{"id":3120,"date":"2009-06-17T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-17T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme\/"},"modified":"2009-06-17T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-17T00:01:00","slug":"my-five-books-meme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html","title":{"rendered":"My Five Books Meme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Jared Calaway<\/a> has inflicted\/blessed me with a meme<\/a> that has been making the rounds in recent days. It was started by Ken Brown<\/a>, and I thought I\u2019d share what he wrote when he did so (since it includes both the rationale and the rules):<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve been preparing to apply for PhD programs, I\u2019ve been thinking about those books and scholars who have most influenced the way I read scripture, and I\u2019m curious which books have done the same for my fellow bibliobloggers. So, since I\u2019ve always wanted to start a meme challenge of my own, here goes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Name the five books (or scholars) that had the most immediate and lasting influence on how you read the Bible. Note that these need not be your five favorite books, or even the five with which you most strongly agree. Instead, I want to know what five books have permenantly changed the way you think.<\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

  2. Tag five others.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Here are my five:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Jimmy Dunn\u2019s Christology in the Making<\/a>\"\"<\/em>. I had a strong negative initial reaction to Dunn\u2019s views when I first confronted them in Bible college, but they had both logic and evidence that were hard to deny. I spent a fair amount of time trying to deny that John\u2019s Gospel was as different as Dunn and others made out. Once I admitted what to them was plainly evident, the question for me then became why<\/em> John was different. I spent three years working on that question, at the University of Durham, under the supervision of Jimmy Dunn, and my first book John\u2019s Apologetic Christology<\/a>\"\"<\/em> was one of the results (and my latest book, The Only True God<\/a><\/em>, shows that I\u2019ve continued to work on the subject).<\/li>\n
    2. John A. T. Robinson\u2019s The Body: A Study in Pauline Theology<\/a>\"\"<\/em>. I\u2019m sure some would have expected me to choose his Honest to God<\/a>\"\"<\/em>, and I won\u2019t deny the importance of that little volume. But Robinson made his biggest impression on my as a New Testament scholar, not only by offering a plausible case for his interpretation of Paul\u2019s body language (if you\u2019ll excuse the pun), but more importantly acknowledging that he once held another view, but having studied the evidence and though more about the matter, he changed his mind. That made a profound impression on me, and I\u2019ve sought to be open to emulating his example in this matter whenever appropriate ever since.<\/li>\n
    3. Rudolf Bultmann\u2019s<\/a> contribution to Kerygma and Myth<\/a>\"\"<\/em> (which nowadays one can read online<\/a>). I was as exposed to the Evangelical demonization of Bultmann as anyone else who studied in a conservative Christian context. But Bultmann\u2019s writings turn out to be powerful, insightful, and profoundly Christian<\/em>, assuming one ever actually reads them after so many dismissals and denunciations. He is persuaded that it is possible to be a Christian in the present, persuaded that the Gospel is powerful. He is also convinced (and rightly so) that it is impossible (and thus cannot be necessary) for a modern person to accept a first-century worldview in its entirety. Yet the Gospel as expressed in the Bible is inextricably bound up with and expressed in terms of a first-century worldview. And so he devoted himself to the question of how to translate<\/em> the message<\/a> for his time. When it comes to his exegesis, the details of his source criticism, his views on the Mandaean background of the Gospel of John, and much else, I remain unpersuaded by a great many of his views and arguments. But theologically<\/em> and hermeneutically<\/em> I believe he hit the nail on the head and identified the most crucial issue for mediating Christian faith into any new historical epoch.<\/li>\n
    4. Keith Ward\u2019s What the Bible Really Teaches<\/a><\/em> provided me with just what I needed at the time that I read it. Conservative Christian rhetoric of \u201cbelieving the whole Bible\u201d and \u201ctaking it literally\u201d is remarkably effective at making those of us feel guilty who, precisely because we\u2019ve become more familiar with the Bible, find such notions and such rhetoric problematic. But often we are cowed into a stance of apologizing, of saying in a whiny voice \u201cWell, I\u2019m a Christian too, even though I don\u2019t believe everything a fundamentalist does\u201d. Ward helped set me free, confronting me simultaneously with the dishonesty of claims to believe everything the Bible says, and a rich history and theology of Christianity<\/a> that doesn\u2019t follow that conservative approach. It helped me to be unapologetic about being a Christian, and instead of apologizing for not being conservative, instead to make a strong case for a very different approach being at least as Christian, every bit as Biblical (and unbiblical), but most importantly, far more honest about its relationship to the Bible.<\/li>\n
