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Action Has Fallen
April 21, 2013 2:35 pm / 2 Comments on Action Has Fallen
Olympus Has Fallen was a better experience than I anticipated. Antoine Fuqua's film received mediocre reviews so I was not prepared to pay for it; fortunately I got a free ticket and it turned out to be good fun. As is often the case, low expectations led to a pleasant surprise as the film is far from awful. It is no masterpiece and has plenty of problems, but it is an entertaining piece of action cinema.
I would summarise this film as the missing link between Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988) and Air Force One (Wolfgang Peterson, 1996). As in Air Force One, the President of the United States and senior members of his cabinet are taken prisoner by VERY EVIL terrorists. As in Die Hard, only one man stands between the VERY EVIL terrorists and even greater disaster. Air Force One had the conceit of this man being the President himself; in Olympus Has Fallen, the lone hero is Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), while President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) must the inflictions of Korean supremacist, Kang (Rick Yune). None of this is a spoiler as it's all in the trailer.
Olympus Has Fallen is very much Die Hard in the White House, due to its confined setting and internal/external conflict. Banning used to be on the President's security detail, but was removed when he saved President Asher but allowed the First Lady (a momentary Ashley Judd) to die – saving Asher is Banning's redemption as well as his duty. Further parallels appear as Banning moves through crawlspaces in the walls, has to contend with a helicopter attack mounted by his supposed allies outside, the VERY EVIL (I'll stop now) terrorists' heavy artillery, some interchanges with Kang that (poorly) echo Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman's banter in Die Hard, and even a moment when he encounters an enemy who pretends to be an ally. If the last two Die Hard films hadn't been larger scale it would be easy to see John McClane in Banning's position. This does appear to be the premise in 2013's other film about the White House going down, entitled, imaginatively enough, White House Down. In Roland Emmerich's film, Channing Tatum is a Capitol policeman touring the White House when it is taken over by terrorists and only he can save President Jamie Foxx. Perhaps it's best that Willis never got there, there'd be nothing left for Tatum and Butler.
Not that Banning is simply McClane with a vaguely Scottish accent and a quarter of the wit (like Fuqua's previous efforts Training Day, King Arthur, Shooter and Brooklyn's Finest, Olympus Has Fallen is very serious). Part of Banning's arsenal is his familiarity with the White House and its security, so the required suspension of disbelief is not as big as it could be. It is still pretty big though, as the terrorists (who know everything) target a secret nuclear strategy to unleash hell on earth; the Pentagon action committee (headed by a rather wasted Morgan Freeman) make every wrong decision except to occasionally trust Banning; a heavily armed plane opens fire on Washington, gunning down the jets sent after it as well as dozens of civilians on the ground.
I enjoy action movies very much, and indeed rate Die Hard as one of my favourite films of all time. There is a thrill in the spectacle of blazing guns that only just miss our hero, and generic conventions give us confidence that he will save the day. Despite this confidence, action cinema only works if there is tension and suspense. We may be confident that the hero will survive, but how? When Banning needs to get Connor Asher (Finley Jacobsen) away from the terrorists, will he wait them out or fight his way through them? How many of the hostages are expendable, and how many are necessary for Banning's redemption? There are also stylistic considerations. As I argued in relation to Safe House, constant shaky-cam completely undercuts any tension. Fuqua favours steady cinematography; pans, whips, and tracking shots propel the action, while close-ups and fast editing convey the danger. Suspense like this invests the viewer in the action, which is heightened whenever a significant character dies.
How people die though is interesting. Many of the deaths in Olympus Has Fallen are very bloody, as civilians as well as numerous Secret Service agents are gunned down, many of whom we have got to know a little. Indeed, during the assault Banning is left alone as his friends die around him, and close-ups on his face allow us access to his grief. There are scenes of pain and suffering, as we see blood-stained bodies and several victims dying in agony. Kang obtains vital information from his hostages through torture, including a very ugly scene in which he punches and kicks Secretary of Defence Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo), whose injuries and agonised screams of defiance are palpable. The physical emphasis of Olympus Has Fallen begins in the opening scene with Asher and Banning boxing, and many of the interpersonal clashes are brutal, not least the final, largely unarmed, fight between Banning and Kang.
This emphasis on physical action with associated embodied pain and suffering seems less common than it used to be. Historically, when movie characters were shot they coiled into a ball with a pained expression and then collapsed. Under the Hays Code, this was an acceptably sanitised way to present death on screen. With the withdrawal of the code and introduction of the MPAA rating system, New Hollywood saw more explicitly violent movies gain prominence, such as Bonnie and Clyde, The Wild Bunch, The French Connection, Dirty Harry, The Godfather and Taxi Driver. These were not action movies per se, more westerns and crime films, but their success demonstrated the audience's appetite for destruction.
The model for modern action films was fine-tuned during the 1980s, with the high concept approach favoured by producers like Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. Directors like Tony Scott and James Cameron as well as actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis became household names as a result of various loud, flashy, high concept action movies which could earn revenue through ticket sales, video rentals and, perhaps most importantly, merchandising. Many of the action films from this era were very violent, such as The Terminator, Commando, Predator, Lethal Weapon, Tango & Cash, Cobra, Nico and Hard To Kill as well as, of course, Die Hard. I knew these were violent because I saw them in video rental shops in the 90s and they all carried 18 certificates. In the US they were R, but the more stringent BBFC would have no thirteen or fourteen year-olds seeing such things (my first 18 certificate at the cinema was Se7en, and I was sixteen at the time).
Many of the prominent action films of the 90s, such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, Speed, Die Hard with a Vengeance and The Matrix, only warranted a 15 in the UK (although there were exceptions, such as Face/Off). Stronger stuff was needed to qualify for an 18 certificate, which was largely the province of gangster films, such as Casino, The Usual Suspects, L.A. Confidential, and in the 21st century other titles including The Departed, Training Day and Drive, as well as horror films like Saw and the torture porn cycle. Action films were largely embraced by the 12A category, especially with the growth of the superhero genre. The X-Men, Spider-Man, Avengers, Dark Knight and Hellboy franchises largely received 12A certificates, as did other blockbusters including Transformers, Inception, Avatar and Oblivion, not to mention contemporary-set action films like the Jason Bourne and Mission: Impossible franchises, and the seemingly unstoppable James Bond.
I was keen to see Olympus Has Fallen because it was awarded a 15 certificate, which seemed unusual for a film like this. Why would it be unusual, I thought? Is this level of violence and profanity that rare? Reflecting on the last decade of Hollywood action cinema, I realised it was, since the introduction of the 12A certificate in the UK. Recently, A Good Day to Die Hard was submitted to the BBFC and awarded a 15 certificate. The studio recut the film and resubmitted it in order to receive a 12A certificate, which increased the size of its audience. The same happened in 2012 with The Hunger Games as well as Taken 2. As a result, in recent years there has been a dearth of a certain kind of macho action film. In order to reach a wider audience, films are distributed with little explicit violence or strong language and minimal sexual content.
What is striking about these films is that, while they feature plenty of action, the emphasis is more often on the spectacle of scale than of death. Characters certainly die, but our attention is quickly drawn to something larger, often a digital creation such as a giant robot or an alien creature. We marvel instead of recoil, the action aesthetic has moved in the direction of "Wow" rather than "Ow".
This change of direction has marginalised the macho action movie, where MEN are manly in their swearing, shooting and fighting. Nostalgia for 80s-style action has fuelled The Expendables franchise, as well as Sylvester Stallone's return to Rambo and Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand. These films emphasise guns and bodies, rather than technological spectacle, and seem quaint and curiously niche.
Olympus Has Fallen emphasises physicality, yet much of the action is digital, especially the aerial assaults both by the terrorists and the Navy SEALs who attempt to retake the White House. This is clearly practical – create a completely digital Washington and you can have as much destruction as you like without having to pay or wait for the disruptions you cause in the city. Yet this sits uneasily with the emphasis on down-and-dirty physicality. In an interview with the BBC, Butler commented that he was left very sore after filming the climactic fight scene, which seems at odds with the CGI sequences.
Olympus Has Fallen falls into a peculiar niche of action films for non-family audiences. Action cinema has moved away from the graphic spectacle of pain, as this restricts audiences. That said, there is clearly still a market for harder action, which need not be serviced by Hollywood – the most intense action film in years was 2012's The Raid from Indonesia. The Raid is a little different for being a martial arts film, where the emphasis is still very much on physicality and digital sequences are less frequent. For Hollywood action movies like Olympus Has Fallen (and perhaps White House Down), there remains a tension between the grit of physical action and the wonder of digital animation.


