First Glance

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Many parallels strike us between the lifestyle and the philosophy of John the Baptist and that of the Essenes, the Jewish sect most prominently associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. These similarities prompt Otto Betz to ask “Was John the Baptist an Essene?” Among the parallels are John’s opposition to the Jerusalem authorities and his ascetic life in the desert. On the other hand, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, who speaks of both John and the Essenes, does not explicitly link them. Betz weighs the pros and cons and comes to the conclusion that John was probably at least raised in the Essene tradition.

Specializing in New Testament, Apocrypha and post-biblical studies, Betz held various church positions in West Germany from 1953 through 1961. He moved into academia thereafter, serving as professor of New Testament at Chicago Theological Seminary from 1962 to 1967 and teaching New Testament and ancient Judaism at the University of Tübingen in Germany from 1967 until his retirement in 1983. He has also published seven books and has lectured at several universities in the United States, Canada, Japan and Korea.

Does Satan appear in your Bible? If he does, you may be surprised to learn that other Bible translations make no mention of this devilish character, referring instead to a more general figure called the Adversary. As Harvey Minkoff explains in “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” the disagreement over Satan—and several other discrepancies among Bible versions—arises because of ambiguities in the ancient Hebrew writing system. In addition to examining some notable examples of variations among Bibles, Minkoff also contributes a sidebar, on the history of some of the major Bible translations to help keep readers from confusing the KJV with the RSV (or with the NRSV or the NJPS, for that matter).

Minkoff is associate professor of English linguistics at Hunter College in New York City. He has written six books on language and writing, including Visions and Re-Visions (Prentice-Hall, 1990). His most recent BR article was “Coarse Language in the Bible? It’s Culture Shocking!” BR 05:02; he also contributed the Glossary entitled “Semite, Semitic, Semitic Languages,” and reviewed three new Bible translations in Bible Books, BR 06:03. Minkoff, in a rare combination, teaches Bible in Sunday school and is also a karate instructor.

Many people reasonably assume that Judaism and Christianity have a lot in common. After all, the two faiths share much of the same Scripture and both developed among the same people in the same locale. You may be taken aback, then, by Jacob Neusner’s “How Judaism and Christianity Can Talk to Each Other,” which argues that the two religions are radically different and, more importantly, self-excluding. Neusner drives home his point in a provocative examination of the episode of Jesus’ overturning of the moneychangers’ tables and of his institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. On a more positive note for ecumenists, Neusner goes on to outline ways that Jews and Christians can come to appreciate more of each other’s faith.

Adding a demurral to Neusner’s view of interfaith dialogue is Andrew Greeley, with “The Jewish God Is Also the Christian God,” sidebar to “How Judaism and Christianity Can Talk to Each Other”.Greeley argues that Judaism and Christianity are much alike after all and unveils (in a BR exclusive!) the Martian Sociologist Test: Could a social scientist from the red planet tell the two faiths apart?

Neusner, winner of the Fellner Award for the best BR article of 1987 (“Parallel Histories of Early Christianity and Judaism,” BR 03:01) is graduate research professor of humanities and religious studies at the University of South Florida, Tampa, and Martin Buber Professor of Judaic studies at the University of Frankfurt. Last year he was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. A prolific author, Neusner most recently added The Midrash: An Introduction (Jason Aronson, 1990) and The Ecology of Religion (Abingdon, 1989) to the already extensive list of 300 books he has written or edited. Neusner has also co-authored, with Greeley, The Bible and Us, A Priest and A Rabbi Read Scripture Together (Warner Books, 1990). Neusner holds ten honorary degrees and is a past president of the 004American Academy of Religion.

Father Greeley is professor of sociology at the University of Arizona and a research associate at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. His output rivals that of Neusner, with 100 scholarly works, 50 nonfiction books and 19 bestselling novels, including The Cardinal Sins, Ascent Into Hell and The Cardinal Virtues (Warner Books, 1981, 1983 and 1990). His current sociological research focuses on ethnic pluralism, ethnic family structures and the religious imagination.

A reader’s criticism of “The Gospel of Thomas—Does It Contain Authentic Sayings of Jesus,” BR 06:02) inspired co-author Stephen J. Patterson to write an extended reply for this month’s My View, “Bridging the Gulf Between Bible Scholarship and Religious Faith.” Patterson calls on scholars to be more forthcoming in presenting their work to the general public and calls on theologians and laypersons to accept the findings of historical criticism.

The dictionary defines “synopsis” as a brief summary, but that’s not its meaning in the Phrase ‘Synoptic Gospels.’ David E. Aune, in this month’s Glossary, explains the origin of the term in its New Testament studies context and how the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke came to be grouped under that rubric. Aune also examines the competing theories over which Gospel was written first and which evangelist might have borrowed from whom.

Aune is a professor at Loyola University in Chicago, having moved there after more than 20 years at Saint Xavier College. He has written or edited six books, including The New Testament in Its Literary Environment (Westminster, 1987; reviewed in Bible Books, BR 05:06) and is completing a work tentatively titled Greco-Roman Culture and the New Testament for the Anchor Bible Reference Library. His article on “The Gospels—Biography or Theology?” appeared in BR 06:01.

Many parallels strike us between the lifestyle and the philosophy of John the Baptist and that of the Essenes, the Jewish sect most prominently associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. These similarities prompt Otto Betz to ask “Was John the Baptist an Essene?” Among the parallels are John’s opposition to the Jerusalem authorities and his ascetic life in the desert. On the other hand, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, who speaks of both John and the Essenes, does not explicitly link them. Betz weighs the pros and cons and comes to the conclusion that John was probably at least […]