My main university Web page that has been used by many thousands of folks over the years (the counter reset to zero at 1 million some years ago) has been moved. If you have linked it anywhere please note the change and update your records. I am working with our Web people at the university to see if there can be a “redirect” message:

The old URL was: http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/JDTABOR/indexb.html

The new one is: http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/people/jtabor/

This site contains a wealth of materials related to Jesus, Christian Origins, 2nd Temple Judaism, and the religion and culture of the ancient Mediterranean world. I use it in all my classes and welcome any of you who teach to make use of these materials so long as credit is given.

My special thanks to Prof. Dennis Duling for allowing me to make his masterful essays on the Jewish and Roman World of Jesus available, originally published in his co-written The New Testament: An Introduction, with the late Norman Perrin.Jewi

It has been a while since I have posted anything here on the Jesus Dynasty Blog. For the past two months I have pretty much gone “underground” to complete my new book on Paul. I have been writing non-stop, with trips to Rome and Jerusalem sandwiched in, to move the book along as soon as feasibly possible.

Fresco Image of Paul at St. Tekla Catacomb in Rome

As some of you know, Paul has been in the news of late, with stories about his tomb in Rome being validated, as well as the newly uncovered portrait of Paul in the catacomb of St. Tekla. I have been working on the Paul book since late 2008 when I signed a contract with Simon & Schuster. There was a time when I expected it might be out by Spring, 2010 but as I got deeper into my work I began to develop my ideas in directions I had not originally anticipated, so I have ended up taking most of 2010 to complete the manuscript. The book has been listed on Amazon now for over a year with the fetching title: Paul Untitled and still no cover image. I know many of my readers have pre-ordered it, and I appreciate your patience. The pre-orders do count, and when the book is released they can give it a great send-off, so if any of you are willing to “stand in that Amazon line,” I thank you for it. My editors and I are still talking about a final decision on a title, as well as the cover art, and I hope it will appear soon. I will let everyone know.

What I think I can safely say is that the book will be worth the wait! I don’t know of another book on Paul by a scholar in the field that is like this one, either in ideas, approach, or style. I did my Ph.D. dissertation on Paul at the University of Chicago (1982), directed by the incomparable Jonathan Z. Smith. It was published as a monograph in the Brown University Judaic Studies series in 1985 titled Things Unutterable. It has long ago gone out of print though an unbound facsimile edition is available on Amazon. For the past 30 years, teaching at three universities (Notre Dame, William & Mary, UNC Charlotte) I have continued to think deeply about Paul, covering him in my courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

So far as books on Paul go, I think they must outnumber the books on Jesus, but almost without exception the academic study of Paul is pretty much an “in-house” enterprise with most of the scholars who specialize and write about Paul producing endless books primarily intended for their colleagues.  Most of the writings on Paul are highly technical, very theological in orientation, and full of jargon particular to the field. “Pauline Studies,” is such a vast field right now it is impossible for all but the most devoted, who rarely work on anything else, to keep up. I am not one of those people and though I have published and written about Paul along the way.  My concentration has been much broader–namely trying to analyze the many ways of understanding “salvation” in ancient Mediterranean religions, particularly in late 2nd Temple Judaism and earliest Christianity–with apocalypticism as my main focus. Such a general description certainly pulls in Paul, but in a broader way that most Pauline scholars deal with him.

What I hope I have produced is a readable and accessible book on Paul, but one that offers an analysis of his mission and message that I have not seen anywhere else. Mine is neither a Paul-bashing nor a Paul-applauding book. I guess you might call it “Paul in His Own Words,” in that I try as best I can to let Paul speak for himself, based on the seven “authentic” letters we have from his hand. And speak he does! I think I have succeeded, at least on an introductory level, to offer readers a clear, refreshing, and provocative look at the Apostle.

I thought I would paste the Table of Contents in here, just to whet a few appetites, and I plan to begin a series of blog posts over at TaborBlog the next few weeks that will explore various aspects of Paul and his thinking–as a kind of prelude to the book itself–so check there if you are interested.

Preface: Discovering Paul

Introduction: Paul and Jesus

The Quest for the Historical Paul

Chapter 1: After the Cross

Chapter 2: Reading the New Testament Backwards

Chapter 3: A Forgotten Brother, A Lost Christianity

Chapter 4: A Cosmic Family and a Heavenly Kingdom

Chapter 5: A Mystical Union with Christ

Chapter 6: Already but Not Yet

Chapter 7: The Torah of Christ

Chapter 8: The Battle of the Apostles

Conclusion: Does God Care for Oxen?A

The Jesus Dynasty, four years after publication in April, 2006, continues to get picked up in the news. Here are the the three latest examples, with on-line links if available:

First, a fascinating article I had previously noted below by Adam Gopnik in the May 24, 2010 issue of The New Yorker titled “What Did Jesus Do? Reading and Unreading the Gospels.” Gopnik draws a number of insights from The Jesus Dynasty in his opening section and specifically mentions the tradition of Pantera as a little-known father of Jesus.

