Wednesday, September 18, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

 

It is the 18th of September 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Hey. It’s Wednesday? Then I must be in Munich. Hello from the world of disembodied voices talking to you from your phone. The future is wild.

A few questions today for a kind of “lightning round” as these all have, pretty simple answers and are related in pertaining to the Bible. A quick note: Here at 1517, we have two bible podcasts that go verse by verse- 40 minutes in the OT and 30 Minutes in the NT. Check those out, especially if you can isolate a specific verse you wonder about- our website is also designed to be able to search by text for various articles, podcasts, etc…

First- Mark in Bremerton, WA- he asked:

“Recently, I have been introduced to the concept of intertextuality, meaning the Bible referencing itself. When did this phenomenon become noticed?”

Intertextuality and intertextual studies as a discrete discipline is only 50 or so years old. It is from the world of literary criticism and if you want to follow that thread its going to involve post-structuralism and things that go beyond a kind of “inter-Bible” exegesis.

The main issue is, like anything, if it is taken too far and soon you have “hidden” meanings and a labyrinth of things taking you away from the plain sense of Scripture.

At the same time, stripped of some of the “lit crit” baggage, we can see this ALL OVER the Bible. What is the Gospel of Matthew if not a reading of the Old Testament books in light of Jesus the Messiah? And the last book in my New Testament- the book of Revelation can be really really confusing if you don’t understand that this is so steeped in the language of the Old Testament and apocalyptic writings you can’t really understand it if you don’t make those connections.  

He then asked what I would make of the followers of Jesus, thinking he was going to return soon. Mark, let me tie this to a question from long-time listener JT in OH (you say IO) and writer of questions- he wanted me to read this verbatim:

[[[When you discuss hagiography in regard to saints' stories (you know, hagiography like the way people will recount great Ram's football games), you do so generously in your approach, a generosity not unlike that of Disney's animated Robin Hood's generosity toward the poor.  

         How would you answer someone who enjoys Angels baseball (but who doesn't actually believe that there are angels) when they say that the Bible is little more than hagiography about Jesus.]]]

Here’s the thing that strikes me about Jesus, which has been commented on by folks way smarter than me: Jesus doesn’t act like we think he should act.

Ah! He’s an apocalyptic firebrand! (Sometimes, sometimes not. He talks about the end coming and then says he even doesn’t know)- and the confusion caused by this- to your question, Mark- led to many thinking he would come back- and the history of the church is positively littered with people claiming to know, only to not know. So, JT- this is my answer to your question about Hagiography: the telling of “inflated” stories or made-up ones in order to make someone appear greater than they really are.

Jesus doesn’t act like he was supposed to act. If I were crafting a story about a messiah, he’d have more political power. He probably wouldn’t have cursed that tree, or I might not have him call the Syro-phoenican woman a dog. But all of the strange and weird things help us see that he is “foolishness” to the world.  

JT- We also have great textual evidence to help us understand that these texts didn’t grow and change over time. We have eyewitnesses, and we have multiple accounts and recordings of stories that agree with one another. As a historian, I treat this text as the historical miracle that it is- the manuscripts, further confirmed last century with advances in Biblical Archaeology, give us good arguments that as weird as this text can be, it has remained by and large unchanged for almost 2000 years. 

I love Bible questions- and If I Don’t have an answer, I will throw them the way of our guys at 30 minutes and 40 minutes.

 

 

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and a little “mysterious” Jesus from John 7:

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 18th of September 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who HAS figured out when Jesus will return; one more reason to get to St. John’s in Random Lake- is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who needs to correct JT. I don’t “enjoy” Angels baseball, but being a fan is my cross to bear. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.