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Filed In: Alter Nation Toys
Deals You Missed: Disney+, Nelvana, eOne
Disney+ has picked up The Jim Henson Company's new comedy talk show series Earth to Ned (pictured). Available on the SVOD at launch on November 12, the half-hour episodes are about aliens who become obsessed with Earth's pop culture and host a talk show featuring real-life celebrities. No details on how many episodes or the show's target demo have been released yet.
Produced by The Jim Henson Company and LA-based prodco Marwar Junction Productions, Brian Henson and Vince Raisa are executive producers for Henson, alongside Marwar's Joseph Freed and Allison Berkley.
The upcoming streamer scrapped plans for a scripted Muppets series in September, but unscripted short form series Muppets Now—which was announced at Disney's fan convention D23in August—is set to launch on the platform in 2020.
Nelvana
Corus Entertainment-owned prodco Nelvana has signed a number of new licensing partnerships for its popular preschool series Max & Ruby. Starting this fall, retailer and restaurant chain Cracker Barrel will exclusively roll out plush, apparel and sleepwear products across 650 of its locations in the US. Meanwhile, licensees that are creating new products include Aurora (master plush partner), Chouette (publishing), Picture This (apparel), Prime Party (party goods), Happy Threads (apparel) and Jellifish (sleepwear), while ice-cream-focused fast-food chain Braum's will launch in-store branding across the US.
Based on a popular preschool book series by American writer Rosemary Wells, Max & Ruby explores the adventures of two bunny siblings. Canadian broadcaster Treehouse and Nick Jr. in the US recently launched the show's seventh season, and Nelvana grew the brand through the release of eight shorts titled Super Max in April, as part of the brand's 40th anniversary.
Panda Mony Toys
California-based manufacturer Panda Mony Toys has partnered with Malaysian animation studio Lil Critter Workshop to produce a six-part animated webseries based on Panda Mony's flagship toy brand Alter Nation. Premiering exclusively on November 6 via the Alter Nation YouTube channel, the webisodes will each be about two-minutes long.
Aimed at kids six- to 11-years-old, the new series introduces audiences to the brands' characters: team of soldiers who were experimented on and turned into half-animal creatures. The animated episodes supplement a series of digital comic books and a graphic novel that was released through publisher Dark Horse earlier this year. The webisodes are a step toward eventually producing a full-length animated series around the IP, said Panda Mony in a statement.
Lime Pictures
UK-based prodco Lime Pictures have optioned British writer Juno Dawson's YA novel Hollow Pike from publisher Hachette Children's Group.
Lime Pictures is planning to produce a live-action drama series based on the book. Hollow Pike is Dawson's debut novel and tells the story of a young girl who moves to a small town known for its history of witchcraft and has to deal with the supernatural elements around her. It hasn't announced any episode details or when the series will be completed.
The prodcolaunched a Liverpool-based kids division this past February and quickly got to work, optioning book rights to bestselling kids book series The Apprentice Witch and unreleased YA trilogy The Loop.
Entertainment One has signed new broadcast deals with Nordic broadcasters for its new animated preschool series Ricky Zoom. NRK (Norway) and SVT (Sweden) will debut season one of the series this month and spring 2020, respectively. The CGI-animated show tracks a red motorbike's adventure with his friends and family in a town made for bikes.
The show has already been picked up by a number of international broadcasters, including Nickelodeon (US), Nick Jr. and Channel 5′s Milkshake (UK), Treehouse (Canada), Super RTL (Germany), Discovery Kids (LatAm) and Spacetoon (MENA).
This article originally appeared on kidscreen.com on November 1, 2019.
http://kidscreen.com/2019/11/01/deals-you-missed-disney-nelvana-eone/
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Fantastic news!! The update is now live for anyone who purchased The Legend of Nariko : The Mark of Silverfrost.
You can go to the Amazon website, log in, and then go to Manage Your Content and Devices and you should be able update the book there.


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Jul 9 Jeff VanderMeer's ANNIHILATION
Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Fiction
A book review by Dennis D. McDonald
This short novel is a beautifully written but unsettling example of speculative fiction. It's also possible to call it "science fiction" since references to biology and natural sciences are spread throughout.
The main character is a biologist. Her approach to experiencing "Area X," the strange, isolated, and deceptively "natural" area that she had a team of female researchers set out to explore, is as a scientist. Yet her first person observations of the strange and sometimes terrifying goings-on during this expedition are more personal and emotional than scientific.
Therein lies the parallel between this book and the movie of the same name. Despite the story elements of the book and movie being different, the psychological and behavioral characteristics of the two are quite similar.
The main character of the movie, the biologist portrayed by Natalie Portman, is a starkly perceptive portrayal of the book's biologist. In both media the main character has a challenging personality, a teetering marriage, a husband who returns home one day after a long and unexplained absence, and a tendency to hide the truth. Portman's performance must have been informed by a very close reading and appreciation of the novel.
The divergence between the story elements in the book and the movie I found to be easily accommodated as I read. Certain subtleties discussed or minimally referenced in the book were made more threatening and visceral in the movie. The movie's director and screenwriters, also, are more judicious in their use of flashbacks than in the original novel.
While my reading of the book and appreciating it have definitely been informed by having seen the movie, the book can, I believe, stand on its own.
I look forward to reading the next two books in this "Southern Reach" trilogy and am just as curious about what happens to the characters as I am about the origins of "Area X."
Review copyright 2018 by Dennis D. McDonald
Jun 23 Guy Delisle's HOSTAGE


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Steady uptake of WMP milk contracts with Glanbia
More than 50 per cent of Wexford Milk Producers (WMP) have signed milk contracts with Glanbia Ingredients Ireland Limited (GIIL) over the past number of weeks.
This represents 58 per cent of its milk pool, according to a spokesman for Wexford Creamery, who added the sign up with GIIL is continuing at a steady pace.
"All that is required is Competition Authority approval that will run into February," he added.
Glanbia and WMP agreed a deal last December to pay €20m, of which €3.7m is in cash for co-op. For the deal to succeed, it needs more than 50 per cent uptake of new GIIL WMP milk contracts, representing a 60 per cent milk pool, and approval from the Competition Authority.
"GIIL is satisfy with the current contracts and requirements. The sign up of the contracts is continuously creeping up. It is ongoing and on a steady basis," the Wexford Creamery spokesman added.
Meanwhile Strathroy Dairy, who has also declared an interest in the co-op, has sealed a deal with 40 WMP members who switched to the Omagh-based producer. However, given the high uptake of contracts with GIIL, it seems unlikely that its bid for Wexford Creamery will be successful.
The AGM of Wexford Creamery is taking place on 13 February and a special general meeting is also set, where to motions of confidence in the board and no confidence in the board are being tabled.


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Kansas Delegation Introduces Bill to Award Senator Bob Dole the Congressional Gold Medal
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today joined U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) to introduce bipartisan legislation in the Senate and House to award former Kansas U.S. Senator Robert J. Dole the Congressional Gold Medal in "recognition for his service to the nation as a soldier, legislator and statesman." The legislation was co-sponsored by the entire Kansas delegation: Reps. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) and Ron Estes (R-Kan.).
Sen. Moran said: "I am honored to call Senator Dole a friend and mentor. Americans know of the sacrifices he made on their behalf during WWII, and every Kansan knows that he's been there for them every day since. Senator Dole has dedicated his entire life to public service and it's hard to imagine anyone more deserving of the Congressional Gold Medal. Through his dedication to issues from veterans, to child education, to food aid across the world, he reminds us all that one person is capable of making meaningful changes to people's lives with long-lasting effect."
Sen. Roberts said: "I can think of few people more deserving for a Congressional Gold Medal than Bob Dole. Bob is not only one of the country's finest statesmen and Kansas' favorite son, but he is also a friend, mentor and brother to me. He has served our country in countless ways, spending his whole life serving Kansas and the nation. From his days in Russell, Kansas, his service in World War II, and his dedication to spending his life as a public servant, Bob Dole embodies the American spirit."
Rep. Jenkins said: "As a World War II veteran, public servant and prolific role model, Senator Dole is certainly deserving of the Congressional Gold Medal. Senator Dole has spent his entire life serving Kansans and this great country. Additionally, after retiring from public office, he continued his important work to help our veterans get the care they deserve, curb child hunger and poverty and several other initiatives. Senator Dole is not only an American hero and true statesman, but he is a dear friend and someone I consider to be the ultimate embodiment of a true Kansan. I look forward to getting this bill through Congress and to the President's desk."
Rep. Marshall said: "Senator Bob Dole embodies what it means to be a public servant, a leader and a Kansan. I am proud to call him a friend, and I am humbled to bear the awesome responsibility of serving in the Congressional seat he one held. For as long as I can remember, Bob Dole has been a role model. Today, he is a mentor and continues as a shining example of international leadership. Beyond honoring a deserving patriot, I hope this award reminds my colleagues of leaders like Senator Dole, who never forgets the human impact of each decision, who truly works to serve the greater good, and who always remembers where he calls home - Russell, Kansas."
Rep. Yoder said : "Senator Dole has spent his entire life serving Kansas and our nation. Service, sacrifice, statesmanship – these are the words that come to mind when you think of Senator Dole. He's a larger than life figure in American politics, but he's one of the kindest, funniest, and most humble men I've ever had the privilege of knowing. I can think of no one more deserving of the recognition of Congress and the utmost respect of the American people than Bob Dole."
Rep. Estes said: "Throughout his life-long service to our nation, Bob Dole has always shown tremendous humility and leadership. Senator Dole embodies what it means to be a Kansan, and his legacy will loom large for generations to come. Senator Bob Dole is truly an American hero."
This legislation, the Bob Dole Congressional Gold Medal Act, if passed by the House and Senate, would award Sen. Dole with the Congressional Gold Medal. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. It is the most distinguished honor and the highest civilian honor given by the Congress.
A bipartisan group of Senator Dole's former colleagues who remain in the Senate signed on to the legislation as original cosponsors. They include: Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Dick Shelby (R-Ala.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), and Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.).
Saturday marked Senator Dole's 94th birthday.
The full text of the legislation can he found here.


