Part 1

Norm’s journey continues with a visit to Caesarea Philippi, where Simon first declares Jesus to be the Christ and where Jesus calls Simon, Peter.  This pivotal moment is included in all three Synoptics recounting Jesus’ proclamation of his death and coming of the kingdom (152-154).  Luke abbreviates to avoid calling Peter, Satan.  Matthew elaborates Jesus’ blessing of Peter as the rock of the church.  Both edit Mark differently Norm concludes.  The Gospels depict Jesus of having supernatural knowledge, but they also show Jesus’ lack of knowledge as well as a “human Jesus” that sheds tears, hungers, needs space, gets angry, and fears pain (155-156).  Norm concludes that the Gospels don’t give the readers reason for his death just where, when, who, and what next in the story.  Norm wonders if the death has to do with politics (156-157).  Norm wonders what brought Jesus to Mount Hermon.  One theory according to Matthew 16 is that Pan’s cave inspired Jesus’ reference to the underworld or gates of Hades (158-159).  With a conversation with Levy, Norm discusses the possibility that Jesus was a Solomon wannabe and the kingdom was to rebuild the third temple (160-165).  Norm found some multiple attestations in Mark and Matthew about how all three sayings of Jesus about the end times follow similar logical sequence and share elements like an announcement, what won’t happen before what will happen (170).  Norm has a dream similar to Alice in Wonderland, where he encounters three different three doors that symbolize Jesus’ prophecy of the end times questioning his knowledge or lack of it.  Door 1 read that Jesus never announced the prophecy.   Door 2 stated Jesus proclaimed the prophecy and it did happened.  Door 3 said Jesus declared the prophecy, but it never occurred.

Part 2

Norm is convinced that Jesus was not speaking about the transfiguration when he spoke of the coming of the kingdom.  Norm is doubtful that Jesus had his resurrection or ascension in mind.  Norm also is sure that Jesus knew about the fall of Jerusalem in 70CE, a symbol of Son of Man’s vindication (179).  So what questions still puzzled Norm about Jesus and his sayings of the end times?  I would like to know more about how politics played a role into Jesus and his death.  I found that interesting.

Part I             
    In chapter five of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus, Norm focuses on the topic of Jesus' identity and the kingdom. Norm seems to first struggle with how Jesus chose Caesarea Philippi to announce the end of his life and his ministry. While Norm is exploring Mount Hermon, he discovers “a Messiah, a stone, a holy building, and certitude” trend between Jesus’ future plans and Levy’s Jewish vision of the future. Norm also notices a difference in the level of seriousness when referring to holy space; which brings him to confusion about whether Jesus was under political influence. Before Norm journeys to Temple Mount he discusses question with Guilder about whether Jesus wanted to challenge the religious system of his time. Norm has a dream similar to “Alice in Wonderland”, where he encounters three doors that symbolize: 1) that Jesus never announced the prophecy, 2) Jesus proclaimed the prophecy and it did happened, 3) Jesus declared the prophecy, but it never occurred. 

Part II
    One of the beginning topics of this chapter is how Jesus is projecting as being a real person in both Mark and John; he not portrayed as being all-knowing but instead asks questions (155). Norm also brings up the correlation that not only does Jesus predict his death three times in the Gospels, the locations become closer Jerusalem and to the cross (156). One concept that I found confusing was Norm’s thought about Jesus’ storytellers watching to see whether their memories of Jesus matched up with scripture; the notion seemed out of place and farfetched (167). I have preferred the ending of this chapter to any other because not only does it remind theologians that there is no neutral point of view when referring to history, but it also reminds the reader to not live only in the future (181-183).

Part I
            In the fifth chapter of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus, Norm takes on the big topic of Jesus’s resurrection.  Norm starts out by comparing Matthew, Mark, and Luke again by pointing out differences such as Luke avoiding calling Peter Satan, and Matthew referring to Jesus as the Rock (154).  Norm also points out that the Gospels, “imply that Jesus’s knowledge was sometimes limited” (155).  The story then leads to Mount Hermon where Norm compares the metaphors of the building, rock, and endurance (159).  Norm meets up with Levy from New Jersey where he asks the questions, “was Jesus the second Solomon?” and God’s house consisted not of limestone but living stones (161-162).  On page 179, Norm states that Jesus may have seen his resurrection and transfiguration coming but not necessarily in the manner he would have thought.

Part II
            This chapter was much like the other chapters in the book: confusing and hard to understand.  One reason in particular is the fact that he compares and contrasts different viewpoints such as if Jesus knew of his death or not?  One thing that Norm did state was that Jesus seems to show signs of “supernatural abilities,” (meaning he would have known about his death) while also showing signs of human limitations (meaning he wouldn’t have known about his death) (154-157).  Norm has these dreams/ideas for viable reasons for these differences: Say it he didn’t./Say it he did. Happen it did./Say it he did. Happen it didn’t. (170-176).  Ether way, the topic of Jesus being able to predict his resurrection is hard to interpret due to the many different ideas introduced by Norm in this chapter.  

1)      Fisk is now moving Norm through the sayings of Jesus, as well as the expectations.  Beginning this chapter with an examination of Jesus renaming Simon, Peter and the greater implications of Jesus maybe being a new Solomon (152-166).  This reference, of course, pertains to the Temple but also to the second coming in general.  It is on this note that Norm enters into the discussion of Jesus being all knowing and how that attributes to his ideas of the end times (166-170).  The chapter ends with an examinations of three ideas; 1) that Jesus didn’t say anything on the matter, 2) that Jesus said it would happen and it has, and finally 3) that Jesus said it would happened but it has yet to (170-183).

