December 14, 2008

Searching for Nazareth

UPDATE (3 pm): Two takers so far. Speak up, the rest of y'all... gotta get in "on the ground floor" don't ya know! ;)

One of these days I'd like to start a group blog to look at the Gospels and invert possible views/clues as to the Lord's growth and development in Nazareth. On such a group blog, every post would begin with a passage of scripture, suggest a perspective, and/or offer a couple of questions about the passage. In the comments and follow up posts, we'd try to find out IF there ARE any solid, reliable conclusions we can draw - based on the Gospels - as to the details of what Jesus' private life was like in "the hidden years". (Inspirational sharing would also be welcome.) Knowing me, it should go without saying that liberal deconstructionism is NOT on the agenda. ;) Still, since it's such a subjective approach, the value could wind up being mostly as an interpretative exercise... or we could wind up producing some valuable, reliable aspects of a valid reconstruction (in limited detail). You just never know till you try!

I'll give one example here. If you're interested, reply in the comments. If I get ten people, we'll definitely do it. Here goes:
Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17. (Yup, the Geneaology. May as well start at the start!) Spark/questions: How many of these names would Jesus have known, growing up? How important were names like Abraham and David to the Jewish community of Nazareth? How many times did Jesus hear the stories, whether at home or the Synagogue? And at what age might Jesus have recalled the fact that he, himself, was "before Abraham"?
As I said, that's just an example, but feel free to respond in the comments. Without a doubt, there must be millions of pages in print that could help address these questions, and those writings would absolutely belong in the conversation. But I'm personally unaware of any study that has attempted to go through all four Gospels with the sole perspective of "mirror-reading" for clues to Jesus' life in Nazareth. (If there is such a study in print, please let me know.)

I'm hopeful to think ten of you out there might be interested. You don't have to be scholars. You just have to be - well - interested! :)

2 comments:

Chris Jefferies said...

Bill, I think this is a great idea. I've posted an example of my own and I would certainly be interested in joining you (and others) on a group blog.

Let me know if you get enough interest to make a start on this.

Thanks, and blessings,

Chris

Bill Heroman said...

Thanks, Chris. You, me & Kay make three. Let's give it a week, see who else is game, and look to kick off a new blogspot around January 1st.

Of course, all of these plans are etched with mud on stone! But that makes it iron clad for now. ;)

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