Renaissance images of John the Baptist.

Part I

         In chapter two of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus Norm arrives in Jerusalem where begins his exploration.  This led him to The Ecole Biblique et Archeologique Francaise de Jerusalem where he was given a tour and a desk and mapped out his John quest (47).  John the Baptist is examined as a second Samuel (49-50).  Norm meets two travelers along the way who he considers doomsday apocalyptics (51).  Norm then travels to the Dead Sea to see the ruins of Qumran with a man named Jesse, a PhD student (51).  Norm eventually makes his way back to Jerusalem and then to the Jordan River with Bernie where they talk more about John the Baptist (65).  The chapter ends talking about John’s death and the idea that Mark may have mixed legends with his history (72).

Part II

         Most of the second chapter was based around John the Baptist and his significance.  John seemed to be more of a public figure, a man who simply told folks to honor God and be nice (61).  People would not come from all over just to hear that though, would they?  Norm believes John was much more dangerous then he is presented by Josephus (61).  Norm makes an observation that the Gospels cast both John and Jesus as Elijah figures and that John may have been waiting for Elijah’s second coming (64-65).

Is John the Baptist really a second Samuel? 

Part 1

After taking a shuttle to Jerusalem, Norm stays in the middle of the Muslim quarter. He spends about a week walking around the Muslim quarter, just getting used to the place, including prayer times (39). Norm begins his search with John the Baptist after military action causes Bethlehem to be shut down. After talk to Jesse (his roommate’s uncle) and Prophet Jonathan, emailing Professor Guilder, speaking to another professor, and doing various readings, Norm begins to get a sense of how John the Baptist fits into the picture, historically speaking. While speaking to all of these people, Norm physically follows the path of John the Baptist. Thus Norm finishes his first quest.

  Part 2

This chapter mainly focused on John the Baptist, and how he fit in the Bible story, as well as how he fit historically. The thing that stuck out to me the most was idea that John’s elderly parents died when he was younger, and that he was possibly raised by a group of Essenes. While it would make sense given the location of the Qumran, would it not make more sense for John to have been raised by his next of kin? His parents, being elderly, would have made arrangements for him to be raised by another member of the family, or even a family friend, instead of leaving him homeless. I believe the idea at the end of the chapter, that John was following the route of Elijah awaiting his return, makes more sense. Especially given the political and social upheaval that was going on at the time, it would make sense for people to believe the end was near.

Part I

After taking a shuttle to Jerusalem, Norm stays in the middle of the Muslim quarter. He spends about a week walking around the Muslim quarter, just getting used to the place, including prayer times (39). Norm begins his search with John the Baptist after military action causes Bethlehem to be shut down. After talk to Jesse (his roommate’s cousin) and Prophet Jonathan, emailing Professor Guilder, speaking to another professor, and doing various readings, Norm begins to get a sense of how John the Baptist fits into the picture, historically speaking. While speaking to all of these people, Norm physically follows the path of John the Baptist. Thus Norm finishes his first quest.

  Part II

This chapter mainly focused on John the Baptist, and how he fit in the Bible story, as well as how he fit historically. The thing that stuck out to me the most was idea that John’s elderly parents died when he was younger, and that he was possibly raised by a group of Essenes. While it would make sense given the location of the Quram, would it not make more sense for John to have been raised by his next of kin? His parents, being elderly, would have made arrangements for him to be raised by another member of the family, or even a family friend, instead of leaving him homeless. I believe the idea at the end of the chapter, that John was following the route of Elijah awaiting his return, makes more sense. Especially given the political and social upheaval that was going on at the time, it would make sense for people to believe the end was near.

A brief introduction to the archaeological site of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Part I
    In this chapter Norm finally arrives to Jerusalem where he describes what he sees and he finally gets to take in what the Old City is like. He is shown to his room and then wanders around the streets looking for something to eat (39). He describes that his first few days in Jerusalem were an intoxicating blend of wonder and welcome (39). He also describes the different prayer sessions that happen frequently. Later on in this chapter he gets the chance to meet up with his roommate’s uncle to head to the Dead Sea, to the ruins of Qumran. In this chapter we also are taught a lot about John the Baptist. I think the majority of the chapter dealt with him and Jesus as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls. We learn that John the Baptist and Jesus were “cousins” and that John the Baptist also baptized Jesus (42).

Part II
    Throughout this chapter there are many comparisons between Josephus and the Gospels. Like in class, Fisk brings up the point of the criterion of “embarrassment” and the criterion of “multiple attestation”. He used the example of John baptizing Jesus and how there is no way that Christians would ever invent a story like that which would make Jesus look inferior to someone else (42). This could make you wonder about if Jesus was as perfect as what we are taught today. Something that I have never heard before and that was new to me was the fact that Guilder suggested that Jesus was John’s disciple before branching out on his own. One last thing that really stood out was when Norm mentioned something from John 3:30 about how in the Gospels, John’s death is a major event, not only because it removes Jesus’ competition but also because it vividly demonstrates to Jesus the perils along his own path (69). This was something that was new to me and something I had never been taught. I never even knew that John was considered to be Jesus’ competition.

