on May 19, 2012:
Jack W. Hannah has researched and written an amazing book on the early history of the Jesus movement and the Christian Church. It is based on the Gospel of Thomas, found with the Nag Hamadi texts, and the extant writings of the Epicurean Philosophical School of Ancient Greece. He makes a convincing case that the teachings of Jesus were strongly influenced by the beliefs, and practices, of the Epicureans. After introducing the history of the Gospel of Thomas and a description of the philosophy of Epicurus, he analyzes each statement of the Gospel of Thomas along with analogies from the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Mathew, and Luke) along with major Epicurean writings. His detailed analysis of the texts, ancient history, and literary translations are impressive and moving. This line by line analysis constitutes the majority of the book.
There are several reasons why I really enjoyed this book. 1) the description of the Gospel of Thomas as a kind of a "crib sheet" the Disciple Thomas used to remember some of Jesus's more enigmatic teachings, for later study, 2) the claim that the statements of the Gospel of Thomas are chronological and correspond to the major events in the Gospel of Mark is compelling and intriguing, 3) the description of the philosophy of Epicureanism itself is inspiring and astounding. Apparently, the Epicureans believed in direct observation, and experience, as verification of truth. This was in stark contrast to most of the other schools of Philosophy (including Platonism, Stoicism, and Aristotilean Logic) which proceeded from an a priori "truth" and deduced the implication without a "real world analysis." The Epicureans could be considered to use an early form of the Scientific Method which was developed by Galileo two thousand years later. Curiously, the Epicureans promoted the idea that the Universe is constructed of atoms, which has now been shown to be true. They also believed that the Universe was a product of the chance interactions of these atoms and there was NO "divine guidance" or "Intelligent Design" of individual events. Both of these ideas were ridiculed by the other schools of philosophy, but are now also fundamental assumptions of modern science. In fact, Jack W. Hannah's description of the ancient philosophical criticism of Epicureanism sounds very much like the current academic conflict between "Evolution" and "Creationism." It is nice to see that after 2,000 years the Scientific Method is finally getting some serious consideration and thought; even if it is still fighting an intellectual battle against much superstition and ignorance.
Finally, his interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, and supernatural events, in the context of this analysis is astounding and thought provoking and well worth much careful consideration. I encourage all philosophically minded and intelligent people to read this book.
There are several reasons why I really enjoyed this book. 1) the description of the Gospel of Thomas as a kind of a "crib sheet" the Disciple Thomas used to remember some of Jesus's more enigmatic teachings, for later study, 2) the claim that the statements of the Gospel of Thomas are chronological and correspond to the major events in the Gospel of Mark is compelling and intriguing, 3) the description of the philosophy of Epicureanism itself is inspiring and astounding. Apparently, the Epicureans believed in direct observation, and experience, as verification of truth. This was in stark contrast to most of the other schools of Philosophy (including Platonism, Stoicism, and Aristotilean Logic) which proceeded from an a priori "truth" and deduced the implication without a "real world analysis." The Epicureans could be considered to use an early form of the Scientific Method which was developed by Galileo two thousand years later. Curiously, the Epicureans promoted the idea that the Universe is constructed of atoms, which has now been shown to be true. They also believed that the Universe was a product of the chance interactions of these atoms and there was NO "divine guidance" or "Intelligent Design" of individual events. Both of these ideas were ridiculed by the other schools of philosophy, but are now also fundamental assumptions of modern science. In fact, Jack W. Hannah's description of the ancient philosophical criticism of Epicureanism sounds very much like the current academic conflict between "Evolution" and "Creationism." It is nice to see that after 2,000 years the Scientific Method is finally getting some serious consideration and thought; even if it is still fighting an intellectual battle against much superstition and ignorance.
Finally, his interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, and supernatural events, in the context of this analysis is astounding and thought provoking and well worth much careful consideration. I encourage all philosophically minded and intelligent people to read this book.
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