What Have They Done with Jesus?: Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History--Why We Can Trust the Bible

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In our culture, too often the culture will ignore the hard facts found in scholarship on the historical Jesus and instead go with the bizarre crank theories that you can find on the internet and the History Channel. Consider for instance how the idea that Jesus never even existed is spreading like wildfire on the internet. People who will demand the strongest evidences for Christians when making their claims will accept the weakest arguments when made in favor of an idea like this.

So how does Witherington deal with all of this? Witherington suggests we look at the primary sources, the Gospels and the epistles, and see what we can determine about the lives of those who were closest to Jesus. He uses the strongest scholarship he can find and also brings out many of the realities of living in an honor-shame culture that too many people are unfamiliar with. While unfortunately, they are quite familiar with The Da Vinci Code.

Witherington starts at a place we might not expect, with a woman named Joanna. Now I'm not going to give a full look at any argument. That is for the reader to learn when they get the book. Joanna is someone mentioned in Luke 8 and is seen at the crucifixion in Luke 24, yet Witherington also makes a compelling case that she is also the Junia that we find mentioned in Romans Witherington brings out an amazing amount of information on this woman just by looking at the culture that she lived in and seeing the best scholarship on the issue.

We often think of preachers who are said to milk a text for whatever it's worth. Witherington is not like that. He's not trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. Instead, he is more like a highly skilled detective calling in the person for an interview and asking as many questions to get to the truth and finding the person has a lot more to tell than was realized. From there, we move on to Mary Magdalene who contrary to popular theory was not the wife of Jesus. As Witherington has said elsewhere, when she sees Jesus in John 20, we do not see her saying "Oh honey!

So glad you're back! Let's go and get a James Dobson book and revitalize her marriage! Mary Magdalene is a woman with many legends told about her, but she's also a woman with a remarkable story. The culture not being accurate about Mary Magdalene does not mean we should downplay her. This was an amazing woman with a shameful past who is an excellent example of the transforming power of Jesus. From there, we move on to figures who we have more information on.

We go to Peter and how he would have seen Jesus in his time and what information we can gain about what Peter did after the resurrection. Peter was known as Jesus's right hand man and what he would have to say about Jesus would be of utmost importance. As Witherington goes on and shows James and Paul later, Peter will still play an important role there since if Peter gives the okay to these guys, they must have been doing something right. After that, we go to the mother of Jesus.

Mary is definitely another Mary with many stories built up after her. Witherington points out that we have Mariology, but we don't have Peterology or Jamesology. Yet while those of us who are Protestants do think the pendulum has swung too far with the treatment of Mary by Catholics, we should realize the Scripture does say that all people will call Mary blessed, and for good reason and realize that Mary is an important witness to the truth of Christianity and who Jesus was and is. From there, we move to the Beloved Disciple.

Witherington has an interesting take in that he thinks much of the material in the Gospel of John comes from Lazarus. I must say that after reading the material, I find it quite fascinating. Still, it doesn't mean John has no role in this. John could very well have been the editor of all the material and compiled it all together into a Gospel. This is possible and worth considering. The next look comes from James, the brother of Jesus.

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James has often got a bad rap as being a legalist of sorts. Witherington argues that James was in fact an expert at how to handle possibly volatile situations.

Paul was interested in the question of what Gentiles needed to do to be considered Christians. Did they need to be Jewish. James was wanting to make sure there was no entire cut from Judaism and that Gentiles would be sensitive to Jewish concerns so that Jews would want to remain Christians and was wanting to say that Jews could still follow and observe the Law as Christians and honor their heritage.

While there was no doubt some disagreement between the two, if these two were brought together to discuss points of doctrine, there would be more nods of agreement than disagreement. At the end of this section, I had a new respect for James and still do. It left me thankful that there were Christians like James who were put in very difficult situations and had to learn how to walk a line very finely to keep an early church together, and James did this without an instruction manual or without even having access to a New Testament.

He also had no doubt had to rely on people like Peter a great deal for information on Jesus since James was not a disciple beforehand. That Peter let James lead the Jerusalem church shows what a remarkable amount of trust Peter had in James's understanding of the Jesus tradition.

Also, we have a brief look at Jude. Jude is one of the shortest books in the Bible, but it is still a book of utmost importance and the look at Jude, one of Jesus's brothers, will show the importance that Jude would have played in the society and how this little book contains big information on Jesus. Finally, we get to Paul. We too often can see Paul as the originator of Christianity. This would not explain Peter and James approving of the work of Paul.

It also misses the radical change that Paul had in his life, something Witherington brings out well. I have been at men's study groups before where Paul came up and people have said they want to have faith like Paul.

What Have They Done with Jesus? - Ben Witherington III - Paperback

I have reminded them that if they want to have faith like Paul, they need to see the change Christ brings to the world like Paul did. We often do not see that. Paul was a first-rate thinker highly educated and was the one who really first saw the implications of the death and resurrection of Jesus, even beyond that which Peter saw.

This is remarkable since Paul was not part of the inner circle or even part of the twelve at the time of Jesus. Witherington gives a detailed look at the life of the Apostle to the Gentiles and how he changed the world in a way that it has never been the same since. What do all these people have in common? It would take something miraculous to get them to do what they did. It would have to be an utter life-changing event. Witherington sees no other way to explain the rise of the church. None of these major figures who constituted the inner circle of Jesus would have become or remained followers of Jesus after the crucifixion if there was no resurrection and no resurrection appearances of Jesus.

The church, in the persons of its earliest major leaders, was constituted by the event of the resurrection, coupled with the Pentecost event! The stories of these figures, especially their post-Easter stories, are the validation of this fact. There would be no church without the risen and appearing Jesus" I wholeheartedly agree with Witherington.

