DDR: Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts by John Dominic Crossan & Jonathan L. Reed

xix + 298 = 317 pages

Day 1 (DDRD 2,736) April 27, 2025 

Read to page 21. Looks like this will be a very interesting read.

The word "sherd(s)" was used repeatedly. I thought it was a typo for "shard(s)" the first time, but when it appeared again I went a-Googling. And?

"Sherds are small fragments of broken pottery and other materials. They are not complete objects."

https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/museum/collections/sherds

So...there it is.

Day 2 (DDRD 2,737) April 28, 2025 

Read to page 50.

"First-century, Nazareth was a small Jewish settlement with no more than two to four hundred inhabitants." (32)

Architectural evidence suggests that Nazareth "would have been 2,000 feet at its greatest east-west length and around 650 feet at its greatest north-south width, though the actual area inhabited in the first century was much less, perhaps only around 10 acres." (34)

Day 3 (DDRD 2,738) April 29, 2025 

Read to page 80.

Day 4 (DDRD 2,739) April 30, 2025 

Read to page 110.

I like the illustrations of archeological finds in this book, but how about a few labels?

Addendum: And just like that...Buddha send miracle! I was leaving Half-Price Books when something caught the corner of my eye. I stepped back to look, and...

Yes, Virginia, there IS a quarterly publication entitled Biblical Archaeology Review (known to its friends as BAR). And there were several articles in this issue about things I've been reading about. For a mere 50 cents.

And more miracle: I can get a year's subscription (4 issues) plus access to all 50 years' worth of back issues for $11.88! The price goes up to about $80 a year after that, but hey...I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

Woot!

P.S. And check this out:

BAR labels its illustrations. Woot! Woot!

Day 5 (DDRD 2,740) May 1, 2025 

Read to page 140.

Here's an interesting commentary on the possession by upper class people of items unavailable to the masses.: "The value of these goods was proportionate to their relative inaccessibility among the lower social strata, and display, rather than just possession, created their value." (114) Thus $200 shoes, $100,000 cars, etcetera, etcetera,  etcetera. 

Umm...Psalm 82:

1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.

2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

Say what?

In other news...

The authors--or at least one of them--say(s) that agape should not be translated as love, but as to share. They (or he) also say(s) that agape is equal to the Old Testament word justice. That changes things up a bit, doesn't it?

Day 6 (DDRD 2,741) May 2, 2025 

Read to page 170.

There are some very nice color illustrations after page page 70, such as

Addendum

In today's mail:

Day 7 (DDRD 2,742) May 3, 2025 

Read to page 200.

Because I needed another Bible-y book.

Day 7 (DDRD 2,742) May 3, 2025 

Read to page 240.

The authors describe what it would have been like to enter the Temple in Jerusalem in a rather, odd way: "Smells included the sweet aroma of burning fat and meat, of wine and oil, of frankincense and other exotic spices (coupled, of course, with the smell of defecating oxen, goats, sheep, and birds!). (215)

And now some sharp-toothed words from Jeremiah:

"How can they "oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow," against the law of God, and think to escape by fleeing back to the temple of God? How can you come here to "this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are safe! -- only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of thieves in your sight?" (Jer. 7:6, 10 - 11). How dare you turn my Temple into a safe house for injustice?" (221)

Day 8 (DDRD 2,743) May 4, 2025 

Read to page 263. Busy day.

Day 9 (DDRD 2,744) May 5, 2025 

Read to page 298, The End. A most interesting book. Makes me want to visit Jerusalem and see the places discussed... but that's not going to happen.

Onward.

DDR: The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus by Marvin Meyer

 

A mere 147 pages. And the Gospel itself is only 27 of them.

Day 1 (DDRD 2,733) April 24, 2025 (Which is also Day 9 of DDR: Thy Will Be Done, btw.)

Read to page 30. Not as good as it seems, since the G of St. T is Coptic on the left and English on the right, but I'm still claiming it.

Day 2 (DDRD 2,734) April 25, 2025 

Read to page 60.

Thought about it, and it's -27 for the Coptic pages. After all.... So 120 pages, then. 

"A medieval author, Petrus Alphonsi, preserves a saying...in his Clerical Instruction: 'This world is, as it were, a bridge. Therefore, pass over it, only do not lodge there.'" 

Day 3 (DDRD 2,735) April 26, 2025 

Read to page 147, The End.

Section 105 reads, "Jesus said, 'Whoever knows the father and the mother will be called the child of a whore.'" (61) Puzzling, to say the least. One of the (several) explanations in the End Notes reads, "Origen cites the tradition that Jesus was the illegitimate child of Mary, who 'bore a child from a certain soldier named Panthera.'" (120) I don't like that. And I don't like it that it reminds me that Chester Brown, in his book Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus, suggests that the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 1 lists the names of several women who were "sexually suspect" to indicate that Mary, who is also named, was a prostitute. 

