Paul had never met Jesus?

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<snip>

IAN AND PAM DORIAN

>You might also read, "The Mythmaker" Paul and the Invention of

>Christianity by Hyman Maccoby, Harper Press, 1160 Battery St.,

>San Francisco, 94111-1212/


I wouldn't bother, it's not at all well respected in scholarly circles. He
makes a *lot* of big "if" statements and then bases all of his conclusions
on such large conjectures. He also sets up a polemical contrast between
what "scholars" say and what he has "discovered" - as if scholars have been
trying to hide something. However, few (if any - possibly some orthodox,
conservative scholars do) reputable, academic scholars of christianity are
really making the claims he says. He pretends to be letting the reader in
on some "big secret," but he isn't.

While there may be some support for some of his interpretations, he
presents them as being fact when they are not. More damning is his lack of
proper method in the presentation of his conclusions. What it comes down to
is that the texts are not 100% reliable (big surprise on this list, eh?)
and we have to keep in mind the "iffyness" of them. Any conclusions we make
about the bible have to be suppositional and provisional. Maccoby simply
isn't realistic (or maybe honest) enough to see this.

It can be an interesting book - but don't rely on it too much. There are
far better books.


Austin Cline; German Department; Princeton University
--- The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
      esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

               - Nietzsche "The Dawn" (1881)

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