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Some Statistics
R. Pearson
The following charts and accompanying discussion by Robert Pearson is taken from Bechamp or Pasteur?. The bulk of the text by Pearson is posted separately.
Bechamp or Pasteur?
by E. Hume
and R. Pearson
In any discussion of the value of a remedy or preventative for any disease, actual statistics of the results that have followed the use of such remedy or preventative in the past should be of great value in judging it, especially when the trend over a long period of years can be charted graphically.
Hence it seems proper to consider what a chart showing the death rates both before and after the introduction of some of these biological treatments, might indicate; especially when the results can be compared with the general trend following other methods of treatment of more or less similar diseases.
For this reason, this chapter contains several charts showing the death rates of several diseases both before and after the use of biologicals, as well as some of the death-rates of similar diseases with and without the use of biologicals.
These give an astounding confirmation of our contention that all biologicals are not only utterly useless, but are actually very harmful, and we urge a careful study of the charts.
These charts, together with the information that follows, should convince even the most faithful followers of Pasteur that the so-called 'germ theory' and the use of any and all biologicals is, as Dr Hudson says, wrong, and should be completely abandoned immediately.
Smallpox and Vaccination In Leicester, England
Note how every increase in vaccination was followed by an increase in the smallpox death rate.
Note that in this chart during all the years that vaccination was actively pushed, through compulsory laws, etc., smallpox returned again and again, and usually after an increase in vaccination; culminating in the great epidemic of 1872. This came after a most intensive four year effort to completely vaccinate the population under a law (of 1867) that made refusal to submit to it a penal offense. And it came just after the supreme Medical Officer of England had announced that 97.5% of the population had either had smallpox or been vaccinated.
The worst epidemic came just when they had obtained the utmost in 'protection'! Also note that since this time, while vaccination has dropped off in Leicester, smallpox deaths have also dropped off, and in this case to none!
While the public has so lost confidence in vaccination that less than 6% of all newborn children in Leicester for the past 20 years were vaccinated, there has not been one single death from smallpox in the last 33 years of the records, from 1905 to 1938 inclusive.
There is probably no city or country having compulsory vaccination in the world that can show a record like this.
This chart indicates that vaccination is not only not a preventative, but that is probably an active and important instigator of smallpox.
We might mention here that Dr R. Garrow, Medical Officer of Health for Chesterfield, England, asks why it is that the case mortality rate from smallpox in all persons over the age of 15 in England and Wales for the years 1923-6 was five times as high in the vaccinated (0.3%), as in those who were unvaccinated (0.06%)! (He used official figures, and calculated only to one and two decimals; when figured to four decimals the rates become 0.324% and .0578%, nearer six times, the ratio between them being 5.6055 to 1. Other years seem to lean the same way, but to a lower ratio.)
If serums and vaccines have any value, as the pus-doctors have promised for so many years, why is not the ratio the other way around?
The Vaccination Inquirer of London, England, says that in Brazil, where they have rigid compulsory vaccination laws, and most energetic compulsion, the death rate from smallpox per 100,000 population in Rio de Janeiro for 1913–1922, a 10 year period, was over 600 times as high as that of London, where opposition is strong and the exemption laws are widely used!
If these are only 'accidents' as the doctors undoubtedly will claim, they at least prove that vaccines are useless; but my contention is that the use of animal pus injections is the cause of the higher figures.
Smallpox and Vaccination in Japan
Death rates from various diseases in Japan
Note how the increases in vaccinations in 1897 and 1908 were followed by increases in tuberculosis, heart disease, pneumonia, etc.
As Japan has had the most intensive and thorough vaccination practice of any country, probably for the last 60 or 80 years, any bad effects that might be due to serum or other biologicals ought to be registered here more fully and plainly than in less serumized countries.
To get an idea as to what the effects of biologicals have been here, I have charted the death rates of several diseases in Japan for the period since 1885, from figures in the Annual Reports of the Statistical Bureau, filling in one or two gaps from the Japan Year Book, and have also charted the total number of vaccinations in each year.
Vaccination was introduced into Japan in 1849, and it is said that 'the people eagerly adopted it'. The first vaccination law was passed in 1874 and compulsory laws were passed in 1876, 1885, and 1909, each being more stringent than the previous one.
Now, I understand, a baby must be vaccinated within 90 days of birth, and again during the second and tenth years. As there have been over 187,679,000 vaccinations in Japan between 1885 and 1928 inclusive, any injurious effects of vaccination should be fully apparent here.
In 1890 animal lymph was introduced, at which time the death rate from tuberculosis and other lung troubles began to climb, and increased almost continuously for 28 years. Note that the peak years of vaccination are all followed by a rising death rate in these troubles, and that these tend to drop off when the number of vaccinations has been reduced for some years.
One recent yearbook stated that the race was 'degenerating' because the mothers had become negligent(!) but I believe the use of serums is more likely to be the cause of any 'degeneration', as well as the present high death rates from tuberculosis, etc.
Note also that in recent years, with no smallpox scares and no extraordinary vaccinations, the death rates of all diseases charted have turned definitely downward as the total number of yearly vaccinations has come down. This lends additional support to our argument.
The editor of the Year Book died in the early 1930s, and later figures are not uniformly compiled, nor all available, hence the chart – made in 1931 – has not been brought up to date.
Vaccines and Tuberculosis at School Ages
Note how much higher the death rate is in countries having compulsory vaccination, such as Japan and Italy, than in countries without compulsion, such as England, Wales, and New Zealand.
This chart bears out the view that biologicals can do the young no good. Note that the countries without any compulsory use of biologicals have the lowest death rates from tuberculosis among the young, while Japan stands at the opposite end, combining the most intensive compulsion known with the highest death rate.
Vaccines and other diseases
Mortality from highly fatal diseases among various groups of immigrants in New York State in 1910.
Note that much higher death rates prevail among migrants from countries having compulsory vaccination (on left side of the chart) than among immigrants from countries without compulsion (on the right side).
In the first three charts we showed that biologicals not only did not prevent smallpox, but on the contrary actually seemed to increase it, and furthermore, also increased tuberculosis in a substantial manner.
In Figure 4 we show that any kind of biological given for any one disease can have a most astonishing effect in increasing other diseases with which – if we believe the pus-doctors' theories – it should have absolutely no connection.
The reader should read Chapter 7 and study Figures 2, 3 and 4 together to appreciate how true are the statements made in that chapter.
The statistics in Figure 4 are for all the foreign-born immigrants from the countries noted who were living in New York State in 1910. There were from 340,000 to 560,000 persons included in each national group, hence they should give a very reliable picture of the resistance to disease of the various groups.
Italy, as previously noted, had a compulsory vaccination law passed in 1888, but is included in the unvaccinated column because only a small percentage of these immigrants were subject to the law because of their age, and all of those were too young and too recently vaccinated for the bad effects to be fully developed by 1910, as explained on that page. Note, however, that all death rates in the Italian group average above those of the other two countries in the same column, with the single exception of Bright's disease.
Note also that in tuberculosis, all groups except Italy have a much higher death rate among the men, large numbers of whom are probably vaccinated with considerable frequency in the armies, than among women, very few of whom (except nurses), were likely to be vaccinated so often. Is there a plausible explanation for all the differences that are shown in these figures, apart from vaccination?
Death rates from important diseases in the registration area of the United States
Death rates from important diseases in the United States.
Note how the death rates from cancer and heart disease, which are aggravated by biologicals, have increased while others have gone down.
As we saw in Figure 4 that serums seemed to increase other diseases, this chart was drawn to find the general trend in the United States.
Note the increase in heart disease and compare this with what we say in Chapter 7 and with Figures 4 and 6. Cancer and nephritis seem to have a similar trend, though less marked.
Diptheria, Scarlet Fever and Croup in England and Wales
Note how the diphtheria death rate was held up well above the 1871-80 death rate ever since antitoxin was introduced in 1893, while the death rates from scarlet fever and croup have consistently gone down at a rapid rate without the use of any biological.
Note that while scarlet fever and croup have had an enormous drop in death rate since 1871 without any serums being employed, diphtheria had a large increase. In fact, there was a real epidemic running from 1893 for about seven years, the period when anti-toxin was pushed the hardest! And the death rate for 1921–29 still averages above that of fifty years earlier!
In other words, with the 'help' of the anti-toxin to fight diphtheria, there is an increase in the death rate over 1871–89, while scarlet fever and croup have both had astonishing drops in mortality, over 96% and 99.8% respectively, without any anti-toxins to help.
There are official statements that anti-toxin was introduced into England in 1894, but it hardly seems possible that such a poisonous biological as this would be introduced and made compulsory on a national scale without any prior knowledge or experience with it whatever. For this reason, I believe that it was tried out experimentally in parts of England at least in 1893, or even earlier, and in this way the epidemic that started that year could have been started and kept going until the exemption laws reduced the number of customers.
The report of the Health Officer for Birmingham, England, for 1901 contains the following figure:
Diptheria in Birmingham, 1890-1901
From the report of the Health Officer for Birmingham, 1901.
There is no statement made as to when anti-toxin was introduced, but the rise in the death rate in 1895 would make me believe that it was in that year, and the Health Officer probably thought that this sudden increase at the time of the introduction of anti-toxin was merely a coincidence that was 'just too bad', and it might be best not to call attention to it.
Clearly, he believed in anti-toxin; when the drive to vaccinate every one passed its peak in 1897, he very quickly notes that the case mortality rate in diphtheria averaged 25% from January to June (when school let out) and only 20% from July to December. This 20% drop he ascribes to the fact that 'the gratuitous distribution of anti-toxin was commenced in June, 1897'. He does concede that the school children were on vacation, with school vaccination programs suspended, might have had anything to do with it.
Diptheria and Anti-toxin in Leicester, England
Diptheria in Leicester, England – cases and deaths
Note how sharply the death rate rose after antitoxin was introduced in 1895, from an average of 62 per year for the previous 57 years to a high of 1,514 deaths in 1900.
While the diphtheria epidemic started in England in 1893, it did not reach Birmingham or Leicester until 1895, and the records show that anti-toxin was introduced into Leicester in 1895.
As the five-year periods did not bring out the great increase in diphtheria that followed the introduction of anti-toxin, and the corresponding reduction that occurred when the Exemption Laws were invoked for protection, I have charted these ten years individually. The group figures are in all cases yearly averages, hence comparable with the epidemic figures.
Note that here also diphtheria still has a higher death rate than that which prevailed for the 60 years before anti-toxin was introduced. Also, note how the curve of this epidemic follows the activities of the pus-squirters. Its rise and fall probably indicates fairly well the true effect of anti-toxin in many places where the figures are not published by the 'physicians' who know them. And it is still going on.
In 1935 Dr C. Millard, the Medical Officer of Health for Leicester, made a report on Inoculation Against Diphtheria to the Health Committee of the City Council in which he advised against 'any action … encouraging inoculation of the general public'.
He notes rises in the death rate in Birmingham and other towns after a large number of inoculations, and expresses the belief that 'much diphtheria is spread by carriers' and that inoculation is 'definitely increasing the numbers of carriers'.
He also quoted from a report of the Medical Research Council to the effect that inoculation seems to increase the death rate in many cases.
This report indicates that statistics gave no evidence of improvement from inoculation in large scale diphtheria rates for total populations up to 1929. It says:
"In France, the most inoculated country in Europe, the incidence of diphtheria continued to rise steadily from 1924 to 1930… Craster (1931) relates that in 1921 an anti-diphtheria campaign was started in Newark, but was confined to the schools. At first, the result appeared promising, but in 1926 morbidity and fatality started to rise, and in 1929 Newark reported the highest diphtheria mortality in the United States for that year. It was noticed that the brunt of the disease was borne by the uninoculated children. Craster remarks: 'I am confident that this occurred as the result of a general carrier condition among the immunized group in the home.'" (p.105)
This 'confidence' that pre-school age children died at such a high rate while the inoculated school children go entirely free sounds fishy to me. I think it is a case of misplaced confidence. It seems impossible for some doctors to doubt the germ theory.
Dr Millard mentions a reference to an increase in case fatality in Kansas from 4.9% in 1920 to 7.3% in 1929 and says
"Kinnaman (the State epidemiologist) believes that active immunization may actually increase the virulence of diphtheria bacilli"
and quotes the report as follows:
"Immunized carriers pass organisms of the more virulent type to non-immunized children, with the result that the fatality rate is increasing each year among non-immunized children who contract diphtheria."
He also quotes the report to the effect that Detroit started a campaign in 1921, inoculating 3,000 a year for four years. In 1925 the yearly number was increased to 18,000 and in 1926 to 100,000. In this year there was:
"… a sudden rise in the attack and death rates of diphtheria. During the five years ending with 1930, the mean diphtheria death rate in much-inoculated Detroit was higher than that recorded in any other city in the United States."
Dr Millard noted also that mortality from diphtheria for 1929 was 16.0 per 100,000 population, nearly four times the average of 4.1 for the last five years (1930–34) in Leicester, with no inoculations.
This sounds very much like what Dr J. W. Browne called 'stirring up the embers and kindling the fire' of tuberculosis.
Can you account for these increases with any other reasoning?
Dr W. Kellogg, director of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases, California State Board of Health, says the Schick Test should be abandoned completely. He adds:
"The percentage of errors in reading reactions in those who are protein-sensitive is frequently as high as 50%, even in the hands of the most experienced."
What use is a test that is 50% wrong?
Dr J. Kilpatrick said before the Chicago Homeopathic Medical Society, December 4, 1928:
"I have never seen a person with a clean tongue and pure breath, who would take diptheria on exposure to it."
Diptheria and Anti-toxin in certain U.S. Cities
Deaths and use of toxin/antitoxin in city schools in the USA.
Note that the death rate declined until 1925, followed by a sharp rise in 1926/1927 in all cases, after the drive to sell anti-toxin started.
On January 1, 1926, the 'A.M.A-ites' started a drive to abolish diphtheria by 1930 by injecting Toxin Anti-toxin (T.A.T.) into all school children in the country, and, of course, they started on the large cities where they had large health departments and many school doctors and nurses to push the sale of the pus. The figures when charted do not indicate that diphtheria has been abolished, nor does it seem likely to be! On the contrary, most of the larger cities had an increase for the years following 1925 that probably will average more that 100% above the 1925 figures.
This chart only includes a few cities in which the drive was particularly noticeable, and in which, if T.A.T. had any beneficial effects, a marked reduction in diphtheria should have occurred.
Yet 1930 is past, and diphtheria, instead of being abolished, is worst where T.A.T. was pushed the hardest!
The figures for 1915 to 1924 are taken from the 1924 volume of Mortality Statistics of the United States Census Bureau, while those for 1925 to 1928 are based upon the total deaths in the later volumes. The populations were estimated from the 1920 and 1930 figures by subtracting one-tenth of their difference from the latter figures, for each year prior to 1930. And as this would not be strictly accurate, no attempt was made to adjust the figures to July 1st populations, as is usual in figuring death rates. The 1923 figure for Detroit is estimated in the same way as it is omitted from the table.
The figures for 1929 and 1930 are deduced from a table in the 1925–30 report of the Chicago Health Department in the same way. These years are therefore not exact but should still be reasonably close to the true figures. The Youngstown figures for 1929 and 1930 were furnished by Mr J. Flood of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Note that this chart shows a very substantial trend downwards from 1915 to 1925 or 1926, when this big drive started, but following these two years there was a sharp increase which covered the years 1927–29 when the T.A.T. was most widely used.
I don't know whether the drop in 1930 was due to a let-up in the drive, or to hard times reducing the amount of food eaten by the public, which might improve the average health as it did in Holland during the war, or to a drop in the use of serums. However, I do not believe this drop was due to anti-toxin, nor do I believe that anti-toxin or any other biological will ever be of any assistance whatever.
This chart was made in 1931, and in trying to add to it recently I failed to find later figures for these cities; possibly the allopaths would like to keep them out of circulation.
A Real Cure
In 1879, before anti-toxin was discovered, Dr J. Kellogg of Battle Creek wrote a book on diphtheria in which he deplored death rates of 40% to 75%, which he said had occurred in many places at that time, and recommended an eliminative treatment with which he claimed to have had no deaths in treating over 400 cases.
As the case mortality rates in Chicago and many other cities have been between 8% and 10% in recent years, it seems to me that Dr Kellogg's methods would be a great improvement over any biologicals.
The evidence offered here should satisfy anyone that the use of animal pus to heal the sick is one of the greatest debacles in the history of mankind.
Bechamp
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Castles traditionally represent strength and power, standing as intimidating fortresses and the homes of grand families.
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Browse the gallery below to see some of the most beautiful abandoned castles in the world, including Ballycarbery Castle in Ireland, Caudilla Castle in Spain and Kilchurn Castle in Scotland.
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I am enduring an incredible slow down during my genotyping stage of the haplotypecaller GVCF command series. It is my understanding from the documentation that this step should be rather fast: "This step runs very fast and can be rerun at any point when samples are added to the cohort, thereby solving the so-called N+1 problem."
However, given 50 - 100 exomes, the command estimates several weeks until completion time, despite being given 64 cores and 256GB ram with unlimited disk space. I'm concerned because this seems unrealistically high, especially given that once a pool of several hundred training exomes is created, the purpose of the GVCF pipeline is to quickly use that pool in a joint genotyping step with a new sample exome. Therefore, each time I have a new sample exome, I would have to endure another multi-week joint genotyping step.
Oof, your samples are 60-ploid? We've never tested for that amount of load... the program is designed for the diploid case, and although we know it can handle reasonable non-diploid configurations (and that's what the comments you cite are based on), I would expect performance to degrade considerably given such extreme ploidy. Consider the number of possible combinations of genotypes; this gets you into combinatorial territory that is deeply problematic if it's not explicitly designed for that case. Don't get me wrong, it is possible to design for this case in a way that would make the problem tractable, but it's not something we've had the bandwidth to do (largely because diploid humans pay our bills). It's possible to limit the damage, upstream of joint genotyping, by limiting the number of possible genotypes that we're willing to consider, but at the moment this functionality only exists for HaplotypeCaller, not for GenotypeGVCFs. We have a ticket to extend this but again, bandwidth limitations stand in our way. For now my only workable recommendation is to artificially lower your ploidy; this will limit your sensitivity to events that are somewhat common within your pools (to whatever extent based on the value you choose) but at least your analysis will run to completion in a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately I can't give you an estimate of how much time that would be, you will need to run some empirical test runs. Good luck and apologies for the limitations.
Thanks for the detailed response Geraldine, however it may have been predicated on a faulty ploidy that I set!
I am working with human samples, and therefore diploid. However, my understanding according to the documentation for the command is that I should set the ploidy to 2 (because diploid) * the number of samples in my pool (30) = 60. So for this example I have 30 individual human exomes, and therefore set my ploidy to 60. I thought this may have been a mistake, so I also tried simply leaving off the ploidy specification and use the default parameter, with no change in processing time.
Elsewhere in the forums I asked whether having a increased number of similar exomes to my experimental exome will improve the sensitivity of the pipeline, and the answer provided stated that having more exomes was better. Furthermore, some of the older best practices docs recommended having at least 30 control exomes as training sample to genotype along with the experimental sample. Therefore I am assuming that quite frequently, users of GATK for human exome SNP calling will process 30 or more exomes from the 1000 genome project and combine them with their single experimental exome. Each time a new experimental exome is obtained, the joint genotyping step would have to be repeated. It is my understanding that this is why the GVCF standard is now being implemented, since it should allow speedy joint genotyping instead of a lengthy reprocessing of all samples at once.
Please correct me if my above statement is wrong! If it is accurate, do you have any ballpark estimates for expected processing times on scientific computing clusters for joint genotyping 30 + 1 1000 genome project exomes? I can't imagine that the several week estimate I'm currently receiving is expected.
As a followup, I updated to the latest version of GATK, rebuilt the indices for all exome GVCFs, allocated more memory and a larger temp folder, and now I could genotype 25 training exomes + 1 sample exome in about 5 hours. However, when I increased to 120 training exomes + 1 sample exome, the command crashed after 3 hours of processing the first third of chromosome 1 due to out of memory (I allocated 200GB memory). Any thoughts?
Have you tried running CombineGVCFs on your GVCFs before inputting them into GenotypeGVCFs? You can try combining 10 GVCFs at a time, then input the combined GVCFs into GenotypeGVCFs.


