Crenshaw's Books & Decks

This is a 12-hour or so audio course by Professor Bart D. Ehrman,a Princeton Ph.D. recipient, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and renowned scholar on Early Modern Christianity and on the figure of Jesus.

 This 24-lesson course (30 minutes or so each) is well structured and paced. Due to the nature of the material analysied, Ehrman devotes a good deal of time to explain how historians analyse their sources, a process that is valid for any source on any period, not specifically on Jesus, but especially relevant for the study of the historical Jesus.  Once the methodology and criteria used to study the sources are explained, Erhman separates reality from myth, possible from highly improbable, what we know for from what we don't regarding Jesus's infancy, years of ministry, preaching, deeds, death and resurrection.

The lectures are:

1- The Many Faces of Jesus. 2-One Remarkable Life. 3- Scholars Look at the Gospels. 4- Fact and Fiction in the Gospels. 5- The Birth of the Gospels. 6- Some of the Other Gospels [Gnostic Gospels of Thomas and St Peter's Gospel]. 7- The Coptic Gospel of Thomas. 8- Other Sources [Pagan sources, Jewish sources, and Canonical sources outside the Gospels]. 9- Historical Criteria. Getting Back to Jesus [Criterion of independent attestation]. 10- More Historical Criteria [criterion of dissimilarity and criterion of contextual credibility]. 11- The Early Life of Jesus. 12-Jesus in His Context [Jew religious movements in the 1st century]. 13- Jesus and Roman Rule [Apocalyptic prophets sharing points in the period]. 14- Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet [elements that show Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet]. 15- The Apocalyptic Teachings of Jesus. 16- Other Teachings of Jesus in their Apocalyptic Context. 17- The Deeds of Jesus in their Apocalyptic Context [Arguments of historians who don't think Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet and Ehrman's reply to them]. 18-  Still Other Words and Deeds of Jesus [Jesus' miracles]. 19- The Controversies of Jesus. 20- The Last Days of Jesus. 21- The Last Hours of Jesus. 22- The Death and Resurrection of Jesus. 23- The Afterlife of Jesus. 24- The Prophet of the New Millennium.

You can download the 185-page book on PDF from your library (in your member area), potion the cursor on the PDF link and let clink and select save link as, and it will download. Ehrman's books are not as student-friendly as others from other professors as there are not tables, figures, photos or anything graphic in them.  The book includes a very useful Timeline, a glossary, and a commented bibliography. However, the bibliography is quite old as the initial course was prepared and recorded in year 2000. So why not updating the PDF book with more modern recommended readings and further info about the latest developments? That would be extremely easy to do as the course was released for Audible in 2013 and it is a long period with lots of new developments and bibliography produced. So, in a way, some of the things said in the book might be a bit outdated.

This is an excellent audio recording, great neat sound, well-structured and narrated, with musical clues that indicate the end of a chapter, and headings by a radio-voice presenter at the beginning of each chapter. Unlike other courses in the series, this one has a boxed applause at the beginning of each lecture, not sure if  real applause or added for effect.

Ehrman has a great knowledge and a clear way of structuring and exposing his points verbally, the reading is well paced and full of energy, and the recording is very enjoyable to listen to, never boring. However, there are a few odd things that don't make the narration flow as well as other lecturers courses: The fluctuation of the voice is a bit brusque at times, with high energy ending in a too-long silence, and Ehrman stumbles upon his own words quite often, as if he was self-conscious and a bit nervous when recording. Of course, this is just my impression.  

~~ The method on which Ehrman analysis the sources on Jesus is actually the sort of analysis that serious historians apply to the sources they use for their research, no matter the subject of interest. Historical research, especially biblical research, without the exegesis of the sources is not serious History.
~~  It shows how History-making is not just babble, or putting together facts in a linear sequence. History-making has a method and methodology, a set of rules that are serious, and that are extremely important to support and give credibility to any historical research. This is especially relevant when speaking of the figure of Jesus.
~~ The Gospels offer not only different information about Jesus but things that are totally contradictory so it is difficult to decide which thing is correct and which thing is not correct.

~~ One might guess that Jesus being such an important man and figure, there would be tons of historical reliable references about his life, teachings, deeds in Jew, Pagan and Christian sources, but the contrary is true. We know very little about the historical Jesus, and much of what we believe true through the New Testament is not true or not historically reliable.
~~ Jesus was a Jew who believed and supported the Law of Moses. Most of his disagreements with other Jew factions was based not on the questioning of the validity of that Law, but on how to deal with confusing or vague passages in the Old Testament.
~~ Jesus was one of the many Apocalyptic prophets in 1st-century Judea. 

