Posted: Jun 29, 2013 11:41 am
Evan Allen wrote:Don, have you heard of a distinction without a difference? I think you just made one. Sort of like "There was a historical Paul Bunyan that we can know nothing about."
The distinction Don makes there is quite important. I don't doubt one moment that the gospels contain midrashic exegesis - what I do doubt is identifying the whole work as a midrash.
Sure, the gospels could in their entirety be some kind of metaphorical work - as some mythicists contend - but if so, they have to be of a genre that significantly differs from the aggadaic midrash genre.