text:
Time: day
North American Harvard Mk I
Owner/operator: 10 Flying Training School Royal Air Force (10 FTS RAF)
Registration: N7019
C/n / msn: 49-767
Location: Gailey Cross Roads, Gailey, near Penkridge, Staffordshire - United Kingdom
Phase: En route
Departure airport: RAF Ternhill, Shropshire
North American Harvard Mk I N7019. 10 FTS, RAF: Written off (damaged beyond repair) 28/4/39 when wrecked due to stalling in a forced landing at Gailey Cross Roads, Gailey, near Penkridge, Staffordshire. (Near the junction of the A5 and A449 roads, at approximate co ordinates 52.694°N 2.129°W). Pilot - Acting Pilot Officer Harvey - survived but was injured.
1. Royal Air Force Aircraft L1000-N9999 (James J. Halley, Air Britain)
2. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?2728-Early-RAF-Harvard-losses
3. http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/nwcrashes1938-1941.htm
4. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/1930-1939_35.html
5. http://www.ajbrown.me.uk/IndividualStories/RAF/Chapter7.htm
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gailey,_Staffordshire
21-Apr-2018 18:36 Dr. John Smith Added
19-Nov-2018 19:35 Nepa Updated [Operator, Operator]
11-Oct-2019 22:35 angels one five Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative]


