Strauss writes about myths in the long introduction to his controversial book. There are two kinds of myths to him: Philosophical myths and Historical myths.
Philosophical myths are basically false teaching that has been tried to warrant by the use of a narrative or text in general. The narrative may contain portions that are historically true, but the single focus on one point should make the motive of the writer obvious.
Historical myths, if I have understood correctly, do not have a certain didactic core, but are historically inaccurate stories. The problem with the Bible is that we do not have any second sources to back it up, thus according to Strauss.
This leads us to the main challenge: the greater the gap between any historical occurrence and the written record of it, the greater the chance that the record is corrupted, i.e. it is a myth. It may still have “a residuum of historical fact,” but we cannot fully be sure what it looked like originally.[1]
Strauss’ theory is based on several presuppositions:
1)
History
cannot be transmitted orally in an accurate way.
2)
Strauss:
“… it can be shown that for a long period there was no written account of the
life of Jesus…”[2]
3)
Therefore:
Records of Jesus’ life are mythical; therefore they cannot be true.
a.
They
contain some historical truths.
b.
They
contain some true teaching.
c.
They
are not fully either in historical or philosophical way.
d.
Discerning
reader can separate the truth from the fiction.
Who is the discerning reader then
who can pinpoint the truth in the Gospels? Where does Strauss ground his
argument that it took a long time to compose a written history of Jesus’ life
after his death? Would Strauss have changed his manifesto had the Dead Sea
Scrolls been found at his time?
Strauss lost his reputation and
job at the university because of this book its too liberal theses. He moderated
his views for the third edition, which secured a job for him, but then he was
put out of office again. He wrote a fourth edition returning to his original
stance, and thus revealing his sidestep with the third edition had been a mere
effort to gain an academic audience.[3]
[1]
Strauss, David Friedrich, 1808-1874; Eliot,
George, 1819-1880. The life of Jesus
critically examined (London: Swan Sonnenechevin, 1902), Kindle Location
1319.
[3] Joel B.
Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 1992), 328 & http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/bce/strauss.htm
(accessed Oct 1, 2013).
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