Rivaling the discovering of the Talpiot Tomb itself is this new revelation presented above in a news source almost as reliable as the recent book on the tomb of Jesus. Who knew that the M+M on that candy actually stood for Mary Magdalene!!!
You just never know where ole Mary Magdalene may pop up next and who she might be linked with. It would be interesting to see her on an episode of "Desperate Housewives". I can only imagine the stories she could tell about being married to Jesus-- "Cooking for that man was just impossible-- he demanded that everything be just perfect". Or perhaps we may hope to see an image of her appear on a barn in Nebraska. Me personally I am holding out for the line of Mary Magdalene clothes and accessories. I gather they're doing something with bringing out a new line of burkas as well with her label on them.
Stay tuned for further revelations about Mary Magdalene. You may yet prove to be one of her descendants :)
i love pardon my planet. i run it in the paper i work at daily, and it never fails to provide a laugh. doubly so with this one.
ReplyDeleteI loved this!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see Mary Magdalene cereal!
It may interest you to know that your buddy Richard Bauckham's recent book has been exposed for what it is: propaganda written under the guise of "scholarship" to validate an irrational and destructive belief. A very thorough chapter-by-chapter rebuttal of it can be found starting here and continuing at the poster's blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/gp/discussionboard/discussion.html/ref=cm_rdp_st_rd/103-9247780-0177446?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0802831621&store=yourstore&cdThread=Tx1TW5Q2UREE9RO&reviewID=R11DMN3XBRIJVF&displayType=ReviewDetail
Richard Bauckham vs. Random Amazon Reviewer...
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
On another note, Dr. Witherington, do you think these types of "discoveries" (well, perhaps not to the m&m extreme) will cause or have already caused problems for authentic discoveries?
Hmm. I thought M & M stood for Mary and Martha. And Martha is definitely a better candidate for “Desperate Housewives.”
ReplyDeleteIt is troubling to me that the archaeologists who work in Israel are constantly concerned that their data will be hijacked and used to grind one ax or another. Joe Zias told me not long ago that he was pleased to see the Talpiot tomb nonsense dying down because it was getting in the way of actually being able to do their jobs, for example tourists showing up hoping to see the non-existent bones of Jesus somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWhat is even more interesting is how irrational and hysterical and just plain immoral the criticisms of scholars like Richard Bauckham have become. It appears that people who do not like Christianity are even prepared to lie to try and discredit it and all in the name of honesty and truth, and that is simply shameful. In fact that sort of desperate approach is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Blessings,
BW3
Adolf Hitler once said, "What luck for rulers that men do not think," and, "The victor will never be asked if he told the truth."
ReplyDeleteIt is troubling to me that the archaeologists who work in Israel are constantly concerned that their data will be hijacked and used to grind one ax or another.
ReplyDeleteJohn Dickson was saying that some historical Jesus scholars who don't have an ax to grind either way feel the same way. He is putting together a documentary about the life of Jesus and he had to walk softly with some of the scholars because they were leery of having their work misconstrued.
If anyone remembers it, there was a second-season episode of the television show Millennium (by the creators of the X-Files) which did have Mary Magdaelene appearing in it. This particular episode must have drawn on some of the earlier Magdalenan junk writing, as it involved a female descendant of hers and Jesus, etc and so on.
ReplyDeleteGreat show with weird subjects.
Oh my giddy aunt!! How aptly put.
ReplyDeleteI believe William Blake put it best: "The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness." We will forgive Richard Bauckham his bigotry, ignorance, self-serving agenda, and misrepresentation. It is the least we can do.
You didn't even read what Rational linked to, did you? It's a very systematic and thorough debunking. You aren't going to squirm out of it with just a sentence or paragraph writing it off as "random Amazon reviewer" or "lies."
ReplyDeleteActually I did read it, if you are talking about the long review from the gentleman in Australia. The major fly in the ointment is that he assumes things about how Jewish folks handed on their religious teachings and evidence which are simply wrong.
ReplyDeleteOver and over again it has been demonstrated that Form Criticism had it wrong about the supposed long period of gestation of the Jesus tradition. He also makes various historical mistakes not the least of which is ignoring the fact that eyewitness testimony is not only found in the NT and is reliable, even those like Luke who was not an eyewitness knew and consulted those who were.
The notion that either all those early Christians were hallucinating or were perpetrating a fraud is neither rational nor reasonable. The book by Byrskog is in fact only part of a longer Scandanavian tradition involving several scholars who have made quite clear that written history can indeed be true history especially when it relies on the careful testimony of those who are there.
BW3
I've been aware of Neil Godfrey's massive review for some time now. Trust the guy to put the most uncharitable spin possible on anyone's position that he doesn't agree with, not just Bauckham but F.F. Bruce and others as well. I think he makes some good points at specific junctures, but his overall argument is just so much hand-waving and fails to take into account that Bauckham is working like any historian would, and has publicly acknowledged that some of his arguments are more speculative than others. Well, let me tell you something: if some of Bauckham's proposals are speculative, that applies doubly so for the intricate conspiracy theories which ultra-skeptics invent to explain away the Gospels and the rest of the NT as the product of some sort of syncretistic cult.
ReplyDeleteBut I would be interested in hearing what you think of the entire review, Dr. Witherington. It IS pretty long, but I do think Godfrey does make some interesting points and raises some interesting questions. It would make a great series of blog posts, like you did for James Tabor's book.
this is hilarious Ben. Maybe they really did FIND ur body. JK.
ReplyDeleteLance Miley
What i meant by "ur" wasn't your body BEn, but mary magdalene. oh, wait, they alreadyt did find her body: remember that talpito tomb thing in the 80's.
ReplyDelete