This PPT based partly on: Rex Weyler’s The Jesus Sayings: The quest for his

authentic message (Anansi Press, 2008)

Fundamentals of Western Civilisation: Interpretations of the Bible:

Modern Biblical Interpretations, Bible Stories and Western Expansion

Prof. Dr. Mark Williams

Great Changes in European Western Civilisation (1500-1800)

• Western civilisation changed greatly in the early modern era with new interpretations of the Bible

• Major movements were:- the Renaissance- the Reformation- the Enlightenment

Great Changes in Western Civilisation (1300-1800)

• Politically, the nobility (nobles, dukes, traditional land owners) gained more political power

• The monarchy (kings and queens) lost political power

• The Roman Catholic church, priests, bishops lost political power.

• Eventually, ordinary people gained political power through democracy to choose their leaders

The Renaissance• The Renaissance was a

cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period.

• Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by 1690, its influence was felt in literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art.

The Reformation• The Renaissance learning

and change made people want to change their lives for the better

• Martin Luther and Zwingli interpreted the Bible differently from the priests in the Roman Catholic church and wanted ordinary people to have power.

• The Protestant Reformation was ordinary people rising up to demand their freedom from kings, nobles, and the Roman Catholic priests.

The Enlightenment• The Age of Enlightenment or Reason was intellectual

thinkers in 18th century Europe and American rising up to demand that leaders follow the law and explain why they do things.

• Intellectuals wanted to use clear thinking, reason and science to make a better world, rather than just following tradition, superstition, or religious people or priests telling people what was in the bible.

After the Enlightenment scholars were free to research about what was historical and true

about religions, the Bible, and ancient history

Palestine/Israel

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Greece

Ancient Rome

Ancient City of Jerusalem

Biblical Writings• The Old Testament was written in Hebrew mostly by Jewish

temple priests writing down and adding a lot to folk legends, including from Egyptian, Sumarian, and Babylonian religious stories, sometimes based on scattered scraps of writings from prophets, poets, and religious extremists sometimes with unusual hallucinogenic type visions.

• The New Testament was written in the ancient Greek language based on folk legends and oral stories based on the Aramaic language of Yeshua and his disciples, but often with folk stories from Egyptian, Greek, Roman and other religions.

• What was the purpose of the priests?– To obey their religious beliefs?– to control religion and thus control the gullible people to channel their

religious feelings, make them law abiding, and to get them to pay temple taxes to support the priests and rulers?

But what about the approx. 1300 stories about Jesus and his saying in the New Testament?

• In the 1980s in several meetings, about 150 independent new testament scholars in the Jesus Seminar, now the Westar Institute, met to determine which are the most likely sayings of Jesus.

• They determined about 29 of these sayings have a 90% chance or more of being authentic and reliable – actually might have been said by an historical person maybe named Yeshua.

• They were independent scholars mainly from universities, and not paid by a church or religious body with vested interests to support traditional doctrines about the bible being historical and reliable.

• They concluded that Yeshua was a moral teacher, like an Eastern sage, didn’t say anything at all about being saved to go to heaven, didn’t ever claim he was a god or different from any person, never endorses any religion or temple or church – the biblical stories saying these were made up by Greek speaking priests, or Jewish or Roman leaders to create a new religion.

• Ancient texts refer to an historical “Yeshua,” meaning “God’s deliverance” in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his followers.

• This name became “Iesous” in Greek and “Jesus” in sixteenth century England.

• Historians remain uncertain which stories reflect a real person, but many impartial scholars believe that the textual references and distinctive tone in his message suggest an historical Jesus, even if history has been mixed up and overlaid with a huge amount of myth, legend, and even known forgeries in the bible.

• To determine authentic Jesus sayings, scholars give special emphasis to three earliest and most reliable texts written about Yeshua – the Thomas and Q collections and the earliest known Gospel of Mark manuscripts.

• We might reasonably ask, therefore: Do any sayings appear in all three of these early sources? There are 12 and they seem to summarise his message.

Another opinion - 12 Most Likely Sayings of JesusExcerpts from Rex Weyler:The Jesus Sayings (2008)

12 Most Likely Sayings of Yeshua• 1. Seek and find: “Seek and you will find.” (Thomas 92)• 2. The hidden revealed: “There is nothing hidden that will not

be revealed.” (Thomas 5, 6)• 3. The mustard seed: “The kingdom … is like a mustard seed.

