December 3, 2015

My NT/History Manifesto for 2016

Stories help us remember chronological change. Biographies, cause & effect, widely noted events, and perceived 'turning points' are the best ways for human memory to reconstruct the dynamic passing of time. If we think about first century chronology informally, as a collection of stories, we can more easily apply four-dimensional contexts to our readings* of the New Testament's narrative content.

*The validity of any such reading would depend of course on (1) the plausibility of an original audience being familiar with that historical context (as the inferred background to EITHER historical fiction OR historical nonfiction), and/or (2) the potential for historicity of the reconstructed scenario.

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"If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient observation than to any other reason."

-- Isaac Newton