Simulating Jesus: Reality Effects in the Gospels (Bibleworld)

258 Pages·2011·2.836 MB·English

by  George Aichele

Simulating Jesus
BibleWorld
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SIMULATING JESUS
REALITY EFFECTS IN THE GOSPELS
George Aichele
First published 2011 by Equinox Publishing Ltd, an imprint of Acumen

Published 2014 by Routledge
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© George Aichele 2011
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Notices
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using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of
others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

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assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13 978 1 84553 680 0 (hardback)
978 1 84553 681 7 (paperback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aichele, George.
Simulating Jesus : reality effects in the Gospels / George Aichele.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-84553-680-0 (hb)—ISBN 978-1-84553-681-7 (pb) 1. Jesus Christ—Person
and offices. 2. Bible. N.T. Gospels—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BT203.A52 2011
232'.8—dc22
2010031023
Typeset by S.J.I. Services, New Delhi
For Connie
Page Intentionally Left Blank
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
Part I. Virtual Bible, Virtual Gospel
Chapter 1
Virtuality and the Bible 3
Chapter 2
The Simulation of Jesus, and the Virtual Gospel 24
Part II. Four Jesuses
Chapter 3
Matthew’s Gospel according to Pasolini 49
Chapter 4
Child and Kingdom: On some Unsettling Language in the
Gospel of Mark 70
Chapter 5
Dark Conceptions: The Two Fathers of Luke’s Jesus 91
Chapter 6
John Simulates the Anti-simulacrum: Reading Jesus’ Writing 115
Part III. Canonical Reality Effects
Chapter 7
The Possibility of Error: Minority Report and the Synoptic
Gospels 141
Chapter 8
Fantasy and the Synoptic Problem: Q and the “Minor
Agreements” against Mark 164
Chapter 9
Luke and John, and the Simulation of Christ 187
Chapter 10
The Virtual Gospel and the Canonical Control of Meaning 211
Bibliography 222
Index of References 230
Index of Names 238
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Unless otherwise noted, English quotations from the Bible in this book are
from the Revised Standard Version (1971). The Greek text of the New
Testament is from Nestle and Aland (1979) and that of the Septuagint is
from Rahlfs (1979).
Parts of many of these chapters have been previously published, but all
of this material has been edited, expanded, or revised to fit into the larger
argument of this book. An earlier version of Chapter 1 appears in Roland
Boer and Fernando Segovia, eds, The Future of the Biblical Past (Semeia
Studies, SBL Press, 2011). A much shorter version of Chapter 2 appears in
Roberta Sabbath, ed., Sacred Tropes: Tanakh, New Testament, Qur’an as
Literary Works (Brill, 2009), and parts of Chapter 3 appear in Cross Currents,
Winter, 2002. Chapter 4 was written especially for this book. An earlier
version of Chapter 5 appears in George Aichele and Richard Walsh, eds,
Those Outside: Noncanonical Readings of Canonical Gospels (Continuum/
T & T Clark International, 2005), and a shorter version of Chapter 6 appears
in Biblical Interpretation 12(4), 2004. Parts of Chapter 7 appear in Biblical
Interpretation 14(1–2), 2006, and this double issue was also published as J.
Cheryl Exum, ed., The Bible in Film – the Bible and Film (Brill, 2006).
Chapter 8 was written especially for this book, and parts of Chapter 9
appear in The Bible and Critical Theory 4(1), 2008. Chapter 10 was
written especially for this book.
I am deeply indebted to many friends who have spent time and effort
reading drafts of these writings and sharing their thoughts with me. They
help me to see problems and opportunities in the texts that I would have
otherwise missed. Others have provided helpful expert answers to my
questions. I take full responsibility for the contents of this book and any
errors it may contain, but without the help of these friends any value that
may be found here would be seriously diminished. These friends and
advisers include Fred Burnett, Elizabeth Castelli, Kevin Hart, Peter Miscall,
Raj Nadella, Adele Reinhartz, Yvonne Sherwood, Jeffrey Staley, and Richard
Walsh, as well as my former students, Carli Dice and Krystal Bedtelyon.