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JESUSHave We Got A Story For You!
The development of Christianity as told fromthe viewpoints of several players in the drama.By Bob Mooremoore.bob@gmail.comCopyright 2003Contents:INTRODUCTION1. MARY (the mother of Jesus) -- 8 CE:2. JUDAS OF GALILEE (not Judas Iscariot) – 7 CE:3. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA – 8 CE:4. SAUL OF TARSUS – 16 CE:5. NICODEMUS – 28 CE:6. ANDREW (a disciple of John the Baptist first, then of Jesus) – 27 CE:7. SIMON PETER – 28 CE:8. BABA BEN BU’A (Leader of Shammai school of Pharisees) – 29 CE:9. JUDAS ISCARIOT – 29 CE:10. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, His second account – 29 CE:11. SIMON PETER, His second account – 29 CE:12. MARY, Her second account -- 29 CE:13. JUDAS ISCARIOT, His second account – 29 CE:14. JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, His third account – 30 CE:15. JOHN MARK – 30 CE:16. JUDAS ISCARIOT, His third account – 30 CE:17. JOHN MARK, His second account:18. JAMES THE BROTHER OF JESUS – 30 CE:19. THOMAS THE BELOVED DISCIPLE – 30 CE:20. SAUL OF TARSUS, His second account – 32 CE:21. ANDREW, His second account – 33 CE:22. SAUL, His third account – 33 CE:23. SIMON PETER, His third account – 36 CE:24. SAUL, His fourth account – 40 CE:25. BARNABAS (formerly known as Joseph of Arimathea), 40-46 CE:26. SAUL, His fifth account, April 46-September 51 CE:27 JAMES, The Brother of the Lord, His second account – October 51 CE:28. SIMON PETER, His fourth account – winter of 51 - spring of 52 CE:29. NICODEMUS, His second account – 53 CE:30. SAUL, His sixth account – Spring of 52 CE – Fall of 56 CE:31. DEMAS, A disciple of Paul, June 60 - May 65 CE:32. SAUL, His last account, September 67 CE:
 
33. DEMAS, His second account, Spring 71 CE: NOTESINTRODUCTION:
And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at thistime You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,and even to the remotest part of the earth." 
(Acts 1:6-8)
 Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, theChrist appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
(Acts 3:19-21)This is the story of how Christianity emerged out of the hopes for restoration found inJudaism of the first century. It is told from the viewpoints of participants in the molding process of early Christianity. Each of these had ideas of what it would mean for the people of Israel to be restored to an earlier more favorable national condition. WhenJudah fell into Babylonian captivity in 586 BC, the prophets began proclaiming promisesfrom God concerning a restoration. What did this mean? Did it mean a return to self-rule?Would it be non political? Did it mean the restoration of literally all things that had falleninto corruption, as they believed it had with the fall into sin of Adam and Eve? Didcertain timetables of prophets like
 Daniel 
indicate that the restoration and a Restoring person, the Messiah, were immanent? Would attempts to create a new society thatrecovered the "glorious golden days of the past", require violence with man being used asGod’s instrument? And finally, what did people postulate when their precise expectationswere not realized?The tale is told in a roughly chronological order by twelve historical characters whoseviews sometimes interact. Each speaker takes his or her turn on stage, serving as narrator for events in which they were involved. I have taken what these people might have said if they had chosen to write or dictate periodic entries into something like a diary or journal.They would allude to other contemporary people and events; they would expressthemselves in much the same way as they have in literature from their own time thatfeatures them. The story is cast back and forth from one historical figure to another,showing how each perceived things and how their lives intersected.The historical evidence available on each of the speakers is taken as a launching pointfrom which I simulate how, if they were reminiscing aloud, they would describe their experiences. I use sources such as the historian, Josephus – their contemporary – whodescribes some of the background to the setting for this story. The letters of Paulcomprise a substantial first person source. But, to fill out the various accounts, I found it
 
necessary to employ critical methods that suggest ways of getting behind the other brief histories available. Doing this enabled me to make a more complete picture of the variousforces of influence in Judaism of the first century.These sources and the reasons for the particular views expressed are noted for eachchapter in the endnotes. Many of the endnotes are essential to a good understanding of the narrative. In the online version, the highlighted words link to these notes and the"back" icon may be used to return to the text.In historical works, it can often be shown that official accounts (ie. myths) vary fromwhat actually happened in the past. To demythologize something is to suggest whatactual events might lie behind the official accounts. To the extent that I consider certainGospel miracles, for instance, to be not credible, to that extent I am heredemythologizing.Historical-critical methods give greater weight to first hand accounts than to second hand(or later) accounts. For example, St. Paul’s reminiscence of his conversion in
Galatians
isgiven greater weight than
 Luke’s
later account in
 Acts
(when the accounts vary). Thehistorical-critical method also allows historical evidence to take precedence over anapriori theological position. An example of this might be illustrated by references in TheBook of Mormon to Hebrews who supposedly came to the Americas long beforeColumbus did. Although they did not bring horses with them, the Mormon accountspeaks of horses already being in the Americas. Historical and paleontological studiesshow that horses did not exist in the new world at that time. For a Mormon to giveheavier weight to his theological position concerning the truth of The Book of Mormonalso requires him to come up with a harmonization that leans heavily on special pleading(his argument becomes, "the evidence merely has not yet been discovered"). To avoidimplausible harmonizations, I let my historical figures speak in a way that harmonizesmainstream Christian positions where possible, but I let them avoid it when such positions seem certainly at odds with history. One such place is the census taken whileQuirinius was governor of Syria. Luke places this at the birth of Jesus, which was about 5BCE. Other historical sources place the event at around 6 CE. Harmonizers have to strainto do their work with incidents like this or with one like the variance between Paul’saccount of the Nabataean plot to kill him in Damascus versus Luke’s account of it as being Jews who were plotting.Traditionally, stories about Bible times tend to be either incredibly orthodox (e.g. Walter Wangerin Jr.'s
 Jesus: a Novel 
), or, oppositely, ready to "throw out the baby with the bathwater". I mediate between these by recognizing that the official Gospel accounts(and the extra canonical ones, of which I take account here), were not inerrant, nor werethey created out of whole-cloth . The Gospels that we have today evolved out of actualcircumstances that I have tried to conceive, given the available evidence and the wealthof historical criticism that we now have.In the multiple viewpoints presented I have endeavored to stay true to each person’slikely perceptions of reality. When I amplify the historical record, which I do with much
of 00

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Serenity1961

Does anybody has "Who Is Who in The New Testament?"

reply02 / 07 / 2010
Serenity1961

Wouldn't you enable it ot be downloadable? Please!

reply02 / 07 / 2010
moore.bob

Thanks for your comment. You can view and download this from my server: www.bobmoorepainting.com/Jesus From there you can make use of the linked footnotes etc. I would like hearing back from you at moore.bob@gmail.com

02 / 07 / 2010
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