3.533 Notes and Queries (96)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Mon, 2 Oct 89 19:58:58 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 533. Monday, 2 Oct 1989.
(1) Date: Mon, 2 Oct 89 09:54 CDT (12 lines)
From: Mikeal Parsons <PARSONSM@BAYLOR.BITNET>
Subject: STORYTELLING MOVEMENT?
(2) Date: Mon, 02 Oct 89 12:08:54 CDT (18 lines)
From: "Kevin L. Cope" <ENCOPE@LSUVM>
Subject: Summer in London Program
(3) Date: Mon, 2 Oct 89 13:23:25 EDT (10 lines)
From: Daniel Boyarin <BOYARIN@TAUNIVM>
Subject: Origins of virgin birth
(4) Date: Mon, 02 Oct 89 14:14:35 EDT (26 lines)
From: Steve Mason <SHLOMO@YORKVM1>
Subject: Who is/was a virgin?
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 89 09:54 CDT
From: Mikeal Parsons <PARSONSM@BAYLOR.BITNET>
Subject: STORYTELLING MOVEMENT?
A colleague of mine in Oral History is interested in tracing the development
of storytelling in American popular culture. Her thesis is that storytelling
has experienced something of a resurgence lately, perhaps as a backlash to
the pervasiveness of technology. She is searching for some "hard data" which
might prove (or disprove) what is now only an intuition. Any help?
Mikeal C. Parsons
Baylor University
BITNET: PARSONSM@BAYLOR
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 89 12:08:54 CDT
From: "Kevin L. Cope" <ENCOPE@LSUVM>
Subject: Summer in London Program
Frequent E-List correspondent KEVIN L. COPE would like to announce his
participation in and solicit applications for the LSU Summer in London
Program. Offering a full range of courses from lower undergraduate
to full graduate classes, the program is housed in lovely Goldsmith College
of the University of London and runs from July 9 - August 11, 1990.
Faculty come from English, Art History, and Theatre departments, but can
assist students in several disciplines. Write to Kevin L. Cope,
Department of English, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA,
70803, U. S. A., or to Academic Programs Abroad, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803.
Requests for more information may be filed directly via
e-mail with the director of academic programs abroad at LSU, Prof.
Stephen Cooper. His e-address: ABCOOP@LSUVM.
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------18----
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 89 13:23:25 EDT
From: Daniel Boyarin <BOYARIN@TAUNIVM>
Subject: Origins of virgin birth
Yes, indeed there has been a mistranslation, but not the one you suggest.
The Hebrew means merely a "young woman," and no more. There may have
been such a belief as you suggest but it is not warranted by the biblical
usage of Isaiah, which only means a nubile young woman will give birth.
Daniel Boyarin, Deopartment of Talmud, Bar-Ilan University
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------34----
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 89 14:14:35 EDT
From: Steve Mason <SHLOMO@YORKVM1>
Subject: Who is/was a virgin?
In reply to Edis Bevan's query:
The study of the virgin birth that you seem to have in mind is Geza
Vermes, <Jesus the Jew: a historian's reading of the Gospels> (SCM, 1973).
He has an excursus entitled "Son of God and Virgin Birth", in which he argues
along the lines you have suggested. He points out that according to both the
Mishnah and Tosefta (earliest rabbinic writings), a virgin (bethulah) is one
who "has never seen blood even though she is married". Noting that the
common Greek term for "virgin" could be used with similar elasticity, Vermes
proposes that the original story about Jesus' unusual birth was transformed
into a story of miraculous birth.
Although the data cited by Vermes are clear enough, it is hard to see how
this scenario could account for the origin of the virgin birth story. The prob
lem is that the story seems entirely unknown to the earliest Christian writers
(Paul and Mark) and even some of the later ones (John). It appears only in two
of the later Gospels (Matthew and Luke), in two very different versions, and
even in those Gospels the story has no function; the infancy narratives are
not mentioned in the sequel. All of this suggests that the notion of Jesus'
virgin birth entered the developing Christian tradition only toward the end of
the first century.
Steve Mason
Division of Humanities
York University, Toronto