Section 113: 1 'His followers said to him, "When will the kingdom come?" 2 "It will not come by watching for it. 3 It will not be said, 'Look, here it is,' or 'Look, there it is.' 'Rather, the father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it."

This seems to be a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Thomas. The focus is on knowing oneself--specifically the inner self--and in, essentially, cleansing the doors of perception so that you can see "Reality."

Here's one for the transgender phobic folks of America: "For every female who makes herself male will enter heaven's kingdom." (63)

"The Jesus of The Gospel of Thomas calls us to knowledge and not to belief, for faith need not lead to wisdom; and this Jesus is a wisdom teacher, gnomic and wandering, rather than a proclaimer of finalities. You cannot be a minister of this gospel, nor found a church upon it." (126)

And if you're as ignorant as I am, here's what media made star has to say about GNOMIC:

gnomic

adjective

gno·​mic ˈnō-mik 

1: characterized by aphorism

gnomic utterances

2: given to the composition of gnomic writing

a gnomic poet

Did you know?

A gnome is an aphorism—that is, an observation or sentiment reduced to the form of a saying. Gnomes are sometimes couched in metaphorical or figurative language, they are often quite clever, and they are always concise. We borrowed the word gnome in the 16th century from the Greeks, who based their gnome on the verb gignōskein, meaning "to know." (The other gnome—referring to the dwarf of folklore—comes from New Latin and is unrelated to the aphoristic gnome.) We began using gnomic, the adjective form of gnome, in the late 18th century. It describes a style of writing, or sometimes speech, characterized by pithy phrases, which are often terse to the point of mysteriousness.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gnomic

There was a reference to an essay by Meyer entitled "Making Mary Male

I tried to track it down on JSTOR and by Googling around, but without success. Then I found out that it had been included in the collection SECRET GOSPELS: ESSAYS ON THOMAS AND THE SECRET GOSPEL OF MARK. Library? Nope. Internet Library? Only the first few pages. Ah, but eBay has a copy for about $15. Hmmm. Like I need another book, right?

In his post-textual essay, Harold Bloom says, "The Gospel of Thomas speaks to me, and to many others, Gentile and Jewish, in ways that Matthew, Luke, and John certainly do not." (128) Unfortunately, Bloom does not elaborate on this statement. I would like to know what he means by the statement that this gospel speaks to him...and what it says to him.

Well...he does. Bloom is drawn to the Gospel of Thomas because it presents a more intellectual Jesus...A Jesus that is close to Jewish mysticism...and a Jesus who dies not due in the cross, and who is not miraculously resurrected. That last seems like bullshit, though, as to my knowledge the Gnostic Jesus is indeed crucified. (Albeit He also hovers above his crucified bidt, laughing.)

At any rate, very interesting book. I think I will re-read the actual text of the gospel again before I move on.

Addendum:

Yep. Sure did.

DDR: Thy Will Be Done: Praying the Our Father as Subversive Activity by Michael H. Crosby

After 34 days and 1,927 pages (17 plays), I'm ready for a Theology Break. And I just happen to have this book from the library about the Lord's Prayer which I've been meaning to read for some time...and which is due soon and no longer renewable. (Kismet!)

viii + 254 = 262 pages, so this is probably just a week's long walkabout.

Day 1 (DDRD 2,725) April 16, 2025

Read to page 30. It's not easy going, but it is interesting. 

"... an analysis of our present world, which evidences a culture that tries to control us by manipulation of words (and, thereby, of reality itself), is essential if we are to pray as Jesus would have us pray—by our lives." (7)

Well...there's a lot to unpack there, isn't there? 

And here's a sentence with a razor sharp edge: "We go through our rituals in prayer, hoping thus to control God in order to meet our religious needs." (26)

Day 2 (DDRD 2,726) April 17, 2025

Read to page 50. Tough day. I'm into this book, but it does take a lot of concentration...which means more careful reading, which means more time spent reading. And other stuff. But I think this book is mighty.

"...the only way God can know himself--[is by seeing] his image--in us." Furthermore,  "If we don't image God, we can't be known by God." (31)  As for the latter,  that's pretty close to Bishop Berkeley's esse est percipi (to be is to be perceived), but with an interesting twist: it's not enough just to be; to be perceived by God, one must also exist in such a way as to be in harmony with God...by treating creation (including other human beings) with kindness and love. That, in turn, leads to the first quotation here, in that by perceiving the God likeness in us, God comes to know Himself. To me, that suggests that God is essentially created by our acting in ways that are "like" God.

I like that.

Okay.

In my defense,  let me point out that (1) I've always been a bit obsessive / compulsive  and (2) 4 of these books are from the library. But I've clearly boarded The Jesus Train...I'll admit it.

This seems to be pretty 🔑 (and clearly someone else thought so, too, as I don't mark up library books):

Pretty scary, too. 

Day 3 (DDRD 2,727) April 18, 2025

Read to page 80.

