Listen in this holy weekend to Victor Davis Hanson discuss the latest news and the Gospels: including Elon Musk, Frank James, the sinking of the Moskva, and professor Hanson ends with reflections on the Gospel of John.
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Vis-a-vis John’s Gospel, I was taught that it was the last Gospel written, so John had more time to reflect on what had happened. Also, the wedding at Cannae (sp?) might have been John’s and that he might have been Jesus’ cousin. What gave Jesus’ mother Mary the right to tell the servants to fill up urns with water? Possibly because she was John’s aunt and was in charge of the wedding admin.
Another aspect of interpreting the Gospels is the difference between the reader looking for magic tricks as opposed to what the writer may have been trying to convey. Let’s take the “miracle of the loaves and fishes”. Did 5,000 (and that was just the men) come so far from their homes without any food on them? Where did the 12 baskets come from? Did Jesus make those? One interpretation was that the 12 baskets were the 12 koffinos (sp?) of the 12 apostles. Wicker baskets worn under the robes in which food was kept (packpacks). An apostle tells Jesus that the people are hungry. Jesus knows that people had food but were afraid to take it out because others would want some. When the boy offers the loaves & fishes to him, he has the people sit down. Then they see the rabbi cut them up and begin distribution. Oy, am I embarrassed. Out come the Reese’s Pieces. At this point Jesus wants to make the point that, if you share there will be enough to go around and even a bit left over so he has the scraps collected. Isn’t that a miracle – touching hearts? Jesus didn’t come to make pasta.
packpacks should have been backpacks.
What a thoughtless comment by Sami WInc that the shooter was a bad shot. Maybe the next murderer will practice ahead of time. Will that be more to your liking???
Thnx for interviewing MY MAN !
John died 98CE, last of the apostles : he is the writer of Revelation also- written in exile on Isle of Patmos. He is one of the 3 “ that Jesus loved “ ( especially ), being with James & Peter, invited into the transfiguration of the dead prophets.
If one has to read only one book to know the Christ, this is the shiniest biography. One really appreciates understanding the depth of God’s love & Jesus’ love for Him.
In fact, John 17:3 illustrates the key to life everlasting :
“ …Getting to know the one true god & the one He sent, Jesus Christ “
as always a spending hour-plus. one comment. VDH refers to the Repubs possibly having 60 Senate seats by 2023, and i thought he indicated that would give them control of legislation. It would be sufficient to overcome a Democratic filibuster, but a Biden veto would kill any good legislation as it would require two-thirds of the Senate and House to override, a Republican majority that’s statistically impossible since only 14 Democratic senators face re-election in 2024. Deadlock is better than what we have now, but northing worthy is likely before 2025, alas.
Hal Brayman, halmarita@mindspring.com
I was very happy you spoke about the Greek of the New Testament (logos/a thinking component). Interesting what you said about comparing the Latin Vulgate to the Greek too. I would love it if you wrote a book about things that stand out to you most-rhema word compared to logos word etc. When you spoke about Jesus experiencing the fallen nature of man and how this added to His understanding of our position it reminded me of Job 9:33 “Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both.” – after Jesus experienced life as a man He then could lay his hand upon man and God and truly understood each side. There is a Parallelism in Jude 1:5-8 which you might like-the 3 apostates are compared to the 3 false teacher sins-A-B-C to C-B-A It is repeated in 2 Peter 1:1-10. It represents the 3 ways sin besets men; through the Body-Soul-Spirit like is mentioned in 1 John 2:16 and Genesis 3:6 I so hope you write the book!
If Victor hasn’t done it already, he needs to go rambling through the small farms of New England. They’ve found ways to keep that Shire feel while still making money. The Jones and Beardsleys are good examples about 20 minutes north of Jack in Shelton.
P.s. does Sami have a little thing for bad boys. 😉
P.p.s. thank you for that bit on John. That was a very personal thing to share. I will be thinking about that. Thank you.
As always, I enjoyed the interview. Dr. Hanson’s explication of Hunter Biden’s possible resentment at being made to grift for the Biden family is something I’ve not heard before, and it sounds plausible. And thank you for delving into the Gospel of John. As a desultory, incompletely self-taught Greek student, I have plowed through portions of the New Testament, John’s Gospel included. John’s Koine is definitely easier to understand than, say Xenophon’s Anabasis, or, heaven forfend, Aristophanes’ The Wasps (which my younger daughter picked up for her lawyer daddy while she was in Athens a few years ago). Speaking of Greek in New Testament times, two thoughts. (1) In Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ,” there is a scene where Jesus and Pontius Pilate converse in Latin. One would think they would converse in Koine Greek instead, since Pilate (being an educated Roman) would know Greek, and Jesus (living where Koine was the lingua franca) would have also spoken Greek. (2) Ann Rice, the vampire author, wrote 2 novels about Jesus, told in the first person. The first opens in Egypt, where Joseph and Mary fled after the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem. Rice placed the family in Alexandria, the second city of the Roman Empire, and even had the boy Jesus become a student of Philo of Alexandria. A mere rote reading of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke would never bring such a possibility to mind. And it’s possible, I think. Never underestimate a creative mind.
Re Twitter and freedom of speech. I believe that the Bill of Rights is not the bill of freedoms. So the Right to Speak must be matched by a right to hear. And enforced by the courts. Prior to the revolution, those that tore down the broad sheets got tared and feathered and taken out of town on a rail.
Hi Sami, I came across a talk by Victor 10 years ago – Great Books & Democracy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cGnzUfgfsc
It’s really good. Could you have him talk more about this subject? There are a lot to “unpack” in this little talk.
Second, could you have him talk about human nature? He always said there is only a finite number of issues under the sun thru the millennium. What about human nature? Is it finite also? Does he have a complete list?
Same examples:
Why “no good deed go unpunished?” – because human are inherently ungrateful, right?
Why the best don’t always win, or get credit? – because life is inherently unfair
Lastly, did communism came from Western Civilization tradition? Where did Marx get his idea from?
Communism as we know it is the product of the German expat historian Karl Marx and his collaborator, Friedrich Engels. Drawing on Christianity Theology and it’s critiques in the German philosophical tradition (Schleirmacher, Kant, esp Hegel), Marx proposed a system of dialectical materialism in which a God-less human system is driven by the conflict between social classes for scarce economic resources. He predicted that this conflict would end with the proletariat killing the capitalist class and creating a classless utopia where all give according to their ability and take according to their needs. The major forms of state Communism are the failed Russian system pioneered by Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and Khrushchev and the Chinese strain adapted to Chinese conditions by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping.
What a wonderful conversation Dr. Hanson and Sami. Thank you so much for your insight into current events, President Biden & his son. Most of all the talk about the Gospel of John, and as a scholar in Greek and Latin your thoughts of the Logos, the Christ and the personal connection with God that is possible for anyone with an open mind and heart. I have six or seven of your books and I am a diligent follower of your essays and interviews. The best $50 I have spent is my subscription to you site. Thanks again.