My main university Web page that has been used by many thousands of folks over the years (the counter reset to zero at 1 million some years ago) has been moved. If you have linked it anywhere please note the change and update your records. I am working with our Web people at the university to see if there can be a “redirect” message:

The old URL was: http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/JDTABOR/indexb.html

The new one is: http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/people/jtabor/

This site contains a wealth of materials related to Jesus, Christian Origins, 2nd Temple Judaism, and the religion and culture of the ancient Mediterranean world. I use it in all my classes and welcome any of you who teach to make use of these materials so long as credit is given.

My special thanks to Prof. Dennis Duling for allowing me to make his masterful essays on the Jewish and Roman World of Jesus available, originally published in his co-written The New Testament: An Introduction, with the late Norman Perrin.

Fresco Identified as Paul in St. Tekla Catacomb

I think July, 2010 might be the only blank month in my blogging history that goes back to The Jesus Dynasty Blog that I began with the publication of my book by that name in April, 2006. So why the hiatus? I wanted to take time to explain to my loyal readers who might have stopped by the site numerous times, only to find “nothing new” posted since late June.

The answer is a simple one. Essentially I “went underground” from about June 17 through August 17 writing almost nonstop to complete  my new book on Paul, with trips to Rome and Jerusalem included. As some of you know, Paul has been in the news of late, with stories about his tomb in Rome being validated, as well as the newly uncovered portrait of Paul in the catacomb of St. Tekla. I have been working on the Paul book since late 2008 when I signed a contract with Simon & Schuster. There was a time when I expected it might be out by Spring, 2010 but as I got deeper into my work I began to develop my ideas in directions I had not originally anticipated, so I have ended up taking most of 2010 to complete the manuscript. The book has been listed on Amazon now for over a year with the fetching title: Paul Untitled and still no cover image. I know many of my readers have pre-ordered it, and I appreciate your patience. The pre-orders do count, and when the book is released they can give it a great send-off, so if any of you are willing to “stand in that Amazon line,” I thank you for it. My editors and I are still talking about a final decision on a title, as well as the cover art, and I hope it will appear soon. I will let everyone know.

What I think I can safely say is that the book will be worth the wait! I don’t know of another book on Paul by a scholar in the field that is like this one, either in ideas, approach, or style. I did my Ph.D. dissertation on Paul at the University of Chicago (1982), directed by the incomparable Jonathan Z. Smith. It was published as a monograph in the Brown University Judaic Studies series in 1985 titled Things Unutterable. It has long ago gone out of print though an unbound facsimile edition is available on Amazon. For the past 30 years, teaching at three universities (Notre Dame, William & Mary, UNC Charlotte) I have continued to think deeply about Paul, covering him in my courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

So far as books on Paul go, I think they must outnumber the books on Jesus, but almost without exception the academic study of Paul is pretty much an “in-house” enterprise with most of the scholars who specialize and write about Paul producing endless books primarily intended for their colleagues.  Most of the writings on Paul are highly technical, very theological in orientation, and full of jargon particular to the field. “Pauline Studies,” is such a vast field right now it is impossible for all but the most devoted, who rarely work on anything else, to keep up. I am not one of those people and though I have published and written about Paul along the way.  My concentration has been much broader–namely trying to analyze the many ways of understanding “salvation” in ancient Mediterranean religions, particularly in late 2nd Temple Judaism and earliest Christianity–with apocalypticism as my main focus. Such a general description certainly pulls in Paul, but in a broader way that most Pauline scholars deal with him.

What I hope I have produced is a readable and accessible book on Paul, but one that offers an analysis of his mission and message that I have not seen anywhere else. Mine is neither a Paul-bashing nor a Paul-applauding book. I guess you might call it “Paul in His Own Words,” in that I try as best I can to let Paul speak for himself, based on the seven “authentic” letters we have from his hand. And speak he does! I think I have succeeded, at least on an introductory level, to offer readers a clear, refreshing, and provocative look at the Apostle.

I thought I would paste the Table of Contents in here, just to whet a few appetites, and I plan to begin a series of blog posts over the next few weeks that will explore various aspects of Paul and his thinking–as a kind of prelude to the book itself–so check back here often.

Preface: Discovering Paul

Introduction: Paul and Jesus

The Quest for the Historical Paul                                                           

Chapter 1: After the Cross

Chapter 2: Reading the New Testament Backwards

Chapter 3: A Forgotten Brother, A Lost Christianity

Chapter 4: A Cosmic Family and a Heavenly Kingdom

Chapter 5: A Mystical Union with Christ

Chapter 6: Already but Not Yet

Chapter 7: The Torah of Christ

Chapter 8: The Battle of the Apostles

Conclusion: Does God Care for Oxen?

The Jesus Dynasty, four years after publication in April, 2006, continues to get picked up in the news. Here are the the three latest examples, with on-line links if available:

First, a fascinating article by Adam Gopnik in the May 24, 2010 issue of The New Yorker titled “What Did Jesus Do? Reading and Unreading the Gospels.” Gopnik draws a number of insights from The Jesus Dynasty in his opening section and specifically mentions the tradition of Pantera as a little-known father of Jesus.

