{"id":1642,"date":"2010-02-14T17:52:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-14T17:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/02\/the-problem-with-publishing-on-the-historical-jesus\/"},"modified":"2010-02-14T17:52:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-14T17:52:00","slug":"the-problem-with-publishing-on-the-historical-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/02\/the-problem-with-publishing-on-the-historical-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"The Problem With Publishing On The Historical Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In recent discussions about mythicism, it has sometimes been hinted that the academy is biased and it is impossible for mythicist views to get a fair hearing, much less get published.<\/p>\n

If I were asked for a single clear reason I find that hard to believe, my answer would be: Morton Smith. Smith published, among other things, a book which suggested that Jesus was a magician<\/a>\"\"<\/span> (as well as hinting that his magical practices may have had a homosexual character). Surely suggesting that Jesus merely didn\u2019t exist is not\u00a0more controversial\u00a0than Smith\u2019s suggestions!<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s conclusions and claims \u2013 whether about Jesus as magician or about the Secret Gospel of Mark<\/a>\"\"<\/span> \u2013 have not won universal acceptance by any means. But they were able to pass peer review and thus offered to\u00a0be considered on their merits by the academy.<\/p>\n

If anything, the problem with historical Jesus studies is that it is too easy<\/em> to get published, or at least to get dubious historical claims into print. As long as one is for the most part engaging in historical study using the appropriate tools, one can get away with saying some outlandish things as well,\u00a0as Tom Wright <\/a>\"\"<\/span>did when he claimed that Matthew\u2019s account of saints being resurrected<\/a> and wandering Jerusalem was so incredible that it might just be true<\/a>. But because Wright is participating in a scholarly dialogue, when he says such things he is bound to be challenged on them \u2013 as Dale Allison has, for instance, in his recent book The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus<\/em><\/a>\"\"<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Every field<\/a> has people near its fringe who think they know better than the experts. What distinguishes a scholar is not simply a solid familiarity with relevant evidence, but participation in scholarly conferences and publication, which brings with it the risk of being shown to be wrong, or at least disagreed with by someone as capable of making a scholarly argument as you are.<\/p>\n

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In recent discussions about mythicism, it has sometimes been hinted that the academy is biased and it is impossible for mythicist views to get a fair hearing, much less get published. If I were asked for a single clear reason I find that hard to believe, my answer would be: Morton Smith. Smith published, among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Problem With Publishing On The Historical Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In recent discussions about mythicism, it has sometimes been hinted that the academy is biased and it is impossible for mythicist views to get a fair\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/02\/the-problem-with-publishing-on-the-historical-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Problem With Publishing On The Historical Jesus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In recent discussions about mythicism, it has sometimes been hinted that the academy is biased and it is impossible for mythicist views to get a fair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/02\/the-problem-with-publishing-on-the-historical-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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