A literary reading of the four canonical gospels and the Book of Acts.
A literary reading of the four canonical gospels and the Book of Acts.
Ancient & classical, Israel & palestine, New testament
Anyone who has ever spent time in a Christian church knows that the gospels are never read as a series of ordered events forming a narrative whole. Instead they are read with dogged incoherence, focusing on tiny snippets taken out of context. The birth stories of Matthew and Luke are emphasized at Christmas; the stone rolls away from the tomb at Easter. The gospels are used in churches only as occasional readings, lections, chapters and verses which are dipped into for liturgical moments. If we understand them that way, it makes no difference whether Peter and John observe Jesus raising a dead girl in one chapter and in the next seem dumbfounded by the very concept of resurrection. That juxtaposition is dramatically incoherent only if we assume that meaning derives from the order of events in a story that is read as a whole; that is, as a literary fiction. Reading the gospels as novels raises questions about how we think of fiction, how we think of history, and how we think of religion. Critical reading opens windows to truth claims at basic levels: the level of the definition of the text, the level of when and how it was composed, the level of form or genre. These are questions for the literary critic, and they lead to factual conclusions, including the author's conclusion that crucifixion and resurrection are allegories for the destruction of Jewish culture in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and the rebirth of that culture in the form of a Hellenized and de-tribalized Judaic offshoot, Christianity.
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"Mind Blowing New Reading of the Gospels" July 1, 2013 Not for the timid or insecure. I can't think of another book about the Bible that combines such modesty with such audacity. Using new historicist techniques and assumptions, Clarke Owens offers us a series of close readings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts denuded of doctrinal overlays. The result is an unexpected new look at Biblical texts previously rendered opaque by centuries of theologically motivated readings. I was surprised and enlightened at every turn. Owens' approach reveals hitherto disguised fictional and rhetorical techniques. And as a result, old lines suddenly become fresh again-- freed from their presumed trite and cliched meanings. At first I tried to defend myself against the originality of this book by questioning its approach, but its calm, patient method and critical exactitude was too convincing and productive. There are no axes grinding here. This is not a new theory or doctrine being applied. Rather Clarke Owens has attempted something so rare as to be utterly astonishing: he has tried to read the Gospels free from religious presumption as texts in their own right. This is "close reading" at its contemporary finest applied to the foundational texts of Western Civilization. The essay format provides more hermeneutical bang for the buck and saves the book from being too long. Son of Yahweh has made me rethink and reconsider many of the things I thought I already knew about the New Testament. ~ author Robert Inchausti, Amazon
"Owens' first chapter, 'Literary Criticism and the Historical Jesus', is brilliant and deserves to be read and addressed by everyone who has an interest in how scholars work on the "quest" for the historical Jesus." -- Neil Godfrey aka Vridar ~ Clarke W. Owens, Vridar web site
