1.      In chapter one of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus it gives us insight about what the rest of the book is going to be about. This story is about a guy named “Norm” who is a college graduate who is traveling to the Holy land to study more about Jesus. He feels that if he were to ask some of the questions that he has in church that he would almost be a traitor. It starts out with him on the plane sitting beside the two passengers. At first he thinks Dorothy is snobby, but by the end of the chapter he starts thinking differently about her. Everything from this chapter comes from three different Romans that he studied. Those three Romans are Pliny, Tacitus, and Josephus. Most of this first chapter deals with the conversation between Dorothy and Norm.

2.      To me the most interesting part of this chapter was the conversation that happened while on the plane. In a way I think Dorothy really challenged Norm with some of the questions she had for him and I think that in return this all surprised him because I don’t think that he was expecting any of this out of her. The part that stuck out the most to me was when he said that "Each of us views the world from somewhere, so all judgements are provisional" (27). I really liked this and I took it that it means that all of us has our own view of the world so therefore no two ways of looking at the world are alike. It also means that no matter what my view may be on the world someone else is going to want to change that view into what there views of the world are.  

Part 1

Bruce N. Fisk through the character of Norm, a recent religion graduate, illustrates a journey to discover the Jesus of History and the Jesus of Gospels.  Inspired by philosophy and religion professors and authors, Norm sets out on a journey to the Holy Land to distinguish between “text and event” (15).  Norm like his past professors of Biblical criticism is not convinced that every Bible story can be “taken at face value”, so he decides to find out who Jesus is (15).  Norm cites that fellow academics have ventured to discover who Jesus was.  He cites Wright, who conducted his journey out of his loyalty to the Scriptures to read the Gospels with more detail and perspective.  Norm like Wright understands that one can’t avoid creating Jesus in his own image (18).  This creation of Jesus in a particular image goes hand in hand with one’s ideology.  Ideology delimits our views and interpretations.  Norm’s quest is one the reader can relate to.  Like Norm, the reader wants to determine his/her world view and what lenses they see Jesus with.  Norm does not know “what sort of Jesus” he would find in the Holy Land, and he is not sure if the Jesus of History and Jesus of the Gospel are reflected in his image of Jesus (18).  While on the plane, Norm has a conversation with a “hefty, scented lady” about Pliny, Nero, Trajan, and Josephus on the subject of 1st century Christianity and Roman History.  He embarks on a discussion with Dorothy about the existence of Jesus and Christians outside of the New Testament.  The discussion leads to a realization that the 1st century and 21st century were not so different.  Norm comments on the attitude of governments towards religion, which he said “unchecked religion led to fanaticism and conflict” in the suspicious minds of the Roman government during Nero’s reigns as well as the Presidency of George W. Bush after 9/11 (30).
     
Part 2

Like Norm, being in this class I am trying to study the evidence of history and different cultures to decide how Jesus can be bent in any way one likes (16). Norm’s insight on the century parallelism got me thinking about my interterm class.  We watched “Kingdom of Heaven”, in which Ridley Scott tried to use the pretext of the Crusades to provoke religious tolerance in the midst of the Iraqi War against Muslims and Christians.  Scott presents that there are extremists on both sides, the Templars and Arab Knights, along with models of tolerance, King Baldwin IV and Saladin.  Artists, writers, and film directors are still present how religion unchecked has the potential to lead violence.  Norm sets out to find out how he can relate to the world of the 1st century to a 21st century perspective.  His journey is just beginning as well as mine.

_ Part I

Fisk begins the book by telling us about how he is going to tell his story as the fictional character Norm.  Norm’s journey is based strongly on Fisk’s personal encounters and studies throughout the Middle East.  Fisk tells us that his intentions were to write a book about the quest for knowledge of the historical Jesus while still maintaining his faith.  The first chapter is written from the perspective of Norm’s though processes on his plane to Tel Aviv in Israel.  He spends time both describing the flight as well as the events leading up to and his inspirations for the journey he is about to take.  The majority of the chapter is spent focusing on a conversation between Norm and his seat-mate on the plane, Dorothy.  In this discussion, Fisk gives us a basic introduction to the study of historical Jesus and some of the preconceptions people may have about Jesus as Christ of faith (through the preconception Norm has of Dorothy before they even speak).

