This is the question I am asking in the most recent poll. Please cast your vote in the sidebar to the left.

 

I thought I would bring you all up to date on a few polls. The most recent, as of this writing, is still “Would Jesus vote?” This has now crept up to an even 11 Yes and 11 No.

In terms of contemporary scholarship, we had this poll regarding Prof. Vermes:

Is Geza Vermes the “greatest Jesus scholar of his generation”?

• No. He is an excellent scholar, but there are so many other outstanding scholars in the field it would be too much to declare him “the greatest.” (100%, 25 Votes)
• Yes, how can there be any doubt? (0%, 0 Votes)

I am not surprised, but I do find this a very interesting result. (Or maybe it is just that everyone who voted agreed with me.)

The last two polls I want to point out are focused firmly upon religious views. The first is regarding Christianity and the second, which has received an incredible 398 votes due to its subject, is asking whether or not Scientology is a religion.

What is central to Christianity?

 

Braun, the seminary student, said he’s not totally committed to any candidate yet.

“I just keep thinking, if Jesus were alive now, he wouldn’t necessarily be voting Republican,” he said.

Which made me wonder, would Jesus be a part of the electoral process? I am not sure. I do think that it is a civic responsibility and duty for Americans to participate in the civil governance, although I know that not all bibliobloggers agree with me on that. But I cannot say that I am certain that Jesus would take part in it. Rather than presenting an argument either way, I will simply offer up this new poll.

[poll=13]

 

Is Geza Vermes the “greatest Jesus scholar of his generation”?

• No. He is an excellent scholar, but there are so many other outstanding scholars in the field it would be too much to declare him “the greatest.” (100%, 25 Votes)
• Yes, how can there be any doubt? (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 25

So, a lot of agreement that Prof. Vermes is an excellent scholar, but not the greatest “Jesus scholar of his generation.” I did have one offline request for “Geza who?” as an answer. Noted.

Now, to the new poll! Do you know what Twitter is? Do you care? Do my “tweets” annoy you? Let me know.
[poll=11]

 

Texas is open. And I want Hillary to stay in this, Laura [Ingram, who was interviewing him]. This is too good a soap opera. We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically, and it’s obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it and don’t have the stomach for it.

I first heard of this particular push when I stumbled across Dan Abrams challenging Lars Larson (who is that? and can that really be his name?) that such a strategy was unethical. Now, before anyone (like Abrams) think that this is just a Republican thing I seem to recall that one of the reasons put forward for Huckabee winning IA was that Democrats, thinking their slate was safe, voted for Huckabee in order to try and ensure that the Republicans would have a nominee so conservative as to push away mainstream voters in the general election. As it has turned out, the Democratic primary is so tight that supporters of HRC and Obama cannot afford to divide their attention (thus fulling Limbaugh’s wish, ironically).

All of this is, of course, completely legal in states with open primaries. I think it is ridiculous to have such primaries since the very purpose of a primary is for the party in question to select their own candidate. Allowing anyone to vote for any party is called a general election and we have one of those. Still, it happens and it is legal but is it, as Dan Abrams contends, unethical?
[poll=9]

 

What is central to Christianity?

* Belief in the substance of the Nicene and Apostle’s creeds. (45%, 14 Votes)
* The Bible. (42%, 13 Votes)
* The Sermon on the Mount. (6%, 2 Votes)
* Love one another. (3%, 1 Votes)
* Worshipping together as a community. (3%, 1 Votes)

 

Project Chanology is a large scale plan to bring down the Church of Scientology in its present form. On January 16, 2008; Anonymous decided to spread the message that Scientology is a dangerous and suppressive organization. We are doing this for the ex-Scientologists dare not speak up in fear of the cult, for the innocent members who are frauded out of their savings and broken down mentally, for those who have lost a relative or friend to the cult and for those who have already lost their lives.

So if you have come here from there welcome, vote and if you have the time, feel free to poke around. But this does mean the poll has a particular shape to it (i.e., no one at this time has voted for Scientology as a religion). Such is the interwebs.

[poll=6]

 

Michael Barber of Singing in the Reign has revealed the answers to his “Guess the Author” contest. He then goes on to sum up nicely some of my thoughts regarding the so-called Jesus Quest. (Which always makes me think of Don Quixote for some reason.)

As I continue to research, I grow more and more frustrated with the idea of a distinct “Third Quest” that is unlike previous approaches in being focused more on the Jewishness of Jesus. In fact, many previous scholars–Jeremias, Davies, Daube, Klausner, etc.–did just that!

Moreover, many of the scholars of the “Third Quest” use the exact same “criteria of authenticity” as those from the so-called “New Quest.” In virtually every case these scholars build their interpretations on the same unproven (in some cases, outdated!) source-critical and form-critical assumptions about the Gospels. For example, the shockingly bold assertions made about Q (i.e., its portrait of Jesus, its theology, etc.) found in the works of many contemporary writers seem not only unconvincing but actually quite similar to naïve approaches of the past.

I see two major problems here.

1. If we aren’t learning from the scholars who have gone before us, we are ignoring some very valuable resources.

2. In fact, in many ways, in neglecting these scholars of the past contemporary authors almost seem to be engaged in a subtle form of plagiarism, inasmuch as they claim as their own the insights of their mentors.

Something to ponder…

So, I think we need another new poll!
[poll=5]

(Via Singing In The Reign.)