The best explanation for the rise of the Christian church is the one that the church itself gave. God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus is the Messiah and the fulfillment of the hopes of Israel. Jesus is the one who is bringing the Kingdom of God to man. By His resurrection, God is reclaiming the world for Himself and inviting us to take part in it.

I conclude with saying that this is a book that should be read entirely and its ideas grasped. The people around Jesus will not be seen in the same light again. Readers will also get great clues as to the dynamics that exist in an honor-shame society and what a radical difference that makes to our understanding of Christianity.

In Christ, Nick Peters. Ben Witherington is a professor of New Testament studies. He has written many books and in this one he deals with the "rumor, conjecture, salacious gossip, conspiratorial plots, innuendo and hysterical alarm" as Eugene Peterson put it that surround the name of Jesus. The style of writing in this book is very enjoyable to follow; there are many references as one would expect, but one does not have the sense of overload as is often the case with theology.

Witherington tackles many of the causes of the effects noted by Peterson in the quote above: We can say this with assurance about the brothers of Jesus, about Paul, and about Peter, who had to be restored, and about the Beloved Disciple. There is no reason to think that they would have continued to be Jesus's disciples and have shown up in the upper room at Pentecost had they not seen the risen Lord, or in Mary's case at least received the witness that he had risen from those who did see him and renounced their previous cowardly lack of faith, or denials, or desertion.

Wright, Richard Bauckham, and Ed Komoszewski; Witherington's is perhaps the most readable, while being every bit as true to scripture.

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Probably not interesting to the skeptic, this would be an excellent read for any Christian feeling confused in the wake of claims about this or that "secret" about the historical Jesus. As Witherington notes, there is no other than the gospel Jesus to be found. I would recommend it for junior high and up. Jun 29, Rick Boyer rated it really liked it.

This is a very useful, informative, and well-written text, which seeks to counter some of the spurious, specious, and foolish "reconstructions" of Jesus which have hit the bookshelves in the last ten to fifteen years or so. To accomplish his goal, Dr. Witherington considers what we can know about, and learn from, the "inner circle" of Jesus' closest disciples for example, Peter, James, Paul, Mary Magdalene, the Beloved Disciple, etc.

Witherington gives us a very close and penetrating examinati This is a very useful, informative, and well-written text, which seeks to counter some of the spurious, specious, and foolish "reconstructions" of Jesus which have hit the bookshelves in the last ten to fifteen years or so. Witherington gives us a very close and penetrating examination of the pertinent biblical texts, along with assorted secondary sources, including the works of Josephus and some of the earliest church Fathers. The result is a work which sheds much light on some heretofore "under the radar" aspects of Jesus' life and ministry.

As a pastor and teacher, I found this effort to be quite helpful and illuminating. Witherington proposes some novel, but biblically defensible, ways of considering the gospel narratives. A good and very intriguing example is his well-reasoned argument that the Beloved Disciple of the Gospel of John is none other than Jesus' dear friend, Lazarus.

What Have They Done with Jesus?

Witherington goes even farther, and contends that this same Lazarus may well be the primary witness behind the Johanine gospel; either as the actual writer, or the source of information which was written down and later edited by someone else. It's a very interesting idea, and Witherington does a good job of making his case for it. This is a helpful book for pastors and biblical teachers, and educated laypeople who would like to have a more in-depth understand of some key Scriptural material.

Witherington writes in a very engaging and easy to comprehend way, keeping the theological mumbo-jumbo to a minimum. I happily recommend this book! Jan 26, Brent Wilson rated it it was amazing Shelves: Witherington is a legitimate scholar in every sense - very prolific as well as an author of popular books like this one. I gained lots of insights and understandings - how Jesus related to his familyl and friends. He speculates whether Lazarus could be the author of the Gospel of John.

Interesting ideas like that! Witherington is - how would you say it - conservative scholar? He takes very seriously Christian truth claims and historical claims, while using critical tools for unde Loved this book. He takes very seriously Christian truth claims and historical claims, while using critical tools for understanding them. Nice combination of critical and faithful tools. This could be a good place to start for those interested in an intro to Jesus scholarship.

This is a solid work of New Testament scholarship and insight. Witherington has some startling ideas the role of Johanna in the early church and the true identity of The Beloved Disciple, to name two.

But his use of solid, scholarship and Biblical backing really makes a case. I recommend this book for all those who are trying to broaden their knowledge of the New Testament, along with the context of the 1st-century world in which it was written. Jan 29, Brad Cooper rated it liked it Shelves: Moments of brilliance badly tainted by errors in basic Biblical facts, arguments from silence and other annoying issues. Also, this book could have been half as long Nonetheless, there were frequently insights that were so excellent that it was worth wading through to get there.

Dec 31, Marcus rated it really liked it.

What Have They Done with Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories & Bad History-Why We Can Trust the Bible

Though much of it is long, stretched speculation, Witherington fascinated me in his creativity and willingness to explore the humanity of those that fill the pages of Scripture. Really enjoyed this one. Fascinating Really enjoyed this. I learned a lot. Not exactly a page turner though. If you are at all interested in New Testament background read it. David Anderson rated it liked it Jul 11, Lance rated it really liked it Aug 14, Libby rated it liked it May 26, Gerry Heyboer rated it really liked it Sep 11, Andy rated it it was amazing Aug 17, Jonathan rated it really liked it Nov 24, Darryl Burling rated it it was ok Nov 22, Joshua Frane rated it really liked it Jan 14, Sharman Wilson rated it really liked it Mar 19, Chris Haven rated it really liked it Jan 23, Matt Ginter rated it really liked it Mar 17, Henry rated it really liked it Sep 27,

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