It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it falls on prepared soil, it produces a large plant and shelter for birds of the sky.” (Thomas 20)

• 4. Kingdom here: “The kingdom … will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Rather the kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people don’t see it.” (Thomas 113)

• 5. Don’t hide your light: “No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket or in a hidden place. Rather, one puts it on a lampstand so that all who pass will see its light.” (Thomas 33)

• 6. Action not ritual: “You’ll know who they are by what they produce. Since when do people pick grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16)

12 Most Likely Sayings of Yeshua• 7. A public mission: Instructions vary but generally include “no

knapsack, no spending money,” “cure the sick,” stay at “whichever house you enter,” and “eat what they serve.” (Thomas, Mark, Luke).

• 8. The rich get richer: “To those who have, more will be given, and from those who don’t have, even what they do have will be taken away.” (Mark 4:25)

• 9. First and Last: “The last will be first and the first last.” (Q, Matthew 20:16)

• 10. A strong person’s house: “One can’t enter a strong person’s house and take it by force without tying his hands.” (Thomas 35).

• 11. Rejecting the spirit of life: “Whoever utters a word against the son of Adam (humanity) will be forgiven, but whoever rejects the spirit of life rejects the way.” (Q: Luke 12:10).

• 12. Unity moves mountains: “When you make the two into one, you will become children of Adam (human), and when you say, ‘Mountain, move,’ it will move.” (Thomas 106) (In several early sayings, Jesus appears to agree with the unity position: Make the two into one, unite male and female.)

So why are the false biblical stories are still very important?

• Because the Old Testament is believed to be historical and true by many religious Jewish people who think that God wrote it and they fight to the death for their beliefs in the modern Israel wars again the Arabs

• The New Testament is believed to be historical and true by many modern Christian people who think that God wrote the Bible and they will fight for this belief

• Both the New and Old Testaments of the Bible are believed to be sacred by Islamic (Muslim) religious people

• Most people, even though they are non-religious, believe that the stories and sayings in the Bible are reasonably historical, truthful and reliable

• Therefore we will investigate these stories and saying in this course, especially the main interpretations which often form the basis of Western Civilisation

New Testament: Matthew chapter 2

• 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go back to the land of Israel, because those who tried to kill the child are dead.” 21 So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Israel.

Gospel of Matthew verse 19

• 13 Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and to pray for them,

• but the disciples tried to stop the people.

• 14 Jesus said, "Let the children come to me

Gospel of Matthew verse 19• 14 Jesus said, "Let

the children come to me and do not stop them,

• because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

• 15 He placed his hands on them and then went away.

Children in the Old Testament

• The Babylonian armies conquered the ancient Jews and burned down Jerusalem

• The armies took Jewish people back as slaves to Babylon

• The Jews wrote about it in the Old Testament of the Bible

Psalm 137• 1 Beside the rivers of

Babylon, we sat and weptas we thought of Jerusalem.

• 2 We put away our harps,hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.

Psalm 137• 3 For our captors

demanded a song from us.

• Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn:

• “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!”

• 4 But how can we sing the songs of the LORD

• while in a pagan land?

Psalm 137

• Happy is the one who pays you back

• for what you have done to us.

• 9 Happy is the one who takes your babies

• and smashes them against the rocks!

New Testament: Matthew chapter 2

• 16 When Herod realized that the visitors from the East had tricked him, he was furious.

• He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old and younger—this was done in accordance with what he had learned from the visitors about the time when the star had appeared.

New Testament: Matthew chapter 2• 17 In this way what the

prophet Jeremiah had said came true:

• 18 “A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping.Rachel is crying for her children; she refuses to be comforted, for they are dead.”

Could Matthew 28:19-20 be

interpreted to support European world conquest? : "Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the

nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of

the holy spirit”

• At the beginning of their sea journeys, the English and Dutch were not interest in spreading their Protestant religion.

•Portugal and Spain were interested in spreading their Roman Catholic religion, but success in Asia was minimal except in the northern Philippines

Asian sea trading network – Divided, from West to East, into three zones prior to the European arrival, an Arab zone based on glass, carpets, and tapestries; an Indian zone, with cotton textiles; and a Chinese zone, with paper, porcelain, and silks

The rise of Western empires (1500-1800)

• By 1500, Europe had caught up to the rest of the world and begunto surpass it in guns, ships, economicallyand technologically

• Western explorersbegan to sail the world and create empires: Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, James Cook, and Ferdinand Magellan

Voyages of European Exploration

The rise of Western empires (1500-1800)

• powers to arrive in the Americas were the Spain, Portugal, Swedes, Dutch, English, and French.

• The West began purchasing slaves in large numbers and sending them to the Americas.

• Westerners began establishing colonies in Africa.

• Westerners also expanded in Asia.

• The Pacific Ocean was also explored by Europeans (Australia, New Zealand, Hawaiian).

• Europe's period of expansion in early modern times greatly changed the world.

The rise of Western empires (1500-1800)