Second, Gopnik’s mention of the Pantera tradition, as if to give any credibility whatsoever to the tradition raised the ire of convervative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat who devoted an entire Op-Ed piece to blasting scholars who would give any view of Jesus’ birth other than the “no human father” option. It seemed to me sort of an odd piece to appear in the New York Times, and as several readers noted in the Comment section following the article. You can find my own comment, 5th from the top:

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/choose-your-own-jesus/

Finally, on newsstands now, is a special issue of USNews & World Report, titled Mysteries of History, that contains a three page interview with me on “Jesus Last Days Revealed.” I encourage readers to purchase the entire issue but I have attached a PDF version here of my own contribution.

Adam Gopnik has a long, fascinating, and witty, New Yorker-style essay on the search for the historical Jesus. As I began reading it I have to confess, modestly of course, that the opening few paragraphs seemed like a pretty accurate summary of my own book, The Jesus Dynasty (Simon & Schuster, 2006) as Gopnik ticked through his points about John the Baptizer, Sepphoris, and the meaning of tekton. I was pleased to see acknowledgment further along, with my treatment of the theories about Jesus’ paternity and the name Pantera briefly touched upon. All in all though it is really a good piece and I recommend it:

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/05/24/100524crat_atlarge_gopnik

Ruins of Ancient Tamar

Over the past 20 years I have made 40 trips to Israel, nearly always for purposes of archeology and research. Many of my friends, family, and associates, including readers of my books that I have never met, have asked me if I would ever consider leading a tour. I have never seemed to find the time to work that in until now.  I am now able to officially announce such a tour. The dates are October 25 through November 5, 2010.

Here are the details:

I have teamed up with Dr. DeWayne Coxen of Blossoming Rose, who is highly experienced on the logistical side of things, but also gives us special access to the biblical site of Tamar in the Negev desert, as well as the archaeological site of ‘Ein ‘Hatzeta, the Iron Age fortress from the time of the 1st Temple–where we will actually do some digging! I have also included special guest Keith Johnson, who will go with us on the entire trip, and Nehemia Gordon, who will teach us in Galilee about what he and Keith have discovered regarding the “Lord’s Prayer” as covered in their book, A Prayer to our Father.

This trip is different from any that I have ever seen. It is neither Christian nor Jewish, but we will visit sites relevant to both traditions. One can never include everything but DeWayne and I have spent several months working out the itinerary and balancing choices so that I think our result is going to be the best possible one in terms of balance and depth.  I want to take people (many who will go have never been to the Land) all over and show them many things I have learned over the years, but I also want some in-depth time in the desert, at Tamar, as a Sukkoth type experience. This amazing site, down in the Negev, will be the centerpiece of our tour.

We are opening the enrollment today. Our space is limited to 40 people and I think these spaces will go fast.  If you are interested in going you should go ahead and save your place for now and work out details later.

We have kept the price under $3000 which is hard to do with prices for flights rising. This covers round-trip travel from the NY area to Tel Aviv and most all ground expenses. You book your own flight to NY but we will help you once you register to work that flight into a package deal that will save you some money. You also have the option of getting your own flights using Frequent Flyer or other options and buying just the Land package. And for those who have been many times to Israel and do not want to tour the whole Land, you can join us just at Tamar for a reduced price.

This is a very special trip, different from any other I am aware of, and what it offers, both in terms of the group that will be going, the teachers, and the itinerary, makes it a once in a lifetime opportunity. I will be present on the entire tour and be accessible to those who travel with us.

Hope to see many of you join us!

I am attaching two documents, one giving the itinerary, the other providing you with a registration form to send in. All the pricing questions, logistics, and arrangements are being handled by Blossoming Rose but feel free to write me with any questions about the trip itself or its contents.