text:
When you access our digital guitar tab database, not only do you have the benefit of our user-friendly browsing, but you have the option to preview the sheet music you've selected before purchase. Leave behind all doubt that you have the version of your guitar hit you've been yearning to learn. Our sheet music includes a range for all skill levels, so no matter where you are on your path down guitar playing, we will have sheet music to benefit you.
Anyone playing and/or teaching guitar needs staff paper, blank tab, guitar chord charts, guitar scale charts, and fretboard diagrams to chart their guitar lessons and musical ideas. You can find books with some combination of these blank charts and grids, but you can't find one with all of them organized in a practical way. That's why we chose to design our own.
F major. This is fairly similar to the C, but a little more difficult to play. Press the fourth string down at the third fret with your ring finger, the third string down at the second fret with your middle finger, and the first and second strings down at the first fret with your index. You just flatten your index finger down across the two strings; lower your thumb if you struggle. You don't play the fifth or sixth strings in this chord.
Phosphor bronze strings have a warmer sound with a smooth (if somewhat understated) high end response. This makes them a great fit for genres that benefit from a mellower tone, like a lot of folk or finger-style work. These strings pair well with smaller bodied guitars, though many musicians who play more relaxed genres prefer these strings on larger bodied instruments as well.
As with most chords in this list, a clear G major chord depends on curling your first finger so the open fourth string rings clearly. Strum all six strings. Sometimes, it makes sense to play a G major chord using your third finger on the sixth string, your second finger on the fifth string, and your fourth (pinky) finger on the first string. This fingering makes the move to a C major chord much easier.
A guitar strap is a strip of material with an attachment mechanism on each end, made to hold a guitar via the shoulders at an adjustable length. Guitars have varying accommodations for attaching a strap. The most common are strap buttons, also called strap pins, which are flanged steel posts anchored to the guitar with screws. Two strap buttons come pre-attached to virtually all electric guitars, and many steel-string acoustic guitars. Strap buttons are sometimes replaced with "strap locks", which connect the guitar to the strap more securely.
After you're feeling more comfortable with the transitions, plug in this progression to your Uberchord. You should find that it's much easier to play along with the progressions. Even with chords you aren't yet comfortable with. The key to playing cleanly and precisely is training yourself to pay attention to the movement of your fingers. You'll find that this heightened awareness translates into every new chord you learn.
What ultimately sets these rock guitar lessons apart from other offerings is the ability to submit a video for review using the ArtistWorks Video Exchange Learning® platform. Paul reviews each submission and records a video response, offering specific guidance to take your guitar playing to the next level. All students can access the Video Exchange library and watch each other's interactions with Paul. This library is constantly expanding and may contain the key to unlock your playing.
The acoustic bass guitar is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than, that of a 6-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar and the double bass, the acoustic bass guitar commonly has four strings, which are normally tuned E-A-D-G, an octave below the lowest four strings of the 6-string guitar, which is the same tuning pitch as an electric bass guitar. It can, more rarely, be found with 5 or 6 strings, which provides a wider range of notes to be played with less movement up and down the neck.
Unlike the piano, the guitar has the same notes on different strings. Consequently, guitar players often double notes in chord, so increasing the volume of sound. Doubled notes also changes the chordal timbre: Having different "string widths, tensions and tunings, the doubled notes reinforce each other, like the doubled strings of a twelve-string guitar add chorusing and depth".[38] Notes can be doubled at identical pitches or in different octaves. For triadic chords, doubling the third interval, which is either a major third or a minor third, clarifies whether the chord is major or minor.[39]
Extending the tunings of violins and cellos, all-fifths tuning offers an expanded range CGDAEB,[25] which however has been impossible to implement on a conventional guitar. All-fifths tuning is used for the lowest five strings of the new standard tuning of Robert Fripp and his former students in Guitar Craft courses; new standard tuning has a high G on its last string CGDAE-G.[26][27]
The lower strap button is usually located at the bottom (bridge end) of the body. The upper strap button is usually located near or at the top (neck end) of the body: on the upper body curve, at the tip of the upper "horn" (on a double cutaway), or at the neck joint (heel). Some electrics, especially those with odd-shaped bodies, have one or both strap buttons on the back of the body. Some Steinberger electric guitars, owing to their minimalist and lightweight design, have both strap buttons at the bottom of the body. Rarely, on some acoustics, the upper strap button is located on the headstock. Some acoustic and classical guitars only have a single strap button at the bottom of the body—the other end must be tied onto the headstock, above the nut and below the machine heads.
For the second note of the A minor 7 chord, place your second finger on the second fret of the D string. This is the second of the two notes you need to fret to play this chord. Make sure you're on the tip of your finger and right behind the fret. Now that you have both notes in place, strum the top five strings, remembering to leave the low E string out.
The horizontal lines represent the frets on the guitar and the vertical lines represent the strings. The numbers listed let you know what fret number it is referring too. If there is an X it means don't play that string and if there is a 0 it means to play that string but do not press down on it anywhere. The black circles show you where to press down.
On the other hand, some chords are more difficult to play in a regular tuning than in standard tuning. It can be difficult to play conventional chords especially in augmented-fourths tuning and all-fifths tuning,[20] in which the large spacings require hand stretching. Some chords, which are conventional in folk music, are difficult to play even in all-fourths and major-thirds tunings, which do not require more hand-stretching than standard tuning.[21]
Almost all guitars have frets, which are metal strips (usually nickel alloy or stainless steel) embedded along the fretboard and located at exact points that divide the scale length in accordance with a specific mathematical formula. The exceptions include fretless bass guitars and very rare fretless guitars. Pressing a string against a fret determines the strings' vibrating length and therefore its resultant pitch. The pitch of each consecutive fret is defined at a half-step interval on the chromatic scale. Standard classical guitars have 19 frets and electric guitars between 21 and 24 frets, although guitars have been made with as many as 27 frets. Frets are laid out to accomplish an equal tempered division of the octave. Each set of twelve frets represents an octave. The twelfth fret divides the scale length exactly into two halves, and the 24th fret position divides one of those halves in half again.
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This month, HBO released a new documentary about Kurt Cobain's life called Montage of Heck. Unlike past documentaries on the legendary guitarist and singer, this one highlights his humanity and shares perhaps the most intimate look at his life that his fans have ever had. Director Brett Morgan worked with Cobain's family, including his daughter Frances Bean Cobain, who provided home movies, photographs, and journals. At times funny and at other times deeply sad, Montage of Heck manages to gi … Read More
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Sensational director VV Vinayak has made many commercial mass entertainers and garnered huge success. From recent times buzz circulated that VV Vinayak planned a movie with Balakrishna. It seems the film launch would take more time as the script work is underway and Balakrishna too is busy with other endeavors.
Latest buzz is that VV Vinayak had approached mass hero Ravi Teja and narrated a story. Ravi Teja liked it utmost and gave a nod. Earlier the duo worked together for mass action entertainer Krishna which turned out to be a blockbuster. Soon an official announcement to be made about this duo's next.
Next articleIndian Air Force strikes terror camps.


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Pojam istorijski Isus se odnosi na naučnu rekonstrukciju života Isusa iz Nazareta. Ova rekonstrukcija se temelji na istorijskim metodama, uključujući kritičku analizu tekstova jevanđelja kao primarnih izvora za njegovu biografiju, zajedno sa razmatranjem istorijskog i kulturnog konteksta u kojem je živeo.

Istorijski Isus (odnosno Ješua) je bio Jevrejin iz Galileje koji je preduzeo najmanje jedno hodočašće u Jerusalim, tada deo Rimske Judeje, u vreme mesijanskih i apokaliptičnih očekivanja judaizma drugog hrama. Krstio ga je Jovan Krstitelj, čiji je uzor verovatno sledio, da bi kasnije, pošto je Jovan pogubljen, započeo sopstvenu propoved po Galileji, oko dve ili tri godine pre smrti. Naučnici vide Isusa kao duhovnog učitelja koji je učio ljude principima spasenja, večnog života i carstva božjeg. Bio je eshatološki prorok i autonomni etički učitelj koji je promovisao jednostavan život i odbacivanje materijalnog bogatstva. Pričao je iznenađujuće i originalne parabole, mnoge od njih o dolasku nebeskog carstva. Neki naučnici Isusove apokaliptične proglase iz Novog zaveta smatraju verodostojnim, dok drugi opisuju njegovo nebesko carstvo kao moralno, a ne apokaliptično.

Isus je slao učenike da leče i propovedaju vladavinu neba. Kasnije je sa učenicima otputovao u Jerusalim, gde je izazvao nerede u Hramu. Bilo je to za vreme pashe, kada su političke i verske prilike bile napete Jerusalimu. Jevanđelja prenose da su ga stražari hrama (verovatno sadukeji) uhapsili i predali rimskom guverneru Pontiju Pilatu na pogubljenje. Pokret koji je Isus započeo je preživeo njegovu smrt. Nastavili su ga njegov brat Jakov Pravedni i apostoli koji su proglasili Isusovo uskrsnuće. Nakon razlaza sa rabinskim judaizmom, pokret se razvio u rano hrišćanstvo.

Potraga za istorijskim Isusom je započela u doba prosvetiteljstva i počiva na pretpostavci da Novi zavet ne prenosi nužno realne istorijske podatke o Isusovom životu, već mitologizovanu sliku. Nasuprot istorijskog Isusa, takav biblijski opis se često naziva "Hristom vere". Pored Novog zaveta, podaci o Isusovom životu se temelje i na drugim starim zapisima. Tako se slika o istorijskom Isusu nadopunjava sa svakim otkrićem novih materijala (poput velikog otkrića biblioteke Nag Hamadi u 20. veku). Svrha istraživanja je prikupljanje građe iz različitih izvora i njihovo kritičko slaganje u jedinstvenu sliku Isusa. Upotreba pojma istorijski Isus implicira da će se osoba rekonstruisana na taj način razlikovati od one prikazane u zaključcima vaseljenskih sabora (tzv. "dogmatski Hrist").

Potraga za istorijskim Isusom

Tradicionalno, zapadni naučnici su držali navode jevanđelja autoritativnim i bogonadahnutim. Tokom hrišćanske epohe srednjeg veka, svako drugačije mišljenje je predstavljalo jeres i bilo je kažnjivo. Sa epohom prosvetiteljstva, krajem 18. veka, naučnici su počeli da preispituju navode jevanđelja. Između 1744. i 1767, Hermann Samuel Reimarus je napisao traktat kojim odbacuje čuda i optužuje autore Biblije za prevaru, ali ga nije objavio. Nemački kritičar Gotthold Ephraim Lessing je ubrzo po Reimarusovoj smrti objavio njegove zaključke.

Godine 1835, nemački teolog David Štraus skandalizuje hrišćansku Evropu svojim delom "Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet" ("Isusov život, kritički ispitan"). Ova Štrausova biografija Isusa je utrla put modernom jevanđeoskom kriticizmu. Štraus objašnjava čuda kao prirodne događaje koji su pogrešno shvaćeni ili interpretirani. Francuski filozof Ernest Renan je 1863. objavio rekonstrukciju Isusovog života u kojoj je Isus prvi put prikazan jednostavno kao ljudska osoba. Istorijski Isus je imao uticaja na liberalni protestantizam u Nemačkoj i na pokret društvenog jevanđelja u Americi. Nemački teolog William Wrede (1859—1906) je kritički preispitivao istorijsku pouzdanost Marka i tražio objašnjenje mesijanske tajne. Francusko-nemački filozof Albert Švajcer je 1906. godine objavio svoju čuvenu knjigu "Potraga za istorijskim Isusom", kojom kritikuje i istorijsko istraživanje Isusa njegovog vremena, i tradicionalne hrišćanske poglede. 1945. je otkrivena koptska biblioteka Nag Hamadi, čija su dela 1970-ih postala dostupna javnosti, što je donelo mnogo novog materijala naučnicima. 1980-ih je osnovan američki Jesus Seminar, koji okuplja kritičke proučavaoce Biblije.