Part I
       In chapter two of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus, Fisk describes Norms first week in Israel.  It starts off when the unrest broke out in Bethlehem and requires Norm to start out his quest following the footsteps of John the Baptist.   He visits the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique Francaise de Jerusalem (a world class library) to seek out a journey revolved around John the Baptist.  Also in this chapter, Jesse- a PhD student studying the Dead Sea Scrolls- and Norm have a very important conversation on their quest about John’s relation to John the Baptist (47-50) and the Qumran (55).  It is understood that John the Baptists is a very important figure to biblical history.  Throughout the chapter, Norm discusses his findings and adventures following the route of John the Baptist.  This is the first quest of Norm.

Part II
     Chapter two really touched on the idea of criterion of embarrassment.  In Norm’s freshman New Testament class his professor was convinced that John the Baptist is the most factual figure in the bible because he is ultimately seen as superior to Jesus.  “Christians would never incent a story in which Jesus looked inferior to someone else.  Not even John” (42).  This idea of Jesus being baptized must mean that Jesus was not as perfect as expected.  He remembers his teacher announcing that Jesus stole John’s disciples and that John was never a follower but preached similar ideas (43).  Like I announced in class I have been to Catholic school my entire life and have never even heard of this side of John.  It fascinates me that an important historical figure to my life has been fictionized, or as the book says it, Christianized.  He has been transformed and molded into a worshipper of Jesus by the Gospel writers.  I thought I would be upset about this change, but it only makes my ideas of my religion more interesting and presents more questions.

Do you think John’s actions could have been perceived by people differently?

Part I

            Chapter two of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus describes Norm’s arrival to Jerusalem.  Norm originally wanted to begin his journey here by visiting Bethlehem, but because of crisis around the area, his trip was delayed.  Instead, he decides to start his search on finding out information on John the Baptist.  Norm is very interested in how John the Baptist is viewed through the Gospels and through Josephus.  The Gospels have been questioned to state things in a way that Christians can view them however they wish to, rather than give an actual description of the historical Jesus.  Norm receives an email from his professor Randall Guilder, and Guilder gives him four different views of John’s relationship to Jesus (47).  After traveling to John’s father’s (Zachariah) tombstone, Norm meets a group of doomsday apocalyptics.  He is very surprised to find that he has very much in common with them, even though he initially labeled them as bazaar and wondered about their sanity level.   After continuing on his journey around John the Baptist, Norm finds himself at the Jordan River, where it is said that John did his baptizing. At this point, he is traveling with another individual that gives him many explanations as to why John chose that area to baptize.  Norm then ends his journey at Machaerus, where John the Baptist was said to have been beheaded. 

Part II

           

            Chapter two was very interesting and gave a lot of insightful facts about John the Baptist.  Something that really caught my attention was the question “Did I believe in Jesus because of the Gospels, or in the Gospels because of Jesus?” (41).  This question had me stop for a few minutes and wonder what my response would be.  I thought it was such a simple question that could only be responded to with the most complex answer.  A question like this makes me have the same desire as Norm to find out more about the historical Jesus.  I’m beginning to realize that even with the faith that I am comfortable with that I don’t feel like I actually know anything about Jesus, and who he was a human.  This type of question is the reason why Norm compares the Gospels to the writings of Josephus. 

            Norm also sees Jesus to be similar to a second-coming of Elijah, but in the Gospels both Jesus and John are cast as Elijah Figures (65).

Part I
Chapter 2 of Fisk's A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesus begins with Norm getting settled into his new surroundings. Norm talks about many of the traditions and rituals that are happening around him so far. He describes the ritualistic prayer sessions that happen frequently and some of the other religious traditions.  The reader quickly discovers that the main goal of this chapter will be for Norm to discover as much as he can about John the Baptist, who was one of the closest men to Jesus, so close that he even Baptized Jesus. The purpose is for Norm to understand the motive and personality of this man in order to have a better understanding of his personality. After his encounter with a pair of doomsday apocalyptics, Norm began to question whether or not John was truly a hero or a little insane. Next Norm meets up with a man who challenges his understanding of the relation between John and the Qumran.  Later that day Norm meets an atheist who for a second makes him question his trip and worry that he might find himself agreeing with him before the trip is over but quickly snaps out of it and realizes he needs to stay strong and that his faith is strong enough to over come this journey. 

Part II
At the beginning of the chapter Norm is trying to get used to his surroundings, he is feeling a little sentimental and comparing many things to how they were back home, he even has dreams about being back home. He seems a little hesitant and weary towards the beginning of the chapter. His feelings are not helped when, just as he was about to begin his quest, Bethlehem was placed under closure in order to arrest wanted Palestinians, Norm made the correlation to how Herod must have felt when finding out about Jesus and how much power and authority he was said to have. Herod must have been worried about the newborn who inevitably was going to challenge his authority as ruler. Norm thought Herod may have wanted to shut down the city back then and arrest Jesus before his authority had a chance of being over ruled. Early on in the chapter Norm meets up with Jesse who takes him to the place where many scrolls that correlated with the Gospels were said to be found, which also happens to be the place John was said to spend much of his time. Norm begins to question many things about John's life and whether or not these findings would match up to his preconceived notion of John and indirectly Jesus. Jesse lets on that many researchers now believe the scrolls were actually not originally created in this area like previously thought. This makes Norm question much about John's life and relation to the Gospels. Over the rest of the chapter, Norm is now very skeptical of his understanding of John and the historical facts he is coming across. At one point it even makes him question his trip and whether it will make him a skeptic, however he soon realizes he is doing the right thing.