I think Tim raises some important counterpoints to my argument in his thread. When making statements about the *expectations* of Jesus’ followers, we certainly need to tread lightly. I always appreciate Tim reminding us to proceed cautiously in these matters…
After all, as I’ve said in the past, attempting psychoanalysis on figures attested in ancient literature is next to impossible. This has always been one of my problems with the appeal to cognitive dissonance theory as an explanation for the resurrection belief.
However, when addressing CDT as a proposed explanation, one is required to at least attempt to draw some conclusions regarding the expectations of Jesus’ followers.
Tim mentions Mark 10:35-45, a scene that (if one considers this part of a single narrative) comes right after Jesus predicts his death in Jerusalem. Here we see James and John requesting that they sit on either side of Jesus “in his glory.”
This seems to show that the disciples didn’t understand and had a different set of expectations than those of Jesus.
However, if you continue on to verses 38-45 ⬇️, we see Jesus challenging the expectations of his disciples. Jesus was their rabbi…their teacher. They left their homes to follow him…
They listened carefully to his words, even if they didn’t always want to hear them or they clashed with their expectations. biblegateway.com/passage/?searc…
Tim points that I make a leap by concluding that Jesus’ expectations were also his followers’ expectations. He’s right… I do.
If we want to discuss the psychological states of figures attested only in ancient texts (which is required when addressing the applicability of CDT) then some leaps need to be made.
Making such a leap is not always unjustified and in this case I think it’s supported by the evidence. In my estimation, Dale Allison has the right approach. He states, “The traditions about Jesus agree, from beginning to end, that he was a teacher, whose followers paid him heed…
So if we wish to ascertain what Peter and his fellows thought, the natural course is to discover, if possible, what they heard Jesus say and so may have taken to heart.” (The Resurrection of Jesus, 184) ⬇️
Allison nicely summarizes the case that Jesus’ followers would have expected his death in Jerusalem in The End of the Ages Has Come (164). ⬇️
So I stand by my assessment that Jesus’ followers likely had some expectation that their teacher would face martyrdom in Jerusalem. And considering what Jesus taught about the eschatological tribulation to come, they may have even anticipated meeting such a fate themselves.
Looking forward to reading this new book by @robertjmyles and @JGCrossley in which they address some of these issues… ⬇️
I think this thread is very one-sided. Not that it’s incorrect about what Camacho identifies as “myths” per se, but it lacks balance and context. History is complex and rarely follows a continuous line of thought such as we observe in this thread.
We see Camacho primarily presenting only the evidence which supports his contentions. He tends to avoid evidence that might challenge his assertions, or on the odd occasion that he does acknowledge it, he significantly downplays or discounts it.
Example: Camacho asserts, “From the very beginning, every generation of Christians contained slave masters…”
I’ve always been intrigued by a feature of Greek sculpture (c. 500s BCE) known as the “archaic smile.” A simple smile adorns the faces of many Greek statues. See some examples below… ⬇️
Why are these statues smiling? Well… It doesn’t appear to be for the purpose of expressing emotion. Some scholars suggest it could represent the vitality and life of a figure otherwise rendered motionless.
Others think it could indicate social status. Greek nobility was sometimes referred to as the “smiling ones” or Geleontes. I guess money *does* bring happiness?
PSA: If you want to understand how Hebrew prophecy works, take the time to actually read the secondary literature on the topic and try to avoid “counter-apologetics” like this. ⬇️
Prophetic oracles were intended to speak to contemporary social, political, or religious crises…not make predictions about what would happen centuries later in some distant future.
In this matter, our “counter-apologist” friend is correct. In the historical context in which they were delivered, the prophetic utterances in the Old Testament are not about Jesus. 🤷🏻♂️
The matter, Carmona, R.N., is that if you know anything about 1st C Judaism, you’ll know that the term “resurrection” was almost always understood to mean the general resurrection of the dead at the end of the world.
Jesus’ followers would have understood his statements about his resurrection to refer to this communal, eschatological, event…not his own “special” resurrection dropped into the middle of history.
Here’s Dale Allison (The Resurrection of Jesus, 198 & 206). ⬇️
#Thread Several naturalistic explanations have long been proposed for the resurrection of Jesus. One in particular that has been frequently discussed, especially on social media, is cognitive dissonance.
Essentially, the cognitive dissonance explanation states that Jesus’ followers had totally committed themselves to the belief that when he arrived in Jerusalem he would establish himself as messiah and usher in the eschatological Kingdom of God.
When Jesus was instead arrested and brutally crucified, the cold reality of his death powerfully disconfirmed their strongly held beliefs. The crucifixion, in other words, plunged Jesus’ followers into a state of cognitive dissonance.
Recently, I’ve read some tweets about early Christians/New Testament authors and their positions on slavery. The point being made is that there doesn’t seem to have been a widespread condemnation of slavery by early Christians.
Ok…let’s be honest. We all know intent of these tweets isn’t to engage in an objective sociocultural examination of the attitudes/practices of a particular religious sect within the Roman Empire.
The message being conveyed is that if Christianity is this supposed “force for good” in the world, then we should expect to see a widespread opposition to slavery in the early Jesus movement. We don’t. So…gotcha!