2)      Norm’s contemplation was caused this time around by his wondering, and random discussion that helps spur him into new ideas.  I found it very interesting that Norm had an Alice like experience that left him in a more questionable state.

Part I
     In this point in the story, we catch up with Norm as he is on his way to upper Gailiee to Caesarea Phillipi, one of the places where Jesus predicted his death (152-157).   Jesus's precognitive abilities are the main focus of this chapter.  Norm wants to understand why Jesus knows what will happen sometimes and then at other times, he seems to not know (155).  Norm then journeys to Mount Hermon and Pan's Cave (157-160).  Next, we see Norm wondering about the importance of Jesus's image of the temple and how he felt about it (162-166).  Norm sends of an email to Professor Guilder, thanking him for his help in understanding the miracles in the Bible and telling him about his next area of inquiry, Jesus's prediction of the coming of the kingdom (166-170).  One night, Norm has a dream where he meets three men.  Each of them offers a different opinion on the issue of the coming of the kingdom.  The first man tells him that Jesus had not predicted it and it was the product of Christian invention (171-172).  The second man tells him that Jesus did say it and that it transpired when Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed (172-176).  The last man tells Norm that Jesus had predicted it but that it didn't happen (176-177).  At this point, Norm ventures back out into Old City to find more answers (181-182). 

Part II
     For me, this is one of the more confusing portions of the book that we have dealt with.  Part of the reason that it is so confusing is because we are dealing with something that was said centuries about.  A lot of what is written in the Gospels as the words of Jesus are so cryptic and mysterious that it is hard to know what he is referring to.  Who's to say what he actually meant when he was predicting the coming of the kingdom or the son of man?  I think it is important to note that Norm is also dealing with a certain amount of confusion when it comes to this topic, the best peice of evidence being his dream (170-178).  For each of the options that he is presented, Norm is able to find evidence for why it may be true.  An example would be when Norm mets the second man who tells him that Jesus had predicted the coming of the kingdom and that it had actually happened (172-176).  Norm finds evidence that supports this based on what Jesus said about some of the disciples not being alive when it happened.  I think that it is possible that Jesus was referring to multiple things that would come to transpire and that there was not one specific thing that he was referring to. 

Part I
        In this chapter, Norm follows Jesus’ path to his suddenly self-predicted death. It opens with Norm once again pointing out an instance where the Gospels are edited to get across a particular agenda 154). Norm then travels to Mount Hermon where he notices a metaphor between the building, rock, and endurance that Jesus discusses in Matthew 16 and that of the pagan terrace at the top of Mount Hermon. On his way back to Jerusalem, Norm meets Levy-from-New-Jersey who informs him that there has been a halakhic ruling forbidding entrance to any part of the Temple mount to avoid stepping on holy ground (164). This prompts Norm to question Jesus’ motivations for visiting the temple: was he motivated by politics as much as by religious zeal (165)?

Part II 
        One particular aspect Norm studies throughout this chapter is how the Gospels depict Jesus as having supernatural knowledge at some points while human limitations kick in at others. Jesus displays his supernatural knowledge when he predicts his death three times (156), but demonstrates limitations when he admits to not knowing when God will make his return (155). Since Jesus is shown to have both qualities, multiple interpretations of passages are always presented. In regards to the passages describing Jesus’ second coming (Matthew 10:23, Mark 9:1, Mark 13:20) (170), three options are presented to interpreting these passages: say it he didn’t; say it he did, happen it did; and say it he did, happen it didn’t (171-178).  Scholars’ opinions differ vastly on this matter as no one can be sure if this statement is an example of Jesus’ supernatural knowledge or his human limitations. Personally, I agree with the third interpretation. Jesus admits in Mark 13:32 that he does not know when God’s ultimate return will be. So as with many others, Jesus could have been hopeful that it would be happening soon and at the same time trying to appease the anxiety of the disciples about his imminent death by remaining optimistic. 

Part I

In chapter five of A Hitchhikers Guide to Jesus, Norm hits on a few issues including the Resurrection.  What Norm is trying to figure out is if Jesus knew about his resurrection, why do the disciples still react so distressed and confused (157)?  Also why does Jesus have to die for our sins (156)?  Levy-from-New-Jersey seems to Jesus is the second Solomon but instead of limestone he is living stones (162).  We build our church on Jesus not on a rock.  Norm also has a feeling Jesus knew he was going to die because he upset the government, therefore made it a religious sacrifice (165).  Then Norm goes into talking about how Jesus knew about the coming of a second Kingdom and the second coming of the Son of Man, but had no idea about the transfiguration, the resurrection, the ascension, or reemergence of church (179). 

Part II

This chapter to me was a little confusing because I felt like there was some contradicting going on.  Then again this whole book has been a back and forth process of contradictions.  The part that really caught my attention was the idea that Jesus was associated with politics (165).  Norm discusses that the Rabbis forbid people to enter Temple Mount in fear that they will step on Holy land, but he believes they are not allowed to enter in fear of an uprising with the Muslims.  This comment got Norm and I into thinking that Jesus preached to people at the Temple to promote a revolt?  Or had this been the idea that Romans had and that is why he was originally arrested?  It is known that the Romans were not happy with Jesus preaching against the government, but maybe they had a legitimate excuse to arrest him.  Maybe he was putting the community in danger.      

E. Thor Carlson, Sermon on the Mountain (1979)