Prof. James D. Tabor

jdtabor@uncc.edu

Tabor & Coxon Itinerary (PDF)

Tour Registration form (PDF)

When I was at UNC Asheville last February, giving the lecture on “What Kind of a Jew Was Jesus” I did a fairly comprehensive interview for  UNC Asheville TV on that topic but a wide range of related issues. You can listen to it or download at:

http://www2.unca.edu/cjs/pages/taborinterview.html

There is a most impressive new website just up dealing with the Talpiot “Jesus” tomb in all of its aspects at talpiottomb.com. It is sponsored by JTERP (Jesus Tomb Education and Research Project), headed by Jerry Lutgen who works in the informatics health care field. You can read more of him as well as JTERP, its history and its purposes here. Some of my readers might remember Mr. Lutgen from his published article “The Talpiot Tomb: What are the Odds?” published at Bible & Interpretaton, that dealt with why the various studies using statistics differ so wildly in their conclusions. Lutgen also has a most interesting new study titled “Did the Set of Names from the Talpiot Tomb Arise by Chance,” which you can download at this new website.

I must say I am highly impressed. It looks to me like Mr. Lutgen has drawn together just about every major source related to the discussion of the Talpiot tomb since it first caught the public attention in 2006-2007, with all the resulting heat and light that has followed. The site “thick” with information, ranging from a summary of the basic issues to a rich and ever expanding bibliography, with an emphasis on materials that can be accessed on-line. He even offers a “survey” for readers to give their views, a new Facebook group one can join for discussion, and a section where one can use an Excel spreadsheet to turn one’s views of Talpiot (based on seven key arguments) into a quantifiable percentage! I can see how anyone interested in the Talpiot tomb will spend a lot of time at this site, bookmark it, and return often, as Mr. Lutgen promises to keep us up with all the latest–including new research just now emerging that might inform our overall body of evidence.

Was the Last Supper a Jewish Passover Seder? Millions of Christians who are happily and profitably discovering their “Hebraic roots” by studying, participating in, and even reenacting “Passover” services have equated it with the final evening meal Jesus had with his disciples. Indeed, many so-called “messianic” groups have developed an extensive interpretation of the traditional Jewish Passover Seder that finds all sorts of Christological meanings reflected in the ceremonies, including the death and resurrection of Jesus for the sins of humankind.

All four of our gospels report that Jesus ate a last meal privately with the Twelve, on the “night he was betrayed,” as Paul puts it. However, the Synoptics (Mark, Matthew, Luke) and John report things differently in so far as whether this meal took place on the night of Passover, or the night before. Although many have attempted harmonization, the differences in the two reports remain stark and and can not be ignored.  Scholars have exhaustively argued out every possibility pro and con.

I argue in The Jesus Dynasty (chapter 12 “Last Days in Jerusalem”) that the final meal was not a Passover Seder and offer a revised chronology in which Jesus dies on a Thursday, rather than a Friday, with the Passover Seder falling at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan, after sundown, Thursday night with that Friday, in the year AD/CE 30 being a “high day” sabbath, followed by the weekly Sabbath.

In a thoroughly comprehensive general article just published in the latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (March/April, 2010) titled “Was Jesus’ Last Supper a Seder,” Boston University professor Jonathan Klawans explores the issue in a clear and compelling way, concluding that the last meal of Jesus was most likely not a Passover Seder. I am pleased to say you can read it on-line here, but hope you will consider subscribing to BAR magazine as it continues to bring us quality articles of this type.

P.S. I hope my readers notice that I have chosen as a “Last Supper” illustration the etching by the incomparably great Albrecht Dürer in which the “beloved disciple” is sleeping as a small child, next to Jesus.

My interviews on the PBS Series “Closer to Truth,” hosted by Dr. Robert L. Kuhn, have now been posted on line–twelve topics in all on topics ranging from the historical to the theological. This amazing show is in its third season and the new series on  “Cosmos, God, & Consciousness” pulls together top experts from the worlds of science, philosophy, and religion…The site as a whole is well worth endless browsing far beyond my meager contributions…

You can access the following topical clips at the link below:

Does God Know the Future? (James Tabor)
How is God the Creator? (James Tabor)
What would a Judgment be Like? (James Tabor)
Is This the End Time? (James Tabor)
Do Angels and Demons Exist? (James Tabor)
Arguing God from Miracles & Revelations? (James Tabor)
Does God Intervene in the World? (James Tabor)
Authentication and Conflict in Religious Belief? (James Tabor)
A New Heaven & A New Earth? (James Tabor)
Imagining Immortality and Eternal Life (James Tabor)
What is Immortality? (James Tabor)
What is an Afterlife? (James Tabor)