Danas je istorijsko izučavanje Isusovog života veoma razvijeno, zahvaljujući boljem poznavanju prvovekovnog judaizma, preporodu rimokatoličkih kritičkih istraživanja, prihvatanju istorijskih metoda među hrišćanskim denominacijama, literarnoj analizi Isusovih izreka i sociološkim uvidima.

Naučna metodologija

Isusa kao istorijsku ličnost treba razumeti u kontekstu života u Rimskoj Judeji prvog stoleća, a ne u kontekstu hrićanske doktrine kasnijih vekova.

Istoričari i proučavaoci Biblije analiziraju kanonska jevanđelja, gnostička jevanđelja, Talmud, Jevanđelje po Hebrejima, svitke sa mrtvog mora, Josifa Flavija i druge rane izvore u pokušaju da nađu istorijskog Isusa.

Brojni metodi su razvijeni radi kritičke analize tih izvora:

 Starost. Istoričari daju prednost starijim izvorima o Isusu, i uglavnom se ne obaziru na izvore nastale više od veka nakon Isusove smrti. Na primer, jevanđelje po Marku je najstarije kanonsko jevanđelje i primarni izvor informacija o Isusu.
 Višestruka potvrda. Kada više nezavisnih izvora prenesu slične navode, onda je gotovo sigurno tradicija starija od izvora. Na primer, činjenica da je Isus imao grupu bližih učenika je potvrđena i kod Marka i kod Jovana. Međutim, višestruka potvrda nije isto što i nezavisna potvrda; na primer Matej i Luka koriste Markovo jevanđelje kao izvor, pa je priča koju prenose ta tri jevanđelja potvrđena samo u jednom nezavisnom izvoru.
 Istorijski kontekst. Izvor je pouzdaniji ako navodi imaju smisla u okviru kulture u kojoj se radnja odvija. Npr, neki navodi iz gnostičkih jevanđelja imaju smisla u kontekstu kasnijih gnostičkih verovanja, ali ne u kontekstu judaizma ili ranog hrišćanstva iz 1. veka.
 Jezička analiza. Određeni zaključci se mogu izvući iz jezičke analize jevanđelja. Na primer, ako razgovor ima smisla samo na jeziku pisanog izvora vrlo je verovatno da autor izveštava o nečem različitom od originalne istorijske činjenice. Npr, razgovor između Isusa i Nikodima (iz 3. glave Jovanovog jevanđelja) ima smisla jedino na grčkom (jeziku pisanog izvora), ali ne i na aramejskom, jeziku na kom su verovatno razgovarali.
 Kriterijum neugodnosti ili kriterijum različitosti. Tvrdnje različite od autorove agende su verovatno pouzdanije. Na primer, ako je raspeće bilo poniženje za rane hrićane, verovatno ne bi tvrdili da je Isus raspet osim ako zaista nije.
 Autorova agenda. Ovaj kriterijum je obrnut kriterijumu razlike. Kada prezentovani materijal služi pretpostavljenim namerama autora ili urednika, tada je sumnjiv. Na primer, razni delovi jevanđelja, poput pokolja nevinih, oslikavaju Isusov život kao ispunjenje proročanstva, i stoga pre prikazuju agendu autora nego istorijski događaj.

Većina savremenih istraživanja uzima kriterijum verodostojnosti za temelj istorijskog istraživanja, pre nego kriterijum različitosti.

Isusov život

Istorijska pozadina

Delimično helenizovana jevrejska teritorija je bila pod vlašću rimskog carstva, ali među Jevrejima je postojala jaka nada povratka nezavisnosti. Iako je period Isusovog života uglavnom bio miran (posebno između 7. i 26. godine), postojala je stalna mogućnost izbijanja pobuna, nereda i nasilnog otpora (vidi o zilotima). Irod Veliki, Idumejac koga je rimski senat postavio za kralja Idumeje, Galileje, Judeje i Samarije, je vladao od 37 do 4 pre Hrista. Nakon njegove smrti, Rimljani su podelili kraljevstvo između njegovih sinova, te je Herod Antipa vladao Galilejom ali ne i Judejom, koja je postala zasebna provincija. Isusova postojbina je Galileja, severno od Judeje na drugoj strani Samarije (koja je bila neprijateljska prema Judejcima). Judejci nisi naročito cenili Galilejce jer su oni često bili mešane krvi i otvoreni stranim uticajima. Galilejski dijalekat se jasno razlikovao od judejskog dijalekta.

U judaističkoj religiji Isusovog vremena je postojalo nekoliko pravaca. Fariseji su bili značajna stranka, i verovali su u vaskrsenje mrtvih, božansku pravdu u sledećem životu, anđele, ljudsku slobodu i božije proviđenje. Sadukeji su bili konzervativniji, držali su vlast u Hramu i nisu verovali u vaskrsenje i večnost duše. Eseni su bili asketska zajednica koja je očekivala skoru apokalipsu. Prema mišljenju nekih naučnika, mađu kojima su Geza Vermes i E.P. Sanders, Isus nije pripadao ni jednom postojećem pravcu ili pokretu.

Detinjstvo i porodica

Isus je verovatno rođen poslednjih godina Herodove vladavine koja je trajala do 4. godine pne, u galilejskom selu Nazaret. Britanski naučnik Geza Vermes ocenjuje da su drugačiji prikazi u jevanđeljima po Luki i Mateju "pobožne izmišljotine". E. P. Sanders ih opisuje kao "najočitiji primer umetanja u jevanđeljima." Raymond Edward Brown kaže "malo je verovatno da su oba prikaza potpuno istorijska", i sugeriše da je Matejev prikaz zasnovan na starijoj jevrejskoj tradiciji rođenja Mojsija. Priču o Isusovom detinjstvu kritički izučavaoci smatraju problematičnom, zbog prisustva mitologije preuzete iz prethodnih verovanja, ali veruju da se neki podaci ipak mogu izvući, poput mesta rođenja i imena roditelja.

Isusovo navodno kraljevsko poreklo. {{page1|location=od kralja Davida) je saglasno sa namerama autora jevanđelja da ga prikažu kao mesiju i kralja Jevreja. Neki smatraju da je Isusov otac bio Josif, a neki da je on oženio Mariju koja je već bila trudna. Ime Isosove majke je Marija (hebrejski: Maryām), što je uobičajeno žensko ime tog vremena. Osim navoda iz jevanđelja i nekoliko ranih hrišćanskih izvora, ne postoje nezavisni ili proverljivi podaci o životu Isusovih roditelja.

Isus je imao braću i sestre, što prenose Marko (6:3) i Matej (13:55-56). Jevanđelja prenose imena Isusove četvorice braće: Jakov, Josija, Juda i Simon. Jedino se pouzdano zna identitet Jakova Pravednog, "brata Gospodnjeg", koji je nakon Isusove smrti postao poglavar crkve u Jerusalimu. Drugi Isusov brat, Juda, se tradicionalno poistovećuje sa Judom Tadejom, a ponekad i sa Judom Tomom (aramejski: toma - blizanac). Robert Funk podseća da je hrišćanska dogma o Marijinom trajnom devičanstvu dugo zasenjivala podatak da Isus ima braću i sestre.

Posao "drvodelje"

Sinoptička jevanđelja se slažu da je Isus odrastao u Nazaretu. Isus je verovatno u roditeljskom domu obučen za porodični zanat, kao i mnogi drugi ljudi toga vremena. Marko prenosi da je Isus bio tekton (gr. τεκτων), dok Matej prenosi da je sin tektona. Reč "tekton" se tradicionalno prevodi kao "drvodelja", ali ima mnogo šire značenje (iz istog korena su "tehnika" i "tehnologija") koje obuhvata razne proizvodne i građevinske veštine. Već u ranom hrišćanstvu se Isus uglavnom povezuje sa obradom drveta.

John Dominic Crossan smatra da je Isus u istorijskom kontekstu pre bio tekton kao putujući radnik nego kao ustanovljeni zanatlija, ističući njegovu marginalnost u društvu. S. J. Case i drugi naučnici primećuju da je Nazaret bio samo 6 kilometara od grada Cipori (antički Seforis), koji su Rimljani uništili 4 godine p.n.e. i koji je u Isusovo vreme intenzivno obnavljan. Oni nagađaju da su Josif i Isus mogli svakodnevno putovati da rade na izgradnji. Drugi naučnici vide Josifa i Isusa kao seoske zanatlije koji obavljaju širok spektar poslova sa drvetom, kamenom i metalom.

Jezik i pismenost

Isusov jezik je gotovo sigurno bio aramejski. Jevanđelja beleže da je koristio metafore nepoznate hebrejkom i grčkom ali uobičajene u aramejskom. Neki naučnici dokazuju da je Isus takođe morao znati bar nešto koine grčkog jezika, koji je bio lingua franca pod rimskom okupacijom.

U Isusovo vreme, veoma malo ljudi je znalo da čita i još manje da piše (uglavnom pisari i sveštenici). O Isusovoj pismenosti se prilično raspravljalo među naučnicima. Iz mnogo mesta u jevanđelju se vidi da je Isus u najmanju ruku znao čitati. Neki smatraju da navodi u jevanđelju mogu biti fikcija i da galilejski seljak poput Isusa verovatno nije bio pismen. Drugi nasuprot tome ističu važnost čitanja Tore u jevrejskoj kulturi, pa je galilejski seljak toga vremena mogao znati da čita. Neki, kao John Paul Meier, smatraju da je Isusova pismenost bila tolika da je mogao da čita i komentariše sofisticirana teološka dela.