Second, Gopnik’s mention of the Pantera tradition, as if to give any credibility whatsoever to the tradition raised the ire of convervative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat who devoted an entire Op-Ed piece to blasting scholars who would give any view of Jesus’ birth other than the “no human father” option. It seemed to me sort of an odd piece to appear in the New York Times, and as several readers noted in the Comment section following the article. You can find my own comment, 5th from the top:

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/choose-your-own-jesus/

Finally, on newsstands now, is a special issue of USNews & World Report, titled Mysteries of History, that contains a three page interview with me on “Jesus Last Days Revealed.” I encourage readers to purchase the entire issue but I have attached a PDF version here of my own contribution.

There is a fascinating article, not to be missed, by Prof. Eilat Mazar on her excavations in the “City of David” area of Jerusalem on-line at the Biblical Archaeology Society web site, “Did I Find David’s Palace?”

Prof. Mazar recounts in a most objective way how her efforts developed over the years, the obstacles she has faced, and her interpretation of the results. I knew her grandfather from the 1968 digging south of the Temple Mount and I particularly enjoyed her story about talking with him before he died about this area. There are lots photos of the “City of David” area taken from 1900-1920 and there is not a building in that whole area, Jewish, Christian or Arab, other than the pump house for the Gihon built by the British. The dense construction we see there today is mostly post 1948 with some initial building in the 1930s. Too bad we can’t go back in time and skip the local turf wars of who owns what. David belongs to the ages, to humankind, and is the common spiritual ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslim–as is the case for all the amazing history of Jersualem, from Jebusite to today!

One the political side of things, one of the best sources for 19th and early 20th century photos of Jerusalem, not to mention just about any other photos related to Biblical studies (with some offered free), is the amazing collection of Todd Bolen at Bibleplaces.com. In this case, that is, the City of David, a picture is truly worth a thousand words–or more!

In terms of biblical and archaeological studies, especially what has been called “Biblical Archaeology,” I find the arguments Prof. Mazar offers in her article about how the texts of the Hebrew Bible can be properly used as a source for ancient Jerusalem and its potential correlation with material evidence both balanced and compelling. Our task is always to “find what is there” and to explore and examine the material evidence of the past as objectively as possible, regardless of religious traditions. However, the methods Prof. Mazar pursues in this regard are in my view are sound and historically responsible. After all, to ignore these ancient texts entirely is as misguided as to use them as a road map to predict and interpret what one finds, regardless of the evidence.

FIVE KEZAR PONDS, ME — Ronald Arthur Gestwicki, 71, of Five Kezar Ponds, Maine and Sanibel, Florida died at Stephens Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 after a nearly three year fight with mesothelioma, and one week after his return to his beloved ponds. He was born on January 19, 1939, in Dunkirk, New York, to Earnest and Beatrice Gestwicki and attended schools in Dunkirk. He graduated from the University of Buffalo in 1960 with a BA in chemistry, awarded the T. R. McConnell award as the outstanding graduate. He spent the year following graduation in New York City as a special student at Columbia University, a laboratory technician at Mount Sinai Hospital, and the summer in London, England in the Winant Volunteer Student Program. He then attended General Theological Seminary in New York City, graduating in 1964 with a Master of Divinity. In 1966 he enrolled at Drew Graduate School to study for a Ph.D. in religion and modern literature. After transferring to Syracuse University in 1968, he received his Ph.D. in 1971. As a college professor, he taught at Hobart and William Smith from 1970-1972. Most of his academic career was spent teaching in the Religious Studies department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, from 1972 until retirement in 2001. While teaching full-time, he also worked part-time as an Intensive Journal Consultant, then as Director of Advanced Studies in Holistic Depth Psychology for Ira Progoff’s Dialogue House Program in New York City. After retirement, he attended Antioch New England Graduate School, graduating in 2003 with a Master of Science in Environmental Studies. His last work was a field biologist for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, 2001-2007. He was the author of two books: Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy and Other Stories: A Child’s Introduction to Religion (1978), and A Life Study of Franz Kafka: Using the Intensive Journal Method by Ira Progoff (1992).

He was married to Carol Louise Findlater of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1964. They met in Kenya on Operation Crossroads Africa during the summer of 1962, and spent the first two years of marriage working for the Episcopal Church in German South West Africa, now Namibia. He was an involved and loving father for sons Timothy Scott, born in 1965, and Jay Douglas, born in 1971. Beyond his professional and family life, Ron loved the outdoors, and was a passionate environmentalist and conservationist, serving on the board of the Greater Lovell Land Trust, and as President of the Five Kezar Ponds Watershed Association until his illness. He was a competitive runner, a social activist, and a lover of good times. He will be remembered by family and friends as a man with strong convictions and opinions.

He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Carol, his sons Tim and Jay, both of Charlotte, and granddaughters Lila and Rose.

There will be a graveside burial ceremony on Sunday, May 23, 2010 in Woodlawn Cemetery, North Waterford, Maine, followed by a reception in the family cottage, 114 Five Kezar Ponds, Rd. In lieu of flowers remembrance donations may be made to the Greater Lovell Land Trust, P. O. Box 181, Center Lovell, ME 04016, with the designation ‘Ron Gestwicki Memorial.’

Arrangements are under the direction of Weston-Chandler Funeral Home 45 Main St., South Paris. Online condolences may be shared with his family at www.westonchandler.com
Published in Charlotte Observer on May 21, 2010