    5. Like Jared<\/a>, whenever I am down to my last slot, I suddenly seem to have trouble choosing one more book (or piece of music, or recipe, or whatever) to list as the final of my favorites. I\u2019m tempted to go into Hebrews mode and say \u201cTime will not permit us to mention Ken Miller\u2019s Finding Darwin\u2019s God<\/em>, or Mary Doria Russell\u2019s The Sparrow<\/em> and Children of God<\/em>, or Geza Vermes\u2019 Jesus the Jew, <\/em>or Bruce Malina\u2019s Windows on the World of Jesus<\/em> or Kenneth Bailey\u2019s Poet and Peasant & Through Peasant Eyes<\/em> or Juergen Moltmann\u2019s God in Creation <\/em>or Geert Hofsteede\u2019s Software of the Mind<\/em>\u2026\u201d But I think I\u2019ll give this final slot to: The Pimsleur<\/a>\"\" language courses. They\u2019ve made learning the basics of Russian, Modern Hebrew, Eastern Arabic, and even a bit of Chinese so unbelievably straightforward that it is unbelievable. The experience of living and studying in another culture (and eventually experiencing more than one), of interacting with Christians whom I expected to think much as I did and consider the same issues important and yet who did not, of discovering that the same sorts of issues that confront modern cross-cultural communication also affect us as we seek to make sense of the Bible: such insights and experiences have shaped my thinking. Not merely interacting with others, but being immersed in a culture other than your own, teaches you things that few and perhaps no<\/em> other experiences can. Language learning often stands as a hurdle to those who might otherwise have such experiences, and so I give the last slot to Pimsleur (and others, like the Teach Yourself<\/a>\"\" and Colloquial<\/a>\"\" series) that make jumping the hurdle so much easier. The link may not seem obvious to some, but those who have had culture shock will hopefully appreciate how the experience of living in another culture, and communicating through another language, changes our perspective on the Bible in ways that no book or course ever could.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Knowing whom to tag is almost as hard as filling the last slot. But I\u2019ll tag Eric Reitan<\/a>, Doug Mangum<\/a>, Gabriel McKee<\/a>, Mike Leaptrott<\/a>, and Terri<\/a>. If you\u2019ve already been tagged, you can decide whether to simply list ten<\/em> books, or pass the tag on to someone else, or just post your own five and leave it at that.<\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Jared Calaway has inflicted\/blessed me with a meme that has been making the rounds in recent days. It was started by Ken Brown, and I thought I\u2019d share what he wrote when he did so (since it includes both the rationale and the rules): As I\u2019ve been preparing to apply for PhD programs, I\u2019ve been […]<\/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-3120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Five Books Meme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jared Calaway has inflicted\/blessed me with a meme that has been making the rounds in recent days. It was started by Ken Brown, and I thought I'd share\" \/>\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\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Five Books Meme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jared Calaway has inflicted\/blessed me with a meme that has been making the rounds in recent days. It was started by Ken Brown, and I thought I'd share\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-17T00:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0802842577\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html\",\"name\":\"My Five Books Meme\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-17T00:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-06-17T00:01:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"Jared Calaway has inflicted\/blessed me with a meme that has been making the rounds in recent days. It was started by Ken Brown, and I thought I'd share\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My Five Books Meme\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My Five Books Meme","description":"Jared Calaway has inflicted\/blessed me with a meme that has been making the rounds in recent days. It was started by Ken Brown, and I thought I'd share","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My Five Books Meme","og_description":"Jared Calaway has inflicted\/blessed me with a meme that has been making the rounds in recent days. It was started by Ken Brown, and I thought I'd share","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2009-06-17T00:01:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0802842577"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html","name":"My Five Books Meme","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-06-17T00:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-06-17T00:01:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"Jared Calaway has inflicted\/blessed me with a meme that has been making the rounds in recent days. It was started by Ken Brown, and I thought I'd share","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2009\/06\/my-five-books-meme.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My Five Books Meme"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}