The Burial of Jesus What Does History Have to Do with Faith? eBook James F McGrath
Download As PDF : The Burial of Jesus What Does History Have to Do with Faith? eBook James F McGrath 
How do historians study the life and death of Jesus, and why does their work matter to believers today? In this fascinating and accessible guide, Dr. James F. McGrath helps us make sense of the relationship between history and faith. He explains
- how historical study works
- why historians explore possibilities that religious believers find shocking
- why Jesus' disciples would have wanted to steal his body
- why later gospel writers changed earlier versions
- why Christian faith in the resurrection is not about what happened to a body almost 2,000 years ago.
Read "The Burial of Jesus" and find out why history matters to faith and how today's historical scholarship is working on the faith of millions of believers today.
*****
"In this valuable contribution to the body of serious biblical scholarship written for a lay audience, James McGrath does a particularly admirable job of distinguishing faith’s and history’s proper spheres while making the case for a confident faith that takes the claims of historical and scientific research seriously rather than as a threat to faith."
Brent A. R. Hege, Ph.D.
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Butler University
The Burial of Jesus What Does History Have to Do with Faith? eBook James F McGrath
This is the kind of book I would buy multiple copies of to hand out. It is a tremendous introduction to historical criticism as it relates to historical claims where our primary evidence is ancient texts. It would be useful both for Christians trying to understand their Bible better and non-Christians who are interested in how Biblical claims relate to history and/or what Christian belief can look like without jettisoning evidence, research, and your brain in general. This book has proven ideal for groups where Christian and non-Christian "seekers" dialogue together about such issues, and it would serve as a good text for a gutsy Sunday School class.The subtitle of the book is perfect, but the title itself might lead people to believe the book is predominantly about arguments for and against various understandings of Jesus' burial (and resurrection). For the purposes of this book, it is probably better to think of Jesus' burial as a sort of case study for the methodologies McGrath is trying to get across. It is these methodologies and their relationship to faith claims that are the central point of the book.
The first part gives a really good, introductory overview of how historical research is done into areas where our primary evidence is ancient textual sources. As part of this explanation, he also gives a good introduction to source theories of the Gospels, including the role of Q, and what historical difficulties arise when comparing the claims of the Gospels and how historical studies work through those tensions.
Having established in general how historical studies work with texts and their environment and how this works in particular with the Gospels, McGrath then focuses on the burial of Jesus. Although I have read many works that mention the burial as a corollary to proving (or disproving) the Resurrection, this is the first time I've read a study just focusing on the burial. The information and evaluations of it McGrath produces are enlightening and useful for anyone who wants to understand those narratives better as well as the "story behind the story" that fills in some gaps that one might not get from a surface reading of the narratives. By using the discussions of the previous sections, McGrath arranges the details of the narratives, compares them, and presents what he sees as the most likely historical outplaying of the burial events.
At the same time, McGrath does not press the historical studies into areas that he perceives as properly belonging to faith claims that are inaccessible to the tools of historical studies. For example, he does not attempt to establish the likelihood or lack thereof of a resurrection of Jesus and what that would have looked like. He does, however, present what the understanding of such a resurrection would be at the time and the historical evidence for belief in the resurrection. He is very careful to distinguish between what historical studies can authoritatively speak and where they can't - a distinction that even people with a very theologically conservative bent should be able to appreciate.
McGrath also spends some time talking about the role of the resurrection in Christian belief as well as looking at the historical evidence for how the events around the burial affected the early church. As a Christian, I found this part very valuable as McGrath puts the locus of this belief squarely on the activity of the Spirit, which for a post-modern, post-Christendom church is a necessary point to make for the survivability of the Christian faith and might mean a brisk reduction in sermons like "All the Apologetic Evidence I Can Think of for the Resurrection I Learned in Bible College" and an increase in sermons like "How We Encounter Jesus Through the Activity of the Spirit: From Acts to Us."
It should be noted that McGrath does not resolve apparent contradictions in the Gospels through harmonization, so people looking for that should probably look for a different book. McGrath lets the difficulties stand and attempts to explain how they may have come about through a historical process. In other words, the assumption is that the differences in the Gospel accounts are legitimate differences and not merely selectively different perspectives. This may disturb proponents of inerrancy, but I would say that even if you disagree with this approach, you'll find the information useful. McGrath is certainly a Christian and even includes a brief description of his own conversion that would resonate with even the most altar-callingest, King James Onlyest, Basement Bible College graduatingest Christian there is. I would say that even if someone disagrees with a lot of McGrath's conclusions on inerrantist grounds, you'll still get a lot out of the book as long as you read it from the perspective of McGrath as a man of faith taking the Bible very seriously and a competent scholar.
If you are already heavily steeped in New Testament scholarship, great swaths of this book may be repetition to you, although the focus on the burial might be useful if you haven't already dug (no pun intended) into that specific topic. But for people who may not have that academic background but have the interest, this is an incredibly accessible introduction to this area of study, perfect for both the armchair scholar as well as your rank and file individual who is just interested in the issue of how historical studies relate to the Bible and faith claims in general.
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The Burial of Jesus What Does History Have to Do with Faith? eBook James F McGrath Reviews
Very interesting and well written account.
Considering this book is written by a Christian, and I am an agnostic (between atheism and deism), I found this book to be a fine read. I is short, which is great considering my lengthy backlog of books, and is not burdened by footnotes, revelling in its elegant simplicity.
The strength is that the author, as a believer, does not bring to the table, as a historian, any presuppositions. One often sees conservative scholars being forced to find strength in other conservative works because of their presupposed beliefs, as opposed to the strengths of the evidence and arguments proposed.
