Jesus Before the Gospels : How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior in FB2
9780062285201 English 0062285203 Many believe that the Gospel stories of Jesus are based on eyewitness testimony and are therefore historically reliable. Now, for the first time, a scholar of the New Testament, New York Times bestselling author Bart D. Ehrman (Misquoting Jesus; and Jesus, Interrupted), surveys research from the fields of psychology, anthropology, and sociology to explore how oral traditions and group memories really work and questions how reliable the Gospels can be.Focusing on the decades-long gap between when Jesus lived and when these documents about him began to appear, Ehrman looks to these varied disciplines to see what they can tell us about how the New Testament developed. In the book, Ehrman examines: How cultural anthropologists studied the oral traditions of Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Ghana to reveal how stories always change as they are passed along. How psychologists have discovered the routine phenomena of false memories and how strongly people contend that these false memories really happened. How modern legal scholars and psychologists have shown how unreliable eyewitness testimonies really are, with people regularly distorting what they experienced. How sociologists have shown that a group s collective memory is strongly shaped by the issues and concerns of the remembering community just as much by the events themselvesJesus Before the Gospels is a compelling narrative that not only demonstrates Ehrman s deep knowledge and meticulous scholarship, but also challenges the historical accuracy of the Gospels and what they tell us about the historical Jesus, the way we read and think about these sacred texts, and how we view history.What Memory Research Reveals About How the Gospels Were WrittenBart D. Ehrman, one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today, uses the latest research on memory and oral traditions to challenge how much we really know about Jesus from the Gospels. In Jesus Before the Gospels he investigates the controversial issue of what really happened in the decades-long gap between when Jesus lived and when the Gospels began to appear.Praise for Bart D. Ehrman Bart Ehrman has made a career of zeroing in on some of the most difficult questions at the intersection of faith and history. The Boston Globe Ehrman has a gift for bringing to life the dusty and scholarly. Publishers Weekly A prolific and popular author. The San Diego Union-Tribune A lucid expositor. The New Yorker", The bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus, one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today examines oral tradition and its role in shaping the stories about Jesus we encounter in the New Testament and ultimately in our understanding of Christianity.Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Erhman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament how the telling of these stories not only spread Jesus message but helped shape it.A master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, Ehrman draws on a range of disciplines, including psychology and anthropology, to examine the role of memory in the creation of the Gospels. Explaining how oral tradition evolves based on the latest scientific research, he demonstrates how the act of telling and retelling impacts the story, the storyteller, and the listener crucial insights that challenge our typical historical understanding of the silent period between when Jesus lived and died and when his stories began to be written down.As he did in his previous books on religious scholarship, debates on New Testament authorship, and the existence of Jesus of Nazareth, Ehrman combines his deep knowledge and meticulous scholarship in a compelling and eye-opening narrative that will change the way we read and think about these sacred texts.", What Memory Research Reveals About How the Gospels Were Written, Bart D. Ehrman, one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today, uses the latest research on memory and oral traditions to challenge how much we really know about Jesus from the Gospels. In Jesus Before the Gospels he investigates the controversial issue of what really happened in the decades-long gap between when Jesus lived and when the Gospels began to appear. Book jacket.
9780062285201 English 0062285203 Many believe that the Gospel stories of Jesus are based on eyewitness testimony and are therefore historically reliable. Now, for the first time, a scholar of the New Testament, New York Times bestselling author Bart D. Ehrman (Misquoting Jesus; and Jesus, Interrupted), surveys research from the fields of psychology, anthropology, and sociology to explore how oral traditions and group memories really work and questions how reliable the Gospels can be.Focusing on the decades-long gap between when Jesus lived and when these documents about him began to appear, Ehrman looks to these varied disciplines to see what they can tell us about how the New Testament developed. In the book, Ehrman examines: How cultural anthropologists studied the oral traditions of Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Ghana to reveal how stories always change as they are passed along. How psychologists have discovered the routine phenomena of false memories and how strongly people contend that these false memories really happened. How modern legal scholars and psychologists have shown how unreliable eyewitness testimonies really are, with people regularly distorting what they experienced. How sociologists have shown that a group s collective memory is strongly shaped by the issues and concerns of the remembering community just as much by the events themselvesJesus Before the Gospels is a compelling narrative that not only demonstrates Ehrman s deep knowledge and meticulous scholarship, but also challenges the historical accuracy of the Gospels and what they tell us about the historical Jesus, the way we read and think about these sacred texts, and how we view history.What Memory Research Reveals About How the Gospels Were WrittenBart D. Ehrman, one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today, uses the latest research on memory and oral traditions to challenge how much we really know about Jesus from the Gospels. In Jesus Before the Gospels he investigates the controversial issue of what really happened in the decades-long gap between when Jesus lived and when the Gospels began to appear.Praise for Bart D. Ehrman Bart Ehrman has made a career of zeroing in on some of the most difficult questions at the intersection of faith and history. The Boston Globe Ehrman has a gift for bringing to life the dusty and scholarly. Publishers Weekly A prolific and popular author. The San Diego Union-Tribune A lucid expositor. The New Yorker", The bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus, one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today examines oral tradition and its role in shaping the stories about Jesus we encounter in the New Testament and ultimately in our understanding of Christianity.Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Erhman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament how the telling of these stories not only spread Jesus message but helped shape it.A master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, Ehrman draws on a range of disciplines, including psychology and anthropology, to examine the role of memory in the creation of the Gospels. Explaining how oral tradition evolves based on the latest scientific research, he demonstrates how the act of telling and retelling impacts the story, the storyteller, and the listener crucial insights that challenge our typical historical understanding of the silent period between when Jesus lived and died and when his stories began to be written down.As he did in his previous books on religious scholarship, debates on New Testament authorship, and the existence of Jesus of Nazareth, Ehrman combines his deep knowledge and meticulous scholarship in a compelling and eye-opening narrative that will change the way we read and think about these sacred texts.", What Memory Research Reveals About How the Gospels Were Written, Bart D. Ehrman, one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today, uses the latest research on memory and oral traditions to challenge how much we really know about Jesus from the Gospels. In Jesus Before the Gospels he investigates the controversial issue of what really happened in the decades-long gap between when Jesus lived and when the Gospels began to appear. Book jacket.