I can’t believe that I have actually been wasting the last decade of my life. Goodbye Internet, this comic has saved my life.
History
History and Objectivity
Looking through old files on my computer for something else, I came upon this snippet of a thought. Comments or reaction?
History and Objectivity
Can one do “history” of individuals who are still alive, or whom we have known? Some would say we are too close, but does chronological and emotional distance help? Think of the Jesus research, the complaint is that we don’t have information that is close enough. What if we know for certain that we did? The complaint would then be that it is not objective.
Analogy: Within a forest or at its edge I can tell you what trees are there, their species, height, age, proximity to one another, but I cannot tell you how far the forest stretches in any direction. From a mile or more back I may be able to see the full circumference of the forest, but now I must estimate the age, spacing, size, etc. of the trees and determining their individual characteristics may now be impossible.
Doctor Who, World War II, and writing history
This post was sent to me by a colleague. I wasn’t sure of the WW2 connection at first. The other was talking about how Babylon 5 wasn’t great, but at least the plot was “consistent and believable.” Unlike Doctor Who where if it were the least bit realistic the Doctor would have been killed the moment he stepped in front of an invading alien nation with nothing but his sonic screwdriver and some unkept hair. But no of that comapres to the completely unbelievable series on the History Channel, “the so-called World War II.”
Let’s start with the bad guys. Battalions of stormtroopers dressed in all black, check. Secret police, check. Determination to brutally kill everyone who doesn’t look like them, check. Leader with a tiny villain mustache and a tendency to go into apopleptic rage when he doesn’t get his way, check. All this from a country that was ordinary, believable, and dare I say it sometimes even sympathetic in previous seasons.
I wouldn’t even mind the lack of originality if they weren’t so heavy-handed about it. Apparently we’re supposed to believe that in the middle of the war the Germans attacked their allies the Russians, starting an unwinnable conflict on two fronts, just to show how sneaky and untrustworthy they could be? And that they diverted all their resources to use in making ever bigger and scarier death camps, even in the middle of a huge war? Real people just aren’t that evil. And that’s not even counting the part where as soon as the plot requires it, they instantly forget about all the racism nonsense and become best buddies with the definitely non-Aryan Japanese.
The author (whom I do not know other than his sobriquet “squid314″) goes on with a brilliant little piece of satire. Again, like the “I Write Like” piece, I think this serves as a nice reminder of the complexity, the unreality if you will, of real life. History often has twists and turns with leaders making inexplicable decisions that from a distance look ludicrous. If squid314 can be so convincing with his farce where we do know the real history imagine how wrong are our reconstructions of history two to three thousand years ago. A bit sobering perhaps.
Why do Christians seem to need a body?
Given that we are in the last days of Lent and almost to Good Friday, this is perhaps providential.
My automatic Google notification for “Aramaic” brought up a curious article from Psychology Today, “It’s in the Bible…Isn’t It?“ This is not a publication I read so I am unfamiliar with Stephen Mason, Ph.D. who is apparently nationally known for his writing and radio show. Nor do I know about his earlier article from last month where he addressed the question of an historical Jesus. In this column, however, he decides to poke again at this question and offers a poorly frame “quiz” of biblical knowledge. Apparently in an attempt to show us that he knows the Bible, having read it once as an undergraduate. Sadly, he begins by showing his own ignorance.
Last month, I wrote a column based on a documentary DVD titled: “The God Who Wasn’t There.” In a nutshell, it questions the existence of a historic Jesus Christ. I don’t know if there ever was such a person but, then again, does it really matter?
Look at Buddhism. Like Christianity, it has now split into numerous sects though no one can be sure about its titular head – Buddha. Was he a real person? Supposedly his friends called him Siddhartha and he died from either a mesenteric infarction or a bad truffle. But maybe he never lived. This was, after all, a couple of thousand years ago. Anyway, while Buddhists are happy enough with the message, Christians seem to need a body. Why this should be so, I don’t know.
"The Body of Christ" Used under Creative Commons license.
Assuming he is truthful in saying that he doesn’t know why a “body” is so necessary to Christianity (and I have no reason to think he is lying), he clearly does not remember much of the Bible he read so long ago nor bothered to learn even the most rudimentary facts about Christianity.
Why should Christians need a body? Because unlike Buddhism where the emphasis is upon the teachings and practices of the founding teacher, Christianity is that and more. As an aside and to make this point, when Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ
It is true that the teachings and life example of Jesus are vitally important to Christianity, but the reason a real, bodily Jesus is necessary for Christianity is because his death was an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.2 This fundamental teaching is clear in all of the New Testament, particularly Paul’s letters and the letter to the Hebrews. If there was no Jesus/no body then there was no sacrifice and thus no atonement of sins. So while the doc may not know why Christians insist on a real, historical Jesus. This is what makes “Good Friday,” otherwise a brutal and bloody affair, good.
So perhaps Dr. Mason will read this post and learn why it is that Christians need a body.
- We showed this movie Tuesday night as the final film in our Reel Jesus film festival. I may blog on it later, but Man! what an exhausting film. I have such mixed feelings about it, but one thing is clear it is a powerful film. [↩]
- Notice that I am not even addressing the question of whether or not he really existed, but why Christians “seem to need a body.” [↩]
5,000 years of Imperial History of the Middle East
This is an amazing Shockwave production showing in 90 seconds the ebb and flow of empires in the region of the Mediterranean basin and beyond. Sure, we can (and I hope some will) quibble about the details but I think this will give a nice broad sense of the region and its political history to my students.
HT to SCMProfessor and thanks to Mapsofwar.com for making it.