Part II

Reading books about Jesus and other religious figures generally makes me feel very skeptical due to the fact that they generally have some sort of religious bias that makes them less factual from a historical and academic standpoint (But one must note that my readings on this subject are quite limited).  However, after reading the first chapter in Fisk’s book I realize that it is unlike other books that I have read in the fact that it is much more academic writing than religious.  I really enjoyed how Fisk set the scene with some background information about the historical Jesus through the perceptions of higher-ranking Roman onlookers.  I have always been a big history buff and really enjoy reading things, especially religious texts, from a historical viewpoint where beliefs and traditions are not as prevalent in the subject matter.  I look forward to reading more of Fisk’s account and hope to learn much about how he handles the struggle of learning about the historical Jesus while still maintaining his faith as a Christian.

Part I
In the Author's Preface of A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesus, Bruce Fisk sets up a persona, "Norm", a college graduate who wants to journey through the land of The Bible and the biblical text at the same time.  This sets the tone for chapter one, where we see Norm preparing for a this journey, including saying goodbye to his mother and dog, as well as reflecting on some of the education that he has had, both in college and in the church.  While on the plane, Norm makes observations about the people in his immediate vicinity. One of these people, a woman named Dorothy, strikes up a conversation with Norm, discussing Christian persecution by the Romans and evidence of the historical Jesus.    Dorothy cannot understand why Christians were persecuted so heavily by the Romans and Norm attests that it was a matter of finding out what they believed.  In the case of Nero, Norm notes that Christians were executed as a means to mask the true problems of society.  They also discuss Josephus, who Norms says, "gives the best evidence of Jesus" (p. 32).  Another passenger on the plane notes that Josephus also gives us evidence of a brother to Jesus, a man named James.  When we leave Norm in this chapter he is exiting the airport terminal.

Part II
 I think that one of the important things that Fisk notes is that he is not trying to disclaim the accounts of the Gospels as he was taught to, but rather that he is trying to find a way to examine the Jesus of faith and the Jesus of history more closely and in some ways, examine how the two relate to each other.  Fisk notes a lot about the persecution of the early Christians and I think that it would be interesting to see how his journey and his knowledge of Jesus would change his perspective on why that happened.  The four Germans that Fisk notes on, Reimarus, Strauss, Wrede, and Schweitzer, each express a certain distrust in the miracle stories and the more supernatural aspects of the history of Jesus that was noted upon by the early Christians (17). The recounting of Pliny's story of the eruption of Mt. Versuvius questions  the difference between "private opinion and public fact" (22).  Might the early Christians fabricated the supernatural aspects of Jesus' life in order to make an ordinary man extraordinary?  This can be examined in two different ways.  If the early Christians were simply retelling the stories to a close friend or relative, they would have probably been more inclined to tell the truth, based on a level of trust and comfort.  But if the early Christians intended to gain followers and start a religious revolution, then adding in fantastic stories and details to an otherwise "boring" story would have proved to be quite helpful.  

Part I

        In the introduction Fisk tells the reader that this is a fictional story of Norm, a college student on a quest to the Holy Land. He continues to tell the reader that Norm’s pursuit is based on his own, with some added details to enhance the story, of course. Like many his age, Norm is struggling while going through “theological puberty.” His “Sunday school graduate” world was flipped upside down when he entered college and began to study theology from an academic and historical perspective. The aim of his quest is to discover if he can study Jesus while also being a faithful follower. From this chapter, the reader can gather that Norm has done his homework on the subject. As a Religion major, he is obviously well-versed in theological studies. Yet, he believes the only way to truly confirm his faith is to visit the Holy Land, and the chapter ends as he lands in his destination.

Part II 

        I was hesitant about this book initially, but this first chapter really got me intrigued. One quote that particularly stood out to me was from Gunther Bornkamm: “Certainly faith cannot and should not be dependent on the change and uncertainty of historical research… no one should despise the help of historical research to illumine the truth” (16). I feel that many people have the attitude that you can either study Jesus or follow him, but to do both is impossible.  So, I am excited to see what observations and evidence Fisk will present in future chapters to show whether he believes you can do both. While reading, I appreciated that Fisk included quotations and passages that related to what he was discussing. This gives the reader the opportunity to examine the passages themselves and draw some of their own conclusions. While I could see how most of the passages related, I couldn’t seem to grasp why Fisk chose to put in the passages about Pliny and Mt. Vesuvius (20-22). The best conclusion that I can draw is that maybe he wanted to ease the reader into Pliny’s writing before it got too complicated/deep.