SUGGESTION: Hyam Maccoby Collection

David Paul
David Paul Member Posts: 6,077 ✭✭✭
edited December 2024 in English Forum

I'm pretty sure I already posted for Maccoby in the past, but it doesn't come up in a search, so here is my redux. Please include:

  • Judas Iscariot & the Myth of Jewish Evil
  • Jesus the Pharisee
  • The Disputation
  • Revolution in Judea
  • Judaism on Trial
  • The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity
  • Philosophy of the Talmud
  • Early Rabbinic Writings
  • Ritual and Morality
  • The Day God Laughed
  • The Sacred Executioner
  • Judaism in the First Century

...and whatever else you can drum up. Achtung!! Thanks! [Y]

ASUS  ProArt x570s Creator, AMD R9 5950x, HyperX 64gb 3600 RAM, ASUS Strix RTX 2080 ti

"The Unbelievable Work...believe it or not."  Little children...Biblical prophecy is not Christianity's friend.

Comments

  • David Paul
    David Paul Member Posts: 6,077 ✭✭✭

    FYI, I have 92 resources in my library that mention, reference, or quote Maccoby.

    ASUS  ProArt x570s Creator, AMD R9 5950x, HyperX 64gb 3600 RAM, ASUS Strix RTX 2080 ti

    "The Unbelievable Work...believe it or not."  Little children...Biblical prophecy is not Christianity's friend.

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 55,149

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • David Paul
    David Paul Member Posts: 6,077 ✭✭✭

    I'm reading The Mythmaker right now (picked it up on Amazon) and Maccoby generates a ton of material that is worthy of consideration by Christians. The chapter on "why was Jesus crucified" (since nothing He said theologically would have bothered the Pharisees) asks and asserts many thought-provoking notions. I have my response, but all Christians worth their salt should have theirs as well. Another thought-worthy query...why was a Pharisee of Pharisees (Shaa'uul) running lackey errands for the Sadducee high priest?

    I've seen videos of Christians attempting to "witness" to Jews, only to get stumped and left completely flat-footed with just one or two questions. The reason this happens is because Christians tend to feed only on their own self-serving in-house pablum. Unless you can cross swords with Jewish thought and walk away with you spleen still intact, you really are just deluding yourself about your beliefs and convictions...and you aren't even remotely prepared to "give an answer". Familiarizing yourself with the arguments in advance is the kind of "know your adversary" preparation we all require.

    Logos needs to cobble together a Maccoby collection asap and get it into PrePub.

    ASUS  ProArt x570s Creator, AMD R9 5950x, HyperX 64gb 3600 RAM, ASUS Strix RTX 2080 ti

    "The Unbelievable Work...believe it or not."  Little children...Biblical prophecy is not Christianity's friend.

  • David Paul
    David Paul Member Posts: 6,077 ✭✭✭

    ASUS  ProArt x570s Creator, AMD R9 5950x, HyperX 64gb 3600 RAM, ASUS Strix RTX 2080 ti

    "The Unbelievable Work...believe it or not."  Little children...Biblical prophecy is not Christianity's friend.

  • David Paul
    David Paul Member Posts: 6,077 ✭✭✭

    ASUS  ProArt x570s Creator, AMD R9 5950x, HyperX 64gb 3600 RAM, ASUS Strix RTX 2080 ti

    "The Unbelievable Work...believe it or not."  Little children...Biblical prophecy is not Christianity's friend.

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 14,467 ✭✭✭✭

    I'm reading The Mythmaker right now (picked it up on Amazon)

    First, I agree, Maccoby should be in Logos. He offers a good perspective (jewish, without implying a monopoly) on the New Testament accounts. 

    I just finished the Mythmaker book. I was sorely disappointed (but see above endorsement). I started with his notes (grouped in back of book), then, the book. His style is unique, offering the conclusions first, due to the pieces being so inter-related. The sorely-disappointed was the 'sin' of conclusions built on assumptions, overlaying even more assumptions. 

    Essentially, he proposes the Talmud (including Mishnah and surrounding writings) were 'the pharisees', and then denies Saul/Paul access, pushing him over to the gnostics. Now, I'd be the first to agree, the accounts have major problems, none ever satisfactorily resolved. The most obvious, being 'his prophesy didn't happen'. But a stack of proposals in Mythmaker is not academic; more popular reading.

    Now, maybe I'm overly influenced by 'the Source' (Nyland), which I'm also buried in. She nails every point down and then re-tightens, so the issue is 'the source', agree or not.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • David Paul
    David Paul Member Posts: 6,077 ✭✭✭

    Not sure how you found this old post. I searched for it and got no returns. Anyway...Maccoby is a bit of an odd bird. He seems to fall in the "Jesus yes, Paul no" school of Jewish thought. It's surprising how many Jewish folks have that view. The basic idea is that Yeishuua` really doesn't contradict the fundamental perspective that Tohraah is YHWH's eternal will...and Paulus explicitly contradicts it. Ergo, if Christianity is a package deal--then NO DEAL. Stated otherwise, the reason Jews reject Jesus is Paul.

    ASUS  ProArt x570s Creator, AMD R9 5950x, HyperX 64gb 3600 RAM, ASUS Strix RTX 2080 ti

    "The Unbelievable Work...believe it or not."  Little children...Biblical prophecy is not Christianity's friend.

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 14,467 ✭✭✭✭

    Stated otherwise, the reason Jews reject Jesus is Paul.

    There's probably a lot of truth in that. Paul seems to not be too keen on Jesus teachings (except marriage and oxen-funding). But strangely, the early fathers go down the same road ... OT prophesy plus Paulism. Every now and then, Jesus accidentally intrudes.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.