~~ Christianity didn't begin with Jesus' life or death, but began with the belief of Jesus' resurrection, which affected the way those believers understood who he was and what he taught.

Historical Reliable Information about Jesus from the Course

~~ INFANCY:
Jesus was born and raised as a Jew in Nazareth, his parents being Mary and Joseph, the later a manual worker. His mother had other children, and wasn't a virgin, she didn't know about her son being the chosen one or special. Jesus has brothers and sisters, James being one of them. Jesus spoke Aramaic and had a normal education and upbringing; he wasn't specially precocious or was invested of special qualities, but he learned Hebrew and Greek and could read the Scriptures. 
~~ ADULT LIFE:
> We don't know what happened between his infancy and until he was baptised, but we know that he began his public ministry by associating and being baptised by John the Baptist, an apocalyptic prophet of the time, for which we can assume that Jesus also was an apocalyptic prophets of the 1st Century Palestine. The first Christian communities in the Mediterranean that spread after he died believed that the end of the world was coming and therefore were also apocalyptic Christian communities. Most importantly, his teachings, sayings and actions had all the elements of the apocalypticism of the time: 1/ cosmic dualism; 2/ pessimism; 3/ God was going to intervene in history, create a kingdom on earth, final judgement would take place; 4/the kingdom of god was almost here, to happen in a generation.
> His ethical teachings were not presented as universal truths, but valid for the historical context in which they were uttered; his teachings were not a contradiction but a reaffirmation of the need to follow Moses' law but differed from the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes: In all these disagreements, the issue was never over whether God’s law, as found in the Hebrew Bible, should be kept. The question was how it should be kept and what it meant to keep it. (p. 101) He also spread a message of love that was strongly new, love your neighbour and God above all.  But Jesus didn't see himself as creating a new system of ethics and saw love to survive the coming destruction of the world.
> Jesus carried his ministry largely in rural areas, despite Nazareth being very close to two big urban centres.
> Jesus' period of public ministry is uncertain but it goes from several months to about two years and a half maximum as per the Gospels' own information.
> Jesus was rejected or at odds with his own family, with the people of his home town of Nazareth, and not very popular with the towns and villages of Galilee he visited as an itinerant preacher. Jesus was also rejected by the religious leaders of the Jews in Palestine for the interpretation of the law not about the law itself when Moses' Law was incomplete or ambiguous.
~~ DEATH:
> In the last week of his life, Jesus decided to bring his apocalyptic message to the heart of the Kingdom, Jerusalem, during the Passover feast. He entered the city with other pilgrims, without being especially noticed. Once in Jerusalem he acted out the coming destruction of the world by creating a disturbance in the temple. This attracted the attention of the temple authorities, who decided he needed to be removed from the public eye.
>  Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, who told to the authorities some of the secret teachings Jesus had given to his inner circle of 12 disciples, in which Jesus had a leader role in the coming Kingdom of God, which placed him in a sort of political king and crease a political riot. This grounds were the basis of his arrest. Jesus was arrested by the Jew authorities and brought him to an informal interrogation and then handed over the Roman authorities for trial.
> Jesus died on the cross considered as a seditious Jew who could generate social upheaval or at least some riots. Historically speaking, we cannot state or deny his resurrection, just that his followers would end believing so. 

~~ I would have liked to know in which areas, if any, Jesus differed from other apocalyptic prophets of the 1st Century.
~~ I would have loved some reflection on the fact that there being many apocalyptic prophets in the 1st Century, Jesus' message ended being the only one perpetuated. Why that did happen? There was something about his personality? His message? The circumstances in which he died?
~~ Why would Jesus' followers spread the message and create Christian communities and not the followers of other apocalyptic prophets of the time?
~~ Is there any truth about the so-called Unknown Years of Jesus, the theory that states that Jesus didn't raise from the dead but survived crucifixion and went on preaching to India? I would have loved a bit of attention to this topic, to its refutation or not, and on which grounds. I am sure that Ehrman has plenty to say about this subject. 

Good value for money even if you pay it in full, and a bargain if you have a membership with Audible. 

Ehrman clearly states at the beginning of the course and during the same that you can examine the figure as Jesus from a historical point of view or a theological point of view, and that he is doing the first, without trying to support or deny anything about Jesus. Serious Historians do what Ehrman does with his sources, so we cannot pretend that he forgets what is not comfortable for us to hear. This being the case, conservative and fundamental Christians, who have an agenda in having the Gospels to be God's Word and follow it to the letter, will find the course confronting and difficult to deal with at all levels. You've been warned.