"The cry of the poor must be echoed in our lives. To believe that we can approach God in any other way, especially prayer, without having heard (responded to) the needs of the oppressed is to believe God will hear our needs when we have been deaf to those of his people. Ministry and prayer, then, are based on the common realization that all people stand in need, all people are poor; that if God is to identify with us in prayer we must identify and participate with those who are physically poor and systemically kept poor. "He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard" (Proverbs 21:13).

And now a few words from Revelation 13:15:

"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

Does that quotation make my country look like a big butt?

Day 4 (DDRD 2,728) April 19, 2025

Read to page 110.

"Since the basis of participative community rests upon the trust its members invest in each other, to have one's language abused, manipulated, or controlled by those with power creates mistrust. This results in violence." (84)

Welcome to "our" world.

Speaking of our 🌎...

"1 ...the Lord has a charge to bring

    against you who live in the land:

“There is no faithfulness, no love,

    no acknowledgment of God in the land.

2 There is only cursing, lying and murder,

    stealing and adultery;

they break all bounds,

    and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

3 Because of this the land dries up,

    and all who live in it waste away;

the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky

    and the fish in the sea are swept away."

Hosea 4:1-7

"I ask you, how can God's love survive in a man who has enough of this world's goods yet closes his part to his brother when he sees him in need?"

1 John 13 -16

There was a pretty long diatribe against abortion. Which is understandable in the context of this being a Catholic thing, of course. But it is so disturbing. Look what's happening in our abortionless world right now: women dying in childbirth unnecessarily, raped women and children being forced to have babies.... Surely no one can believe that is what God wills.

Day 5 (DDRD 2,729) April 20, 2025

Read to page 140.

In the course of discussing the commitment to a search for justice that Christianity requires, Crosby quotes "The Vocation of the Order Today" as saying, "To content ourselves with a purely verbal protest would be sheer hypocrisy." (115) 

Day 6 (DDRD 2,730) April 21, 2025

Read to page 170.

Here's a thought which should stop your heart: "I love God only as much as I love my worst enemy." (141) 

I spent part of today talking to a friend...in large part about thus book. I don't think I did a very good job of explaining it to her, which made me wonder if I was really grasping it solidly. So I'm going to try to really bear down on the last buts of this book.

Day 7 (DDRD 2,731) April 22, 2025

Read to page 190. Just pooped put today.

According to Father Crosby, in the Northern Cheyenne language the word for "priest" means "white man who stands between us and God " (173) 🔥 

Day 8 (DDRD 2,732) April 23, 2025

Read to page 211. Really thought I'd be finishing this off today, but there were too many notes. Mañana. 

"The wealth of the United States in the world community is increasing at the expense of the developing nations whose income is growing, but not in proportion. Since these inequities have resulted from the infrastructures, only a conversion of the infrastructures, of the system itself, can make the American reality (and those who are part of it) begin to square with God's will for the whole world and all its people." (206)

Day 9 (DDRD 2,733) April 24, 2025

Read to page 254, The End. 

Quote from Luke 16:15: "What man thinks important,  God holds in contempt." (214) 

I think I'm going to stay on the ♱🚄 for a bit longer.

Kindle Unlimited

My hatred for Amazon (let me count the ways) notwithstanding, I just signed up for a two month trial of Kindle Unlimited...at 99¢ per month. (After that the full price--$11.99 per month, I think--kicks in, but I plan on being gone by then. Why have I allowed myself to do this dirty deed? (Other than the fact that it was done dirt cheap, of course). 

Well...it's David Estes' fault. Via this thing of beauty...

...which kept popping up on the opening page of my Kindle (the devious bastards!) The illustration got its hands in my guts and kept pulling harder every time I looked at it. So I read the free sample Amazon dangled in front of my chops. 

It was a generous sample, too. 75 pages. 

And I was pretty much hooked from page 1...when our young hero Roan was beaten up, kidnapped, and taken to an island reserved for plague victims. And just as I was getting caught up in that story, Monsieur Estes switched over to the story of Annise, a non-princessy Princess, and HER story was fascinating (she's a badass who doesn't want to be a sissy girl), and her father and mother were both AAAssholes, but her brother (also a badass) was with her, and he'd look out for her, but then---. Yeah. By the time we got back to Roan's story, which became even more enthralling, I was pretty sure I was going to need to buy this book. And...of course...it's the first of a five volume series.  (And of course there are dragons.) 

Hardcover $20.74

Paperback $13.99

Kindle $3.99

Not available at the library. Not available in Internet Archive. 

And then I noticed the note "$0.00 kindleunlimited."

So I looked at the kindleunlimited prices, and chose the cheapest version. Ahmo read this book, man.

And oh, look: they have the other four books of the series (Fatemarked) here too. 

Hmmmm. 🤔

ADDENDUM: April 2nd. Read to page 134. Probably going to read some more. It's a pretty compelling story 4 🏖.