Krštenje kod Jovana

Isus je oko tridesete godine otišao da se krsti kod Jovana Krstitelja (odnosno Johanana kupača), koji je vršio obredna kupanja na reci Jordan. Obrednim kupanjem su se očišćavali za očekivani dolazak Božjeg carstva i podsećali na prelazak reke Jordan nakon egzodusa. Istoričari ocenjuju da je Isusovo krštenje kod Jovana istorijska činjenica, koju rani hrišćani ne bi bez osnova uneli u svoja jevanđelja. Isus je očito bio sledbenik Johanana, asketskog propovednika koji je pozivao Jevreje na pojakanje očekujući božansko oslobođenje domovine od Rimljana. Jovan je bio važna religijska ličnost, čiji je pokret verovatno bio masovniji od Isusovog. Istaknuta uloga Jovana Krstitelja u hrišćanskim jevanđeljima i kod istoričara Josifa Flavija nagoveštava da je on za života verovatno bio uticajniji od Isusa. Istoričari smatraju da je kralj Herod Antipa likvidirao Jovana jer je u njemu video jasnu političku pretnju. Jovanovo pogubljenje, kao i kasnije Isusovo, je zabeleženo i kod Josifa Flavija.

Nakon Jovanovog pogubljenja Isus je nastavio da javno veliča njegov lik i delo (vidi npr Matej 11:7-15). Pokret Jovanovih sledbenika je i nakon njegove smrti nastavio da postoji uporedo sa Isusovim pokretom. Jovanovi sledbenici su verovali da je Jovan ustao iz mrtvih, što je verovatno imalo uticaja na očekivanja Isusovih sledbenika nakon njegovog pogubljenja. Neki Isusovi sledbenici su bivši sledbenici Jovana Krstitelja. Post i krštenje, suštinski elementi Jovanovog pokreta, su verovatno ušli u rano hrišćanstvo zajedno sa Jovanovim sledbenicima.

Fredriksen ocenjuje da je Isus tek nakon smrti postao uticajniji od Jovana te da jevanđelja u Isusov život projektuju njegovu kasniju važnost.

Propovedanje

Ubrzo nakon krštenja Isus je počeo da vrši isceljenja i propoveda seljacima i ribarima u okolini Galilejskog jezera. Isus je propovedao uglavnom u Galileji (današnji Izrael i Palestina), u prvoj polovini 1. veka. Iako je bilo i raznih nejevrejskih (feničanskih, helenističkih i rimskih) gradova u blizini (kao Gadara, Sidon, Tir, Seforis i Tiberijada), Isus se uglavnom obraćao Jevrejima; njegova obraćanja nejevrejima nisu zabeležena. Središte njegovog delovanja je bio Kapernaum, gradić sa oko 1.500-2.000 stanovnika. Neke od njegovih propovedi u sinagogi u Kapernaumu su sačuvane u jevanđeljima. Isus je okupio sledbenike i stekao znatnu slavu širom Galileje.

Ne zna se tačno koliko je trajalo Isusovo propovedanje. Sinoptička jevanđelja nagoveštavaju da je trajalo oko jednu godinu, dok Jovanovo jevanđelje pominje tri pashe.

Hrišćanski sveti spisi Isusu pripisuju izvođenje raznih čuda, uključujući isterivanje demona, dizanje iz mrtvih, hodanje po vodi, pretvaranje vode u vino itd. Naučnici tretiraju navode o čudima na različite načine: ili ih racionalizuju (kao Heinrich Paulus) ili ih smatraju mitovima i alegorijama (kao David Štraus) ili ih priznaju nekom vrstom natprirodnih zbivanja.

Isusova zajednica

Tradicionalno se smatra da je Isusov unutrašnji krug činilo dvanaest učenika, iako neki naučnici ovo odbacuju kao fikciju. Isusovu družinu su uglavnom činili galilejski seljaci i ribari. U zajednici je bilo i ubirača poreza, koji su u narodu smatrani tlačiteljima.

Isus je često držao javna predavanja, koja su privlačila gomilu ljudi (gr. ochloi). Neki od njih su vremenom postajali Isusovi sledbenici ili učenici (gr. mathetes). Između ovih sledbenika Isus je odabrao dvanaest najposvećenijih učenika, apostola (gr. apostolos), sa kojima je provodio najviše vremena i kojima je detaljno izlagao svoje učenje (Simon Petar, Andrej, Jakov Zevedejev, Jovan, Filip, Vartolomej, Matej, Jakov Alfejev, Simon Kananit, Juda Tadej, Juda Toma i Juda Iskariotski), od kojih su mu bar dvojica bili braća. Jevanđelja pominju i žene koje su išle sa Isusovom družinom. Jevanđelje po Luki prenosi da je Isus putovao po gradovima i selima prenoseći "dobre vesti", zajedno sa dvanaestoricom i ženama koje su im služile svojim imanjem (pominju se Marija Magdalena, Saloma Jovana, Susana "i mnoge druge"). Mnogi veruju da je bio u ljubavnom odnosu sa Marijom Magdalenom, iako ima i onih koji odbacuju takve tvrdnje.

Isus je često podučavao za trpezom, što je bilo uobičajeno za simpozijume. On je obedovao sa društvenim marginalcima, što je bilo protivno običajima jevrejskog društva. Verovatno je pio vino i nije strogo postio, zbog čega je bio izložen kritikama jevrejskog sveštenstva. Njegovo ponašanje je izazivalo dosta skandala pa je bio ozloglašen kao izjelica i pijanica. Ovaj običaj je vremenom prerastao u evharistiju (pričest), hrišćanski obred deljenja hleba i vina. Važnost zajedničke trpeze se ogleda u velikom broju gozbenih scena u ranoj hrišćanskoj umetnosti.

Iako je Isus uopšteno govorio o odnosima u zajednici, on nije ostavio uputstva o osnivanju religije (crkve), niti je ikad govorio o nekoj posebnoj organizaciji posta, kanona, svetih dana, sveštenstva, i tome slično.

Neredi u Hramu

Isus i njegovi sledbenici su napustili Galileju i krenuli na pashu u nekadašnju prestonicu Davidovog carstva, grad Jerusalim u Judeji. Oni su možda putovali kroz Samariju, kao što prenosi Jovan, a možda i zaobilazeći Samariju, kao što prenosi Luka, jer su Jevreji i Samarićani bili su neprijateljstvu. Jerusalim je u vreme praznika pashe bio krcat hodočasnicima, kojih je prema nekim procenama bilo između 300,000 i 400,000. Isus je simbolično na magarcu ušao u Jerusalim, moguće kao kontrast trijumfalnom ulasku rimskog cara, ili kao ispunjenje Zaharijinog proročanstva. Pošto se hrišćanski spisi eksplicitno pozivaju na Zahariju, neki misle da su ti detalji umetnuti.

Isus je propovedao u Jerusalimu, i izazvao nemire u hramu. On je govorio da će hram biti uništen i da od njega neće ostati "kamen na kamenu". Događaji u hramu su privukli pažnju vlasti, jer su procenili da Isus apokaliptičnim govorima može lako zagrejati masu okupljenu za praznike. Isus je uhapšen ubrzo nakon toga. Uoči hapšenja ga je izdao jedan od njegovih učenika, Juda Iskariotski, što je potvrđeno u mnogim izvorima i smatra se verodostojnim događajem. Nije sasvim jasno kakve je informacije Juda mogo pružiti vlastima. Bart Ehrman smatra da je Juda vlastima preneo ono što im je Isus nasamo govorio, da će postati kralj dolazećeg kraljevstva. Jevanđelja prenose da su se muški učenici razbežali usled hapšenja, te su Isusovom pogubljenju prisustvovale samo žene.

Pogubljenje

Isus je razapet na krst po naređenju Pontija Pilata, prefekta provincije Judeje (od 26. do 36. godine). Raspeće je bilo rimska smrtna kazna za kriminalce, pljačkaše, izdajnike i političke pobunjenike. Hrišćanska tradicija prikazuje da je Isus pogubljen na zahtev jevrejskih starešina, koji su njegovo učenje smatrali bogohulnim. Istorijski, izgleda da je Isus pogubljen kao potencijalni uzrok nereda. Održavanje reda je bio jedan od primarnih zadataka jevrejskog Prvosveštenika, postavljenog od rimskih vlasti, kojima je za svaki veći izgred lično odgovarao. Naučnici smatraju da je on uhapsio Isusa zbog izazivanja pobune i nereda, i predao ga rimskim vlastima. Njegovi sadukejski stražari hrama su uhapsili Isusa i predali Rimljanima da ga kazne. Naučnici zaključuju da je Pilat pogubio Isusa kao javnu smetnju, verovatno u saradnji sa lokalnim jevrejskim vlastima. John Dominic Crossan ističe da je učestala upotreba reči "kraljevstvo", odnosno "carstvo", sama po sebi na Isusa skrenula pažnju rimskih vlasti. Svaki govor o obnovi jevrejske monarhije je smatran pobunjeničkim pod rimskom okupacijom.

Sva četiri kanonska jevanđelja prenose da je Isus pogubljen na zahtev sanhedrina, a po naređenju Pontija Pilata. Marko i Mateja pominju dva odvojena suđenja, Luka jedno a Jovan nijedno. Neki naučnici smatraju da je suđenje Isusu izmišljeno, ili da su bar dijalozi izmišljeni jer niko od Isusovih sledbenika nije prisustvovao suđenju da bi ga mogao preneti. Fredriksen i Catchpole dokazuju da se mnogi navodi iz jevanđelja nisu mogli dogoditi: prema jevrejskom pravu, sud nije mogao zasedati noću niti na glavne praznike; Isusova tvrdnja da je mesija nije činila bogohuljenje; optužbe protiv Isusa koje jevanđelja navode nisu povlačile smrtnu kaznu prema jevrejskom pravu; čak i da je Isus osuđen na smrt od sanhedrina, kazna bi bila smrt kamenovanjem (kao u slučaju Stefana Prvomučenika i Jakova Pravednog) a ne raspeće.

Hrišćanska tradicija prenosi da je Isus nekoliko dana nakon pogubljenja ustao iz mrvih. Istoričari pokušavaju da utvrde šta se najverovatnije dogodilo i svako iole verovatno objašnjenje ima prednost nad objašnjenjem da je Isus ustao iz mrtvih, što sa stanovišta nauke predstavlja nemogućnost. Jedno od objašnjenja pruža hipoteza vizije, prema kojoj su neki sledbenici doživeli viziju Isusa nakon njegove smrti, pa se priča raširila po hrišćanskoj zajednici. Drugo objašnjenje je hipoteza ukradenog tela, prema kojoj su Isusovo telo odneli njegovi učenici ili nepoznate osobe. Postoji i objašnjenje je da su navodi o uskrsnuću samo legende ubačene decenijama nakon Isusove smrti. Najstarije jevanđelje po Marku pominje samo prazan grob, dok Matej, Luka i Jovan pominju i prikaze uskrsnuća, koji se u nekih navodima ne poklapaju.