McGrath, however, deals with evidence in a historical and naturalistic manner - which is all a historian really can do. The evidence, therefore, is dealt with objectively - or as objectively as I have ever seen any Christian. There needs to be more research into the burial and whether it was honourable or not. The evidence would really point to a dishonourable one, and it is thus frustrating that people like William Lane Craig build whole arguments built on fallacious premises that the burial was honourable, or that Joseph of Arimathea was a secret Christian. I embrace the fact that here we have a rational Christian, McGrath, who looks at the evidence, and detaches himself from what he wants it to conclude, and conscludes based upon the plausibility of the evidence, and the methodology of historical approaches. There are also throughly sensible views towards inerrancy and suchlike.
A thoughtful conclusion follows, rounding up a sound book that I raced through in record time. I thoroughly recommend this, especially to those just entering the world of biblical scholarship, as concise synopses of Gospel historicity are given. It has made me visit his blog, and I have parleyed with him on John Loftus' blog, where he has always been rational and logical in his approach to his belief. Good stuff - I wish more Christians were as rational and balanced.
This book is an excellent introduction to the historical study of the Bible. I was very pleased with how Dr. McGrath handled the topic of what we can and cannot say -- from a historical perspective -- concerning what happened to the body of Jesus.
Superb short read laying out the case for and against the resurrection. He no doubt thinks it really happened and so do I. Amazing amount of relevant information packed in this slender book and all explained very simply for the uninitiated. Highly recommended for all interested parties regardless of knowledge level,
This is the kind of book I would buy multiple copies of to hand out. It is a tremendous introduction to historical criticism as it relates to historical claims where our primary evidence is ancient texts. It would be useful both for Christians trying to understand their Bible better and non-Christians who are interested in how Biblical claims relate to history and/or what Christian belief can look like without jettisoning evidence, research, and your brain in general. This book has proven ideal for groups where Christian and non-Christian "seekers" dialogue together about such issues, and it would serve as a good text for a gutsy Sunday School class.
The subtitle of the book is perfect, but the title itself might lead people to believe the book is predominantly about arguments for and against various understandings of Jesus' burial (and resurrection). For the purposes of this book, it is probably better to think of Jesus' burial as a sort of case study for the methodologies McGrath is trying to get across. It is these methodologies and their relationship to faith claims that are the central point of the book.
The first part gives a really good, introductory overview of how historical research is done into areas where our primary evidence is ancient textual sources. As part of this explanation, he also gives a good introduction to source theories of the Gospels, including the role of Q, and what historical difficulties arise when comparing the claims of the Gospels and how historical studies work through those tensions.
Having established in general how historical studies work with texts and their environment and how this works in particular with the Gospels, McGrath then focuses on the burial of Jesus. Although I have read many works that mention the burial as a corollary to proving (or disproving) the Resurrection, this is the first time I've read a study just focusing on the burial. The information and evaluations of it McGrath produces are enlightening and useful for anyone who wants to understand those narratives better as well as the "story behind the story" that fills in some gaps that one might not get from a surface reading of the narratives. By using the discussions of the previous sections, McGrath arranges the details of the narratives, compares them, and presents what he sees as the most likely historical outplaying of the burial events.
At the same time, McGrath does not press the historical studies into areas that he perceives as properly belonging to faith claims that are inaccessible to the tools of historical studies. For example, he does not attempt to establish the likelihood or lack thereof of a resurrection of Jesus and what that would have looked like. He does, however, present what the understanding of such a resurrection would be at the time and the historical evidence for belief in the resurrection. He is very careful to distinguish between what historical studies can authoritatively speak and where they can't - a distinction that even people with a very theologically conservative bent should be able to appreciate.
McGrath also spends some time talking about the role of the resurrection in Christian belief as well as looking at the historical evidence for how the events around the burial affected the early church. As a Christian, I found this part very valuable as McGrath puts the locus of this belief squarely on the activity of the Spirit, which for a post-modern, post-Christendom church is a necessary point to make for the survivability of the Christian faith and might mean a brisk reduction in sermons like "All the Apologetic Evidence I Can Think of for the Resurrection I Learned in Bible College" and an increase in sermons like "How We Encounter Jesus Through the Activity of the Spirit From Acts to Us."
It should be noted that McGrath does not resolve apparent contradictions in the Gospels through harmonization, so people looking for that should probably look for a different book. McGrath lets the difficulties stand and attempts to explain how they may have come about through a historical process. In other words, the assumption is that the differences in the Gospel accounts are legitimate differences and not merely selectively different perspectives. This may disturb proponents of inerrancy, but I would say that even if you disagree with this approach, you'll find the information useful. McGrath is certainly a Christian and even includes a brief description of his own conversion that would resonate with even the most altar-callingest, King James Onlyest, Basement Bible College graduatingest Christian there is. I would say that even if someone disagrees with a lot of McGrath's conclusions on inerrantist grounds, you'll still get a lot out of the book as long as you read it from the perspective of McGrath as a man of faith taking the Bible very seriously and a competent scholar.
If you are already heavily steeped in New Testament scholarship, great swaths of this book may be repetition to you, although the focus on the burial might be useful if you haven't already dug (no pun intended) into that specific topic. But for people who may not have that academic background but have the interest, this is an incredibly accessible introduction to this area of study, perfect for both the armchair scholar as well as your rank and file individual who is just interested in the issue of how historical studies relate to the Bible and faith claims in general.
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