Zach Christensen > Recent Status Updates

Really dragging at this point. Slow-moving, lots of assumptions riding on his pre-commitment to Q developing a certain way, unprecedented confidence in Jesus being reinvented by Mark as an apocalyptic prophet, etc.

Really intriguing ideas on the conversion of Paul, and his relationship with Peter, James, etc.

Really intriguing ideas on the conversion of Paul, and his relationship with Peter, James, etc.

Still enjoying it, but some eccentric opinions are asserted as facts from time to time. Also, there are no footnotes in this book. The scholarly engagement is slim.

So far, Mack presents some points that are of general consensus, and quite a few perspectives that are pretty “out there.”

Perhaps the biggest question mark for me in Mack’s work so far is his confidence in the Cynic Sage thesis. This tends to remove Jesus from his Jewish background. Mack puts Jesus so deep into Greco-Roman culture that there is no reason that Jesus would have been in conflict with anyone.

I have read three other books by Bishop Spong. He is of course a controversial figure in liberal Christianity.

I have to say, I am enjoying this one the most compared to the others. It is considerably more lucid than the other three I have read, the objections are clear, and his alternatives that he posits are stimulating and engaging.