The Bad Jesus The Ethics of New Testament Ethics Hector Avalos 9781909697799 Books
Download As PDF : The Bad Jesus The Ethics of New Testament Ethics Hector Avalos 9781909697799 Books
Did Jesus ever do anything wrong? Judging by the vast majority of books on New Testament ethics, the answer is a resounding No. Writers on New Testament ethics generally view Jesus as the paradigm of human standards and behaviour. But since the his-torical Jesus was a human being, must he not have had flaws, like everyone else? The notion of a flawless human Jesus is a paradoxical oddity in New Testament ethics. According to Avalos, it shows that New Testament ethics is still primarily an apologetic enterprise de-spite its claim to rest on critical and historical scholarship. The Bad Jesus is a powerful and challenging study, presenting de-tailed case studies of fundamental ethical principles enunciated or practised by Jesus but antithetical to what would be widely deemed 'acceptable' or 'good' today. Such topics include Jesus' supposedly innovative teachings on love, along with his views on hate, violence, imperialism, animal rights, environmental ethics, Judaism, women, disabled persons and biblical hermeneutics. After closely examining arguments offered by those unwilling to find any fault with the Jesus depicted in the Gospels, Avalos concludes that current treatments of New Testament ethics are permeated by a religiocentric, ethnocentric and imperialistic orientation. But if it is to be a credible historical and critical dis-cipline in modern academia, New Testament ethics needs to discover both a Good and a Bad Jesus.
The Bad Jesus The Ethics of New Testament Ethics Hector Avalos 9781909697799 Books
Avalos makes three kinds of claims about the NT in his book.The first set of claims deals with the problems of the actual texts themselves. According to Avalos:
1. Words attributed to Jesus are sometimes inaccurate, sometimes plain wrong. There is a lack of internal consistency (does everything in the NT tie together? No.) And external consistency (do the claims made in the NT stand up to verification from other non-NT sources? No.)
2. Jesus is sometimes portrayed as saying things and behaving in a manner which we would regard as extremely unsuitable by anyone, let alone the leader and inspirer of a monumental religious movement that has lasted for over 2,000 years. What is more, Jesus does not adhere to the standards of modern ethics.
3. Nothing that Jesus says or that the NT teaches is actually new, it had all been said before in the previous 1,000 years, and sometimes in a much better way.
Avalos gives detailed examples of test cases of each of the above problems. It makes for fascinating reading once you decide, as a reader, to follow his non-sectarian methods of textual analysis.
The second set of claims is about the way the problems raised above have been treated by commentators, redactors, and translators. He claims that:
1. Often the offending discrepant passages are simply not commented upon: commentators pick and choose which portions of text to focus their attention on, in line presumably with their doctrinal leanings, and ignore what they do not like to see. Translators smooth out discrepancies. Free translation allows the translators to interject their own doctrinal understanding of the meaning of a text.
2. Some commentators play the metaphorical / literal game: passages which support a favoured reading are treated literally, those that do not are to be treated as metaphorical. This of course is dishonest and leads to circular arguments. Avalos is brilliant at dissecting this kind of intellectual dishonesty - I'm just waiting for the response from some of the authors he has exposed so mercilessly.
3. Another way to harmonize the problems in the text is to play elaborate linguistic games with the meanings and in fact to influence the way in which lexicons and dictionaries are compiled around uncomfortable words. For those who love the minutiae of such things, Avalos is exquisite: because of course, the devil is (sometimes literally) in the details.
The third set of claims is perhaps the most difficult to swallow, but they fall from the first two sets. Jesus is not a pacifistic, free-loving, inclusive, anti-authoritarian itinerant preacher (wine-bibbing? Perhaps he is there.) Jesus sets up the "kingdom of God" in opposition to the kingdom of Rome, using direct physically confrontational language. Like a latter-day cult leader, he demands absolute submission to him from his followers, and he damns anybody who does not wish to follow him. He egotistically sets himself up as the only conduit to God. He focuses on the need for each of his followers to be obedient to none but him, to the exclusion of anyone else with whom the follower may have had social, moral or emotional obligations.