http://www.closertotruth.com/participant/James-Tabor/104

Sometime in Spring, 2006 I was browsing one of the local bookstores here in Charlotte and came across a title that seemed to jump of the shelves–The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity by Jeffrey Bütz. In thumbing through the book I immediately realized that the brother in question was none other than James the Just, head of the Jerusalem Nazarene movement following the death of Jesus. I was aware, of course, of Robert Eisenman’s well known book, James the Brother of Jesus and John Painter’s valuable study, Just James, as well as several edited volumes on James by Craig Evans, Bruce Chilton, and Jacob Neusner. In fact, in our field of Christian Origins it seems that James, marginalized and forgotten for centuries, was having a bit of a renaissance. I had never heard of Jeffrey Bütz but decided to get the book anyway and see what it might offer. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. My own book, The Jesus Dynasty had just been published and dealt substantially with James the brother of Jesus. I quickly realized that Bütz and I had independently come to many of the same conclusions and we began to exchange e-mails, eventually met, and even spent time together in the Jerusalem, digging at Mt. Zion and hanging in the Old City where Bütz was doing research on his next book, just out, with the provocative title The Secret Legacy of Jesus: The Judaic Teachings That Passed from James the Just to the Founding Fathers.

I read the manuscript in draft form and found this latest work by Bütz both fascinating and provocative. On the face of it the thesis of Reverend Jeffrey Bütz’s new book might strike one as far-fetched if not downright absurd, namely that the “true teachings” of Jesus were passed in some underground fashion, down through the ages, and ended up shaping the vision of the Founding Fathers as they forged the principles and ideals of the United States of America. Over the past decade the bookstores have been full of new titles claiming to reveal at last some lost, forgotten, suppressed, hidden, “underground” stream of Christianity, with connections to various esoteric traditions within Western history. The titles speak for themselves: Holy Blood, Holy Grail, The DaVinci Code, The Hiram Key, The Templar Revelation. Few of these works have received the attention, much less the academic endorsement, of mainstream historians, and probably for good reason. They are often long on speculation and short on hard evidence. It would be a mistake for readers to classify Bütz’s latest work in this genre. In contrast, it is a serious work, in touch with mainstream scholarship, and characterized by full references to original source materials.

Admittedly the trail Bütz follows, from Jesus to Jefferson, is a faint one, with many dead ends, twists, and turns. After all, groups such as the Ebionites, the Desposyni, the Elkesaits, and the Cathars are hardly household names. Bütz’s imaginative but careful consideration of evidence pays off and results in a fascinating thesis that informs the very roots of our American culture.

The book is divided into three parts. Parts I and II, making up about two-thirds of the whole, deals with the roots and history of what Bütz calls “Jewish Christianity.” The term refers to those original Jewish followers of Jesus, led by James the brother of Jesus, who continued in their Jewish beliefs and practices, rejected Paul and the Nicean Church, and according to most scholars continued into the late 4^th century, particularly in areas east of Palestine. These followers of Jesus valued the royal “bloodline” of the Jesus family, whether that of Jesus himself, if he was married with children, or that of his brothers and immediate family. Indeed, Bütz argues that these successors of Jesus and his brother James can properly be viewed as a type of “Caliphate,” in many ways similar to the Shiite branch of Islam. Bütz further argues that these “Nazarenes” set up a provisional government with their own Sanhedrin led by James as high priest, and the Twelve apostles as a kind of inner ruling cabinet. Bütz further locates the operations of this sectarian “government,” on the southwest hill called Mt Zion where both Armenian and Catholic traditions place the “throne” of James, the “Upper Room,” and the house of Mary and the Jesus family.

By far the majority of scholars who have dealt with this branch of “Jewish Christianity” have tended to trail things off in the late 4^th century where most of our records seem to terminate. Bütz take things much farther, and herein lays the special value and contribution of his work. Not only does he pick up on the “Ebionite” trail through an obscure sect of southern Mesopotamia known to us as the Elkasites, but in Part III of his treatment he convincingly traces the key characteristics of this original “Jewish Christian” perspective into early Islam as well. Although the chapter on Islam is somewhat of an excursus, Bütz returns to his more linear story line as he moves from the Elkasites through the Cathars, and thus to the Templars and earliest roots of Freemasonry. It is these last one hundred pages of his book that Bütz truly offers the reader, and in my estimation, the academic world as well, the skeletal framework of a wholly new perspective on the ideas that were most influential upon our Founding Fathers. Here I have in mind specifically the ways in which they imagined America as a sort of New Jerusalem/Promised Land. Other historians have touched on this sort of biblically based idealism, but I think Bütz might be the first to suggest there is an actual current or stream of influence running back into antiquity. I for one find it rather convincing. The history of ideas always remains a tenuous enterprise with no definable terminia post/ad quem, but as Jonathan Z. Smith, the most eminent history of religions used to put things—even an exaggeration in the direction of the truth is progress. I believe that Reverend Bütz has provided us with new perspectives waiting to be tested with subsequent review and consideration. I for one am grateful to him for the opportunity to consider this innovative approach to understanding the roots of our American founding and its ideals.