Archives for September 2016

The courage of Devon Gales

Sympathy is defined as feeling sorrow for the misfortunes of someone else. Empathy means you can literally understand, or at least to some degree share their experience. This post will be very short and to the point, because I can only type with one hand at the moment. My left arm is temporarily useless. I had elbow surgery this morning, and my anesthesiologist put a nerve block on my dominant arm. Probably until tomorrow, I won't  be able to feel anything or use my left hand, a very strange experience that once again has reminded me of Devon Gales. Please forgive any typos or unclear thoughts expressed by my currently drug-impaired brain. The loss of use of my arm is a very strange sensation, yet in my case it will be temporary. When this wears off I expect to welcome pain as the indicator my body wants to heal itself and didn't enjoy this morning's experience. My arm may be hurting right now, but I don't care. In case you forgot or didn't know, wide receiver Devon Gales was paralyzed last year while blocking on a kickoff return during a game between the Southern University Jaguars and the University of Georgia Bulldogs, in Sanford Stadium. However, for young Mr. Gales, full recovery will take much, much longer, He's made tremendous progress that has been reported in the news, but there is a long way to go for a complete recovery, and the restoration of full use of his extremities. Usually when I write about a tragedy, typically a request that people contribute financially will accompany my shameless attempt to pull on your heart strings. Perhaps the … [Read more...]

Chihuly at Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Sometimes I can feel like a complete idiot...like, for example, yesterday. The occasion was my first visit to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. After nearly thirty years of living in this city, as many times as we've visited Stone Mountain, the Atlanta Zoo, Turner Field, even tourist "attractions" like the World of Coca-Cola and Underground Atlanta, I finally visited to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. What on earth took me so long? This has to be the best-kept secret in the city. And the really sad thing was, I knew the Garden existed years ago, when Neil Young mentioned touring it during a concert at Chastain Park, piquing my curiosity when he claimed the catwalk was haunted. "What's up with that?" Neil asked the crowd. Sorry, Mr. Young, but I forgot to ask somebody last night, so I still couldn't tell you. But his question did make me curious. Yet it took my wife expressing keen interest in a special exhibit of glass blown pieces by world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly to get me to visit, and now I sincerely regret all the other opportunities I've missed over the years. The Atlanta Botanical Garden is breathtaking to visit, and during the Chihuly exhibit (which ends October 30th) is nothing short of spectacular, especially at night. We arrived early enough for the "night" session to enjoy the gardens in daylight...                     but at night, the Garden becomes magical. The Chihuly exhibit will remain until October 30th. If you miss it, don't blame me. To me, the bottom left photo looks like … [Read more...]

Tom Tozer reviews Bart Ehrman’s book Jesus Before the Gospels, Part 4

[This is the final installment of a four-part series of articles written by Tom Tozer that reviews Bart Ehrman’s book Jesus Before the Gospels.] See also: Tom's review, Part 1 Tom's review, Part 2 Tom's review, Part 3 And now, here is Part 4. Chapter 7: The Kaleidoscopic Memories of Jesus: John, Thomas and a Range of Others. Ehrman starts out Chapter 7 by asserting that Mark was “a collective memory” and says that now we're going to talk about the “other collective memories.” However, he hasn't demonstrated that Mark is anything less than the account of an eyewitness. He doesn't believe it is, but he hasn't established that. So this is not a promising start. He asserts that the Gospel of John – or “the memories contained” in it – “differ radically from Mark.” On the surface, there is something to this. John is elaborately theological. Mark is more like a police report. If John is a Persian rug, Mark is a grocery list. And yet, at the core of these two Gospels, for 2,000 years, Christians have found the same Jesus. Oddly enough. Now why that might be Ehrman doesn't bother to ask. The purpose of this chapter for Ehrman is “to show that there was not one remembered image of Jesus among his early followers, but “a kaleidoscopically varied set of images.” But how can Ehrman include Marcion, the Gospels of Judas, Thomas and Theodotus as “remembered images of his early followers”? He doesn't demonstrate that any of these authors had any connection to a witness to Jesus' life. In fact, that lack of connection is exactly what kept these documents out of … [Read more...]

Tom Tozer reviews Bart Ehrman’s book Jesus Before the Gospels, Part 3

 [This is the third installment of a four-part series of articles written by Tom Tozer that reviews Bart Ehrman's book Jesus Before the Gospels.] See also: Tom's review, Part 1 Tom's review, Part 2 Chapter 5 is called “Distorted Memories and the Life of Jesus.” There is something strange about the story Ehrman begins with, about a man with a remarkable memory. He says a Doctor Luria studied a man “named S, to protect his privacy.” S could memorize long lists of data effortlessly, and even recall lists memorized years before that he had not thought about in all that time, backwards or forwards, again without effort. But, Ehrman says, this ability was detrimental to S's life and he could never hold a job, even when he toured as a professional mnemonist (memory freak). See any- thing odd there? Why did Luria need to protect the identity of someone who toured the country highlighting his abilities? It's odd that Ehrman doesn't ask this question. It makes me wonder if S is a fiction? Anyway.....Ehrman spends most of this chapter making the case that oral cultures (which he has so far failed to established is what the first century Jewish or surrounding Greek and Roman cultures were) did not have better information strategies for oral material than literate cultures do. This is aimed at, again, showing that when person A tells person B a story, it morphs a little, and then B tells C, with more morphing, and C tells D, etc etc etc. And again, this is irrelevant if the Gospels derive from eyewitnesses. Some of this is interesting anyway. There was a study of oral … [Read more...]

Tom Tozer reviews Bart Ehrman’s book Jesus Before the Gospels, Part 1

Author biography: Tom Tozer is a real estate attorney based in the Chicago area. He received his law degree from from Indiana University-Bloomington. His undergraduate and master's degrees were issued by the University of Chicago. Tom and his wife Lori and have three daughters. Publisher's Note: Occasionally I am given the opportunity to publish work that I cannot take credit for writing myself. Tom Tozer has produced an outstanding, very thorough review of Bart Ehrman's book Jesus Before the Gospels and graciously agreed to allow his efforts to be published here as well. From this point forward, the words you will be reading are Tom's, not mine. This is his review...many thanks, Tom! One thing should be made clear first. Christians who disagree with Ehrman should embrace – not reject – historical analysis of the faith's texts. Understanding the history of the texts is critical to understanding them. Even more, contrary to Ehrman's various claims, Cambridge historian Richard Bauckham and others before him have shown that there is plenty of reason to believe what the Church has long said about the historical sources of the Gospels and their authorship. At the end of the day, the historical analysis allows one to believe as the Church teaches on this issue. Another person may, based on their view of the evidence, disbelieve that teaching and instead indulge in speculation about other possibilities. This result shouldn't be any source of discomfort to Christians examining the issue. But the bottom line is, whatever the evidence is about who authored the … [Read more...]