The AP is reporting:
Bill O’Reilly says God told him to write his new book, "Killing Jesus: A History."
The Fox News anchor explains in an interview on CBS’ "60 Minutes" that one night he awoke with the title of the book in his head. He says he believes he got that message from the Holy Spirit.
O’Reilly says the book is a researched, historic account. Despite its de-emphasis of religion, he is using his special gifts from God in a positive way.
He says it’s all part of God’s plan for him.
I’m sure he thinks so. Actually, it is Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, who also co-authored "Killing Lincoln" and "Killing Kennedy" with O’Reilly. O’Reilly’s name is just so much bigger because God told the publisher that he talks to O’Reilly.
Is the shroud mentioned? The authors come close – and oh so far. Here is a quote:
[T]hey do make the extravagant gesture of coating the body in expensive myrrh and aloe, to overwhelm the coming smell of decomposition. Then they wrap the body tightly in linen, making sure to keep it loose around Jesus’s face in case he is not really dead but merely unconscious. In this way, he will not suffocate. Jewish tradition dictates that all bodies be examined three days after apparent death. Thus the tomb will be reopened and Jesus will be observed on Sunday.
But all this is merely adherence to ritual. For Jesus is clearly dead. The spear rupturing the pericardial sac around his heart left no doubt.
Nonetheless, the tomb will be reopened on Sunday. When death is formally pronounced, his body will rest inside the tomb for a full year. Then the bones will be removed from his decomposed body and placed in a small stone jar known as an ossuary . . .
Pericardial sac? Where do we think they got that?
There is this:
As the two Marys approach the tomb, they are stunned. The tombstone has been rolled away. The crypt is empty.
Mary Magdalene cautiously steps forward and looks inside. She smells the myrrh and aloe in which Jesus’s body was anointed. She clearly sees the linen shroud in which the body was wrapped. But there is nothing else there.
To this day, the body of Jesus of Nazareth has never been found.
Mary clearly saw the shroud? Did the AP not say, “O’Reilly says the book is a researched, historic account. . . he is using his special gifts from God in a positive way.”
Yup! Got to love this paragraphs from a review of the book by New Testament scholar Joel L. Watts:
. . . While promising a researched narrative they simply rely on a fanciful retelling of the Fourfold Gospel story. It is written, I believe, to appeal to the fundamentalist and the evangelical but fails miserably in the hype induced by Mr. O’Reilly’s comments earlier this year, that somehow Jesus was crucified because he a member of the Taxed Enough Already Party.
Wanna bet it’s not a best seller?. Based upon the excerpts, it will be another addition to O’Reilly’s fractured history lessons and his wallet.
I do enjoy these daily updates but today felt inspired to reply, even though your post today did not mention (WARNING! Shameless Self-Promotion Alert!)”The Chimera” http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1483630196/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1380279381&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165 I guess by O’Reilly’s standards God told me to reply to your blog.
Unlike aforementioned novel (in which the Shroud plays a crucial role) O’Reilly claims his book is factual. (Hell, it’s not even scriptural!)
The gospels agree (a rarity to be sure) that the women went to the tomb PRECISELY to anoint the body, carrying with them the spices and myrrh. And if, according to some non-existent Jewish tradition of visiting the tomb “on the third day” which God must have vouched safe to O’Reilly alone, other problems arise. The gospel account of Lazarus in John’s gospel clearly states he had been in the tomb “four days” and the women protest Jesus’ request to role away the stone. But more germane, it is that very phrase “on the third day” that has caused fundamentalists and scripture scholars alike such àgita, nigh these 2,000 years.
Calendar days from Friday to Sunday might allow the names of three days, but by Jewish counting from sunset, Jesus had been in the tomb barely a day and a half. Thirty six hours max.
The women went to the tomb WITH SPICES because the onset of the Sabbath on Friday evening precluded them from preparing the body of Jesus for burial properly. At sunrise Sunday they went, and the rest is history, although not apparently the one O’Reilly researched.
This can only be seen as an attempt to fatten the wallet because, unfortunately, Scripture linked with rubbish does sell.
Joe Veneoso: “The women went to the tomb WITH SPICES because the onset of the Sabbath on Friday evening precluded them from preparing the body of Jesus for burial properly.”
It has been seriously argued on this site that this common assumption is in error. See John 19:40, “They took the body of Jesus and wrapped with the spices in linen cloths, FOLLOWING THE JEWISH BURIAL CUSTOM.”
Irrespective of the onset of the special sabbath, it seems that the completion of certain burial rites may have been a permitted work. Archaeocryptologist Max Patrick Hamon has argued that with the assistance of oil lamps for lighting, John 19:40 can be taken at face value, the work was completed, that the purpose of the Sunday morning visit was in fact in connection with a common practice, that the purpose of the women bringing spices was to mask the smell of the onset of corruption.
I have no quarrel with the arguments against O’Reilly’s apparent claims to divinely inspired self-promotion.
Why would the body not have been prepared following the jewish burial custom ? What kind of evidence do we have ?
Anoxie: It has been commonly thought and argued that there would have been insufficient time between the death of Jesus, at about 3:00pm on Preparation Day and sunset, for everything to be done without breaking the sabbath, a very special sabbath as it occurred this year on the Passover. Pilate’s permission to take the body had to be obtained, the burial cloths had to be acquired unless suitable cloths were already to hand, Jesus had to be taken down from the cross and transported to the tomb, and then all the proper rites had to be attended to. As I understand from Max, despite this time problem the necessary work would have nevertheless been carried out, and I think with certain reservations carried out to adequate completion, as indicated in John 19:40.
Correction last sentence”
“As I understand from Max, despite this time problem the necessary work could have nevertheless have been carried out, and with certain reservations carried out to adequate completion, as indicated in John 19:40.”
On the other hand, it might be reading too much into John 19:40. Others present arguments as to why the Shroud was merely draped loosely over the body, and the purpose of the women’s visit was to complete the burial. Both sides have their arguments; I prefer to say I’m neutral and to admit that I don’t know.
Thank you, i didn’t know wether there was a consensus among exegetes.