Behind all this dishonesty, Avalos claims, is the fact that most of the commentators, teachers, and redactors have a deeply held view of what the text must say, and so they form an impregnable industry which is dedicated to keeping problems and discrepancies out. The result of their activities reaffirms their faith leading to a circular form of argumentation.
We may choose to believe that the text of the NT is in every word (in a lost Koine Greek source) directly inspired by God and that everything in the NT must be taken literally, or when that is impossible, we must use our faith to iron out the contradictions. Good luck with that.
Alternatively, we may accept that the NT is made up of a multi-authored hodge-podge of texts many of which echo ideas that were common in the milieu in which the NT was assembled. Many texts are all-too-human reflections of the mental state of their writers. The NT has been redacted over and over again by writers with many different reasons for their redactive work. The final 27 books were chosen to represent a particular view of the growing Christian faith in the 5th century. Avalos' critique is precisely what one would expect if this were the case.
Our task as Christians is to understand that the kingdom of God is qualitatively different from any earthly kingdom and that the portrayal of Jesus the Anointed as both fully God and fully man is the essence of our faith. The NT is not a detective story or a novel. It is not a philosophical treatise or a guide to life. It is a hugely successful collection of texts that encourages each of us to listen to the word of God.
This is what the commentators, the redactors, the translators and the scholars try to do for us. As Avalos points out, they all believe there is a message there for us (however imperfectly they may frame their belief). I doubt we will ever achieve a single authoritative Koine Greek text in which all the inconsistencies and absurdities have been ironed out or explained. But do read it carefully, critically, and listen to the voice of the word of God within these pages. I'm sorry for those whom the study of the NT has caused to stray from the path of truth. The concept of the divine is a challenge to each of us, and I pray that God in his infinite mercy will gather us all to him in his unfathomable love.
Product details
|
Tags : The Bad Jesus: The Ethics of New Testament Ethics [Hector Avalos] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Did Jesus ever do anything wrong? Judging by the vast majority of books on New Testament ethics, the answer is a resounding No. Writers on New Testament ethics generally view Jesus as the paradigm of human standards and behaviour. But since the his-torical Jesus was a human being,Hector Avalos,The Bad Jesus: The Ethics of New Testament Ethics,Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd,1909697796,Biblical Studies - General,Religion - Biblical Studies,Religion Biblical Studies General
People also read other books :
- Dunkles Feuer German Edition eBook David Kenlock
- Zectas Volume IV The Salubrious City of Centzo eBook John Nest You the Reader
- The Spider Inside Her a Dark Urban Fantasy Dark Encounters Book 2 eBook Marcia Colette
- Mr Always Right Until Along Came a Woman Michael Edwards 9781491730782 Books
- Guys are Waffles Girls are Spaghetti (Audible Audio Edition) Chad Eastham Bill Farrel Pam Farrel Oasis Audio Books
The Bad Jesus The Ethics of New Testament Ethics Hector Avalos 9781909697799 Books Reviews
Well researched, but perhaps not so well written. I found the book to be a little argumentative -- not so much in favor of his thesis as much as that he seemed to go out of his way to point out the shortcomings of other scholars' arguments and written works. All, in all, a recommended read.
O livro desmitifica as teses dos apologistas cristãos intelectualmente desonestos sobre o idealizado Jesus. Excelente!
As Dr. Avalos defiantly points out, if New Testament historians commenting on the ethics of Jesus are doing real history, then why can’t they find a single thing wrong with Jesus as even a historical figure? That glaring omission on their part is just the tip of the iceberg.
This is “second wave” New Atheism (as Dr. Avalos calls it) at its finest. For those of us genuinely concerned about a reality based secular apocalypticism where Big Religion needs to die in order for humanity to collectively advance, I’d rate this book as an important contribution.
Dr. Avalos on a Freethought Radio podcast with Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, suggested that he’s done the hard work of the research and that it’s up to others to promote the message. I heartily agree!
My main complaint is that I just wanted more of it.
Since I’ve done two public presentations on the immorality of Jesus, I was greatly excited to learn that Dr. Hector Avalos had tackled the same topic at the scholarly level. From my standpoint I certainly did the best I could at my own self-educated level (and I got my presentations approved by Dr. Richard Carrier just to make sure), but having Dr. Avalos do a thorough treatment on a number of case studies was educational and empowering. I was prepared to have gotten some things wrong of course which is inevitable, but I was delighted to see that we largely agree on the issues. Anyone that liked my presentations will find Dr. Avalos drilling deep to show that it just gets worse for Jesus.