Isusovo učenje

Parabole i aforizmi

Isus je izlagao svoje učenje u parabolama (slikovitim pričama) i aforizmima (sažetim izrekama), koji su često zvučali paradoksalno. Neke od verovatno autentičnih parabola su priča o dobrom Samarićaninu i priča o radnicima u vinogradu, dok među verodostojne aforizme spadaju "okreni drugi obraz", "voli svog neprijatelja" i slično. Isusove parabole i aforizmi su decenijama kružili od usta do usta pre nego što su zapisani i uključeni u jevanđelja, te predstavljaju najraniju hrišćansku tradiciju o Isusu.

Iako je u razgovorima sa sveštenicima i svojim učenicima upotrebljavao i apstrakne teološke izraze, Isus je seoskom stanovništvu Palestine govorio u slikama iz njihove svakodnevnice, koristeći poređenja kao metod podučavanja. Isus njegovim slušaocima ukazuje na zajedničke veze između svakodnevnice i duhovne stvarnosti kraljevstva Božjeg. Takođe, mnoge priče su kritika sveštenika i bogataša, u prilog odbačenih i prezrenih ljudi iz nižih slojeva, kao na primer: priča o fariseju i cariniku, priča o bogatoj budali, priča o bogatašu i ubogom Lazaru itd.

Carstvo nebesko

Isus je ponajviše propovedao o carstvu nebeskom, odnosno vladavini neba. Prema Isusu, vladavina neba je u čoveku, dostiže se putem razumevanja, duhovnog preporoda, postajanjem nalik detetu i vršenjem Božje volje.

Naučnici su podeljeni po pitanju da li je Isus pod "dolaskom carstva" mislio na predstojeći apokaliptični događaj ili na preobražaj svakodnevnog života. Prema prvima, Isus je verovao da kraj istorije nastupa za njegova života ili života njegovih savremenika, što potkrepljuju brojnim citatima (Marko 8:38-9:1, Luka 21:35-36, Marko 13:24-27, 30). Ovako shvaćena ehtatološka predviđanja se nisu ispunila, što je predstavljalo "ozbiljno poniženje za ranu crkvu", jer je ispalo da je Isus pogrešio. Drugi odbacuju tumačenje da je Isusova poruka eshtološka, ističući da nebesko carstvo nije buduće stanje već sadašnje mistično prisustvo, što potkrepljuju raznim citatima (Luka 17:20-21, Luka 11:20, Toma 113).

Naučnici okupljeni oko Jesus Seminara zaključuju da eshatološke izjave pripisane Isusu potiču od ranih hrišćana, kod kojih su apokaliptične ideje bile uobičajene, a da izjave o prisutnom carstvu Božjem stoje nasuprot uobičajenih shvatanja i verovatno potiču od Isusa lično.

Isusovo samoodređenje

Smatra se da je Isus za sebe koristio tri važna pojma: mesija, sin čovečji i sin Božji, koji otkrivaju njegovo poimanje sopstvene uloge.

Pojam "mesije" je u Isusovo vreme upotrebljavan na razne načine te ne možemo biti sigurni šta je značio Isusu, čak iako ga je prihvatao. Prema hebrejskoj bibliji, tri vrste ljudi se pominju kao "pomazani" odnosno mesije: proroci, sveštenici i kraljevi. Jevreji Isusovog vremena su očekivali dolazak božanskog oslobodioca koji će obnoviti Izrael, podeljen pod rimskom vladavinom. Hrišćanski spisi tvrde da je Isus taj očekivani "mesija" (pomazanik, odnosno hrist). Neki naučnici zastupaju hipotezu "mesijanske tajne", prema kojoj je crkva kasnije umetnula dijaloge u kojima Isus nalaže učenicima da ne otkrivaju njegov identitet mesije, jer Isus u stvari nije ni tvrdio da je mesija.

Izraz "sin čovečji" doslovno znači "sin čovečanstva" ili "ljudsko biće" i ne mora imati nikakve božanske pretenzije. Izraz je u teološkom smislu prvobitno upotrebljen u hebrejskoj Knjizi Danilovoj, gde se tvrdi da će "sin čovečji" doći na zemlju da sudi ljudima prema njihovim delima. Isus ovim izrazom nekada označava sebe, nekad ljude uopšte, a nekada božansku figuru koja će doći da sudi, a čiji identitet nije sasvim jasan.

Izraz "sin Božji" u jevanđeljima odgovara predstavi tipičnog hasidejca iz Galileje, pobožnog svetog čoveka koji uz Božju pomoć vrši čuda i egzorcizam. Neki naučnici, poput Sandersa, dokazuju da se izrazom "božji sin" (ili "božje dete") u Isusovo vreme nije mislilo na bukvalan porod, već pre na posebnu bliskost s Bogom. Bez obzira, kasnije hrićanske dogme taj izraz uzimaju doslovno.

Proučavaoci Novog zaveta se naširoko slažu da Isus za sebe nije tvrdio da je Bog. Prvobitni hrišćani takođe nisu zvali Isusa "Bog".

Teorije o istorijskom Isusu

Naučnici vide istorijskog Isusa kao začetnika pokreta obnove unutar judaizma, koji je vremenom prerastao u hrišćansku crkvu. Spor postoji oko toga da li je Isusovo carstvo nebesko predstojeći apokaliptični događaj ili nešto unutarnje, dostižno vernicima.

Neki naučnici vide Isusa kao apokaliptičnog proroka koji se zalaže za obnovu Izraela. Isus lično bi vladao budućim božjim kraljevstvom dvanaest plemena Izraela, zajedno sa dvanaestoricom apostola. Drugi smatraju da Isus nije proricao buduću apokalipsu, već je njegovo "kraljevstvo" bilo prisutno ovde i sada i dostupno svim Jevrejima. Isusova eshatologija je bila lične i socijalne prirode, kao Gandijeva, pre nego apokaliptična. Ovi naučnici apokaliptične izjave koje se pripisuju Isusu smatraju kasnijim dodacima, nastale možda pod uticajem sledbenika Jovana Krstitelja koji su se priključili hrišćanskom pokretu. Postoje i naučnici koji prihvataju sliku Isusa iz Biblije takvu kakva jeste, tvrdeći da se natprirodni događaji i čuda, poput vaskrsenja, ne mogu proveravati istorijskim metodama.

Neki marksisti, poput Kauckog, vide Isusa kao preteču komunizma, jer je, prema Delima apostola (2:44 i 4:32-5:12), zasnovao komunističku zajednicu. Lav Tolstoj je Isusovo učenje smatrao veoma bliskim hrišćanskom anarhizmu.

Britanski naučnik jevrejskog porekla Hyam Maccoby smatra da je Isus bio farisej, dokazujući da su mnoga njegova shvatanja bliska farisejskim. On dokazuje da su priče u jevanđeljima uređivane u antijevrejskom smeru, pod uticajem pavlijanizma. I američki naučnik Robert Eisenman deli mišljenje da su mnoge priče u jevanđeljima delo prorimske propagande Pavla Tarskog i njegove frakcije.

Kritike

Pokušaji istorijske rekonstrukcije Isusa nailaze na razne kritike - od kritike zbog apriori odbacivanja svih elemenata natprirodnog, do kritike zbog pripisivanja istorijskog statusa izmišljenom liku.

Rudolf Bultman smatra da istorijska istraživanja otkrivaju veoma malo o istorijskom Isusu. Džon Paul Mejer (John Paul Meier), profesor teologije na Univerzitetu Notr Dam, smatra da je potraga za istorijskim Isusom često bila više motivisana željom za proizvodnjom alternativne hristologije nego istinskom istorijskom potragom. Mejer zaključuje: "Mislim da dosta konfuzije proizlazi iz činjenice što ljudi tvrde da se bave potragom za istorijskim Isusom, iako se de facto bave teologijom".

Neki smatraju da su moderne biblijske stipendije nedovoljno kritičke i da favorizuju apologete. Profesor istorije Donald Akenson napominje da je ogromna većina biblijskih naučnika zaposlena u institucijama čiji su koreni u verskim uverenjima. Zbog toga su, više nego bilo koja druga akademska grupa, biblijski istoričari pod ogromnim pritiskom da teologizuju svoj istorijski rad. Biblijske naučnike takođe optužuju da su nenakloni saopštavanju javnosti stvari koje će biti uznemirujuće za hrišćanske vernike.

Istoričar religije Džozef Hofman smatra da nikada nije bilo pravog "metodološkog agnostičkog pristupa pitanju istorijskog postojanja Isusa." Neki autori, kao Earl Doherty, George Albert Wells i Robert M. Price dovode u pitanje Isusovo postojanje, i smatraju da pokušaji da se iz jevanđelja rekonstruiše njegov život daju jevanđeljima previše kredibiliteta. Neki autori smatraju da je mit o Hristu nastao na osnovu nekih starijih religija, poput grčke i egipatske. Filozof Bertrand Rasel je takođe sumnjao u postojanje Isusa.

Potragu za istorijskim Isusom takođe kritikuju kao previše zapadnu, previše belu, previše buržoasku i previše mušku.

Reference

Literatura

Spoljašnje veze

  Isus Hrist (Encyclopædia Britannica). Prvi odeljak napisao E. P. Sanders, možda najcenjeniji stručnjak za istorijskog Isusa.
  Istorijski Isus (New Testament Gateway)
  Od Isusa do Hrista
  Prikaz Potrage za istorijskim Isusom Johna Dicksona
  Fakultetska strana Paule Fredriksen, sa člancima o istorijskom Isusu

Antički Rim
Jevreji
Istorija religije
Istorija Izraela
Biblijska kritika

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I run down Danny Boyle potentially directing the next James Bond film, Joss Whedon suddenly dropping out of writing/directing Batgirl, Jessica Chastain eyeing It: Chapter 2 and much more. Remember, the podcast is also on iTunes, and I would appreciate it if you subscribe over there (and Youtube if you like) and leave me a rating and review – they'll be read on the podcast when they pop up. Enjoy the podcast, and enjoy your weekend everybody.
This week was pretty big movie news wise, so I tried to condense it as much as I could.
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The Movie Pit podcast is up ladies and gentlemen, and BOI do I get into today with some bull-crap of people trying to sabotage Black Panther. Needless to say, that part is not safe for work.
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text:
Derrick Walker steps down from CART board
By Autoweek
Championship Auto Racing Teams officials said team owner Derrick Walker has resