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?
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?
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