Dr. Avalos has done a great service in cleaning house as far as Biblical studies go and he rigorously shows the rampant bias from even the more secular scholars on the topic of Jesus’ morality. If Jesus were portrayed as smoking pot in the New Testament, scholars would insist that he smoked, but didn’t inhale and that there is some incredible grammatical nuance baked into the text to “clearly” demonstrate this. It takes a very patient and diligent mind to unravel the scholarly sophistry and Dr. Avalos was clearly up to the job.
The real scandal of course is that canonical gospel Jesus, as is, is not only “flawed,” but most prominently presented as what modern ethical and educated people would call a superstitious, misogynistic, imperialistic cult leader and an apocalyptic moral lunatic. Jesus’ popularly apparent “pacifism” (what Dr. Avalos describes accurately as “deferred violence”) was merely the eye of the storm of endorsing Mosaic theocratic tyranny and the warm up act for (an albeit mythological) everlasting violence against most of humanity. You can’t just sweep Jesus’ persistent psychotic revenge fantasies under the rug and take the nice sounding bits out of that overall context. Jesus isn’t your nice grandma that is only technically on the hook for Biblical evils but has no personal stake in them. Jesus is THE guy who wants to lead the charge on his Judgment Day to set the majority of humanity on fire for all eternity. A disempowered earthly Jesus may be shown to have unleashed just a smidgen of that fury in the episode of making a whip and assaulting the moneychangers in the temple court (prominently shown on the cover of Dr. Avalos’ book).
In general, nothing repudiates the dubious and questionable ethics of Jesus more than substituting in different more ethical views on his behalf. And Dr. Avalos skewers the endless parade of motivated scholarship desperate to whitewash Jesus for the sake of their modern theological agendas or whatever other reason. When those biases are checked the end result, any reasonable person should agree that the literary product Jesus (what I would call “reading comprehension Jesus”) that the world is stuck with is the kind of street preaching nutjob that even most modern Christians wouldn’t want to hang out with and wouldn’t listen to. No doubt, still, many Christians will be eager and willing to come out against the U. N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ethical stances of various other modern organizations that Dr. Avalos appeals to in ethical comparison (not to mention the same standards Jesus’ defenders will use on anyone else other than Jesus), but it will definitely be an uphill task for them to argue the modern world back into the Dark Ages.
Like every other influential person there ever was, Dr. Avalos points out that Jesus was a remix of what came before and a reflection of his given culture. A mix of mostly more of the same, some progress, and some regress. Dr. Avalos gives continual shout outs to the cultures that either got it right before Jesus or got it right instead of Jesus (or got it right in the ways disingenuous scholarship wants to *believe* Jesus got it rightest ever).
I will eagerly be blogging about each chapter and argument mapping any substantial debate that I can find. Come find me. Anyone that wants to contribute their reasoned perspective could be most appreciated. You will have to check your “Jesus is good no matter what” goggles at the door though.
good book teach you to know the bad points of Christ.
It took me a while to read this book, mostly because I was being distracted by other things. Once I got started, I couldn't put the book down. Prof. Avalos question common belief that Jesus was a perfectly moral character and he proceeds to show how this is not the case, especially when compared to more enlightened morality of today rather than that of the Iron Age. After reading Avalos book, one cannot help but to realize how silly it is to try to use "Jesus' teachings" in today's modern world. We are so much better and ethical than anyone back in Jesus' era, including him.
This time, an Atheist HECTOR has chased a Christian ACHILLES around the walls of a biblical Troy and pierced the most vulnerable part of his anatomy the Achilles' heel of biblical ethics! We have no need of any extra arrow to be shot by any future Paris. Avalos has done the whole job. The ghost of "the gentle Jesus" has finally--and decisively--been laid to rest.
Avalos makes three kinds of claims about the NT in his book.
The first set of claims deals with the problems of the actual texts themselves. According to Avalos
1. Words attributed to Jesus are sometimes inaccurate, sometimes plain wrong. There is a lack of internal consistency (does everything in the NT tie together? No.) And external consistency (do the claims made in the NT stand up to verification from other non-NT sources? No.)
