism and religious studies scholarship. At this critical time, when the study of religion as an academic discipline is threatened by the twin dangers of parochialism and trendiness, the need for a serious and dispassionate review of religious truth-claims, scriptural traditions, and supernatural value systems is greater than ever before.
  
  Jesus in History and Myth combines the works of a distinguished list of researchers:
  
  John M. Allegro, Robert S. Alley, John Dart, Antony Flew, David Noel Freedman, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Robert M. Grant, Rowan A. Greer, Van A. Harvey, Randel Helms, John Hick, R. Joseph Hoffmann, Gerald A. Larue, George E. Mendenhall, Ellis Rivkin, Morton Smith, and G.A. Wells.
  
  Their views are daring, thought-provoking, and always on the cutting edge of critical investigation of the Bible and religion.

One reviewer at this website states: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2794 ... y-and-myth

• This anthology of presentations from a conference in the mid 1980s is a fascinating mix of eye-opening new approaches to the historical study of Jesus and of frankly crazy scenario-spinning abouth his never having existed. A really useful overview of the existing viewpoints about this religious figure's historicity.

It would be interesting to see the perspectives of the writers in 1986 on this topic. It includes Allegro and Wells. Also... Antony Flew? I wonder what he is doing in there.

[ericbwonder]

Yeah...I just want to know what the TOC is, and if it's any good from some one who's read it. I've already looked up everything I could have online...

[ericbwonder]

Nobody? ok...may just venture to buy it then and find out.

[Peter Kirby]

Nobody? ok...may just venture to buy it then and find out.

I'd recommend reading Randel Helm's Gospel Fictions and John Allegro's book about the mushrooms themselves, along with the books from Morton Smith and G.A. Wells, for a fuller treatment, on a hunch. But then again -- I'd love it if you could spill the goods on this book after getting it!

[ericbwonder]

Well, just ordered it used. I'm especially curious what in the world George Mendenhall and David Noel Freedman (!) had to say relating to this...

[ericbwonder]

Well, here's the table of contents, for anyone that might find anything interesting. After I've read it, I may post some thoughts.


Preface
- Gerald A. Larue

Introduction: The Life of Jesus Research
- R. Joseph Hoffmann


PART I: THE HISTORICITY OF JESUS

The Historicity of Jesus
- G. A. Wells

The Historical Jesus
-Morton Smith

Render to Jesus the Things That Are Jesus'
- Robert S. Alley

The Palestinian Grass-roots Origins of New Testament Christology
- George E. Mendenhall


PART II: HISTORICAL PROBLEMS

Jesus and Qumran: The Dead Sea Scrolls
- John M. Allegro

Early Christianity and the Scrolls: An Inquiry
- David Noel Freedman

Josephus and Jesus
- Ellis Rivkin

Jesus and the Law
- Tivka Frymer-Kensky


PART III: THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTOLOGY

Fiction in the Gospels
- Randel Helms

Other Gospels, Heretical Christs
- R. Joseph Hoffmann

The Christ at the Creation
- Robert M. Grant

The Leaven and the Lamb: Christ and Gregory of Nyssa's Vision of Human Destiny
- Rowan A. Greer

Jesus and His Brothers
- John Dart


PART IV: PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

New Testament Scholarship and Christian Belief
- Van A. Harvey

Historical Credentials and Particular Revelation
- Antony Flew

A Remonstrance in Concluding
- John Hick

[GakuseiDon]

I'd be interested in "New Testament Scholarship and Christian Belief" by Van A. Harvey. The Wiki entry on Harvey states "One commentator has characterized Dr Harvey’s career after 1980 as having been transformed from theologian into skeptical student of religion", so it would be interesting to see what he is claiming there.

In one of Alvin Plantinga's books, Plantinga quotes Harvey from his chapter and writes:

• ... Van Harvey seems to be right: "So far as the biblical historican is concerned, ... there is scarcely a popularly held traditional belief about Jesus that is not regarded with considerable skepticism."