In short

The whole series of lectures is mind blowing. Except for the last lecture, which I considered a bit digressive and off topic re Jesus, I think the course is stupendous. Even if you are a faithful Christian, it can help you to understand who Jesus really was and give an extra layer to your set of beliefs. Of course, if you believe the writings of the Gospels to be God's word, and Jesus to be God, this is not a book for you!

I found the course especially good as a way to demonstrate how serious historians work and how they use their sources. This is especially important if you are going to start studying History at University and intend to devote yourself to historical research on controversial subjects, no matter your period of study.  

This is 12-hour University Course on Gnosticism prepared and narrated by one of the scholars who knows most about Early Christianity and Gnosticism, David Brakke, a Yale PhD recipient and professor of the State of Ohio University. He has the  virtue of knowing what teaching is. It is not that he has plenty of knowledge, is that he is able to convey the  knowledge he has in ways that are understandable, engaging and entertaining without being informal or too formal.

The Recording

This is an excellent audio recording, great sound, well-structured and narrated, with musical clues that indicate the end of a chapter, and headings by a radio-voice presenter at the beginning of each chapter.

Brakke's narration is excellent. The modulation and inflection of his voice and tone are easy to follow without getting bored or sleepy, even when Brakke gives details about the myths of the different Gnostics. He is able to be rigorous about what he says but also flexible, not dogmatic, he doesn't present his opinion as Universal if it is not, he is humble but assertive. He does what true scholars do, they know a lot but know what they don't know so they don't fake what they don't or add on anything. Brakke's knowledge on the subject is exhaustive.

 The course is made of 24 lessons, each of about 30 minutes and we are taken through the main schools of Gnosticism, the main sources and philosophers, giving a detailed account of each document discusses or branch of Early Christianity examined in the course. Brakke also shows the points that those branches and texts share and those on which they differ, and digs into what the life was for Christians in the three first centuries of the Christian Era. Brakke also gives some sketched information about related beliefs that span through the Middle Ages and to this very day.

The list of lessons  is as follows:

1- Rediscovering Gnosis. 2- Who where the Gnostics? 3- God in Gnostic Myth. 4- Gnosticism on Creation, Sin and Salvation. 5- Judas as Gnostic Tragic Hero. 6- Gnostic Bible Stories. 7- Gnosticism Ritual Pathway to God. 8-  The Feminine in Gnostic Myth.9- The Gospel of Thomas’s Cryptic Sayings. 10- The Gospel of Thomas on Reunifying the Self.11- Valentinus, Great Preacher of Gnosis. 12- God and Creation in Valentinian Myth.13- “Becoming Male” through Valentinian Ritual. 14- Valentinian Views on Christian Theology. 15- Mary Magdalene as an Apostle of Gnosis. 16- Competing Revelations from Christ.17- The Invention of Heresy. 18- Making Gnosis Orthodox. 19- Gnosticism and Judaism. 20-  Gnosis without Christ.
21- The Mythology of Manichaeism. 22- Augustine on Manichaeism and Original Sin.23- Gnostic Traces in Western Religions. 24- “Gnosticism” in the Modern Imagination.

You can download the book on PDF from your library (in your member area), potion the cursor on the PDF link and let clink and select save link as, and it will

The audio-book comes with a companion book, of about 185 pages. The text is mostly what Brakke narrates, but not strictly so, no to the letter, as he adds things that aren't in the book. The book contains very helpful illustrations and figures, a list of recommended reads at the end of each chapter and some questions to ponder on it on your own. The book also includes a very up to date bibliography, and each chapter offers a list of suggested readings and makes some questions for the readier/student to ponder on.

 

Pricing

The CD is about 70+ bucks, but if you get the audible version you will paying half that price. However, if you are an Audible subscriber you will get it with one credit, and if you join just to try it. You can do, as I have done just to get this course, join Audible and have month-free trial and get two book or courses for free. Yet, even if I had paid a full price for this course, I would be happy! 

 

Warning

Brakke is very balanced on his discourse, so I think nobody will get offended by anything he says. However,I you take the Bible and the New Testament to the letter, if you are conservative or very conservative Christian, this is not a book for you. This is a historical course, by a professional scholar who has no interest on doing anything that is not teaching a subject on which he is an expert. If you decide to go on and get offended, you are the only one to blame.

A Wish

I would love Brakke to offer another course on any of the subjects he is expert on! He is just a fantastic teacher and perfect for this sort of recording.