2. Jesus is sometimes portrayed as saying things and behaving in a manner which we would regard as extremely unsuitable by anyone, let alone the leader and inspirer of a monumental religious movement that has lasted for over 2,000 years. What is more, Jesus does not adhere to the standards of modern ethics.
3. Nothing that Jesus says or that the NT teaches is actually new, it had all been said before in the previous 1,000 years, and sometimes in a much better way.
Avalos gives detailed examples of test cases of each of the above problems. It makes for fascinating reading once you decide, as a reader, to follow his non-sectarian methods of textual analysis.
The second set of claims is about the way the problems raised above have been treated by commentators, redactors, and translators. He claims that
1. Often the offending discrepant passages are simply not commented upon commentators pick and choose which portions of text to focus their attention on, in line presumably with their doctrinal leanings, and ignore what they do not like to see. Translators smooth out discrepancies. Free translation allows the translators to interject their own doctrinal understanding of the meaning of a text.
2. Some commentators play the metaphorical / literal game passages which support a favoured reading are treated literally, those that do not are to be treated as metaphorical. This of course is dishonest and leads to circular arguments. Avalos is brilliant at dissecting this kind of intellectual dishonesty - I'm just waiting for the response from some of the authors he has exposed so mercilessly.
3. Another way to harmonize the problems in the text is to play elaborate linguistic games with the meanings and in fact to influence the way in which lexicons and dictionaries are compiled around uncomfortable words. For those who love the minutiae of such things, Avalos is exquisite because of course, the devil is (sometimes literally) in the details.
The third set of claims is perhaps the most difficult to swallow, but they fall from the first two sets. Jesus is not a pacifistic, free-loving, inclusive, anti-authoritarian itinerant preacher (wine-bibbing? Perhaps he is there.) Jesus sets up the "kingdom of God" in opposition to the kingdom of Rome, using direct physically confrontational language. Like a latter-day cult leader, he demands absolute submission to him from his followers, and he damns anybody who does not wish to follow him. He egotistically sets himself up as the only conduit to God. He focuses on the need for each of his followers to be obedient to none but him, to the exclusion of anyone else with whom the follower may have had social, moral or emotional obligations.
Behind all this dishonesty, Avalos claims, is the fact that most of the commentators, teachers, and redactors have a deeply held view of what the text must say, and so they form an impregnable industry which is dedicated to keeping problems and discrepancies out. The result of their activities reaffirms their faith leading to a circular form of argumentation.
We may choose to believe that the text of the NT is in every word (in a lost Koine Greek source) directly inspired by God and that everything in the NT must be taken literally, or when that is impossible, we must use our faith to iron out the contradictions. Good luck with that.
Alternatively, we may accept that the NT is made up of a multi-authored hodge-podge of texts many of which echo ideas that were common in the milieu in which the NT was assembled. Many texts are all-too-human reflections of the mental state of their writers. The NT has been redacted over and over again by writers with many different reasons for their redactive work. The final 27 books were chosen to represent a particular view of the growing Christian faith in the 5th century. Avalos' critique is precisely what one would expect if this were the case.
Our task as Christians is to understand that the kingdom of God is qualitatively different from any earthly kingdom and that the portrayal of Jesus the Anointed as both fully God and fully man is the essence of our faith. The NT is not a detective story or a novel. It is not a philosophical treatise or a guide to life. It is a hugely successful collection of texts that encourages each of us to listen to the word of God.
This is what the commentators, the redactors, the translators and the scholars try to do for us. As Avalos points out, they all believe there is a message there for us (however imperfectly they may frame their belief). I doubt we will ever achieve a single authoritative Koine Greek text in which all the inconsistencies and absurdities have been ironed out or explained. But do read it carefully, critically, and listen to the voice of the word of God within these pages. I'm sorry for those whom the study of the NT has caused to stray from the path of truth. The concept of the divine is a challenge to each of us, and I pray that God in his infinite mercy will gather us all to him in his unfathomable love.
0 Response to "⇒ [PDF] Gratis The Bad Jesus The Ethics of New Testament Ethics Hector Avalos 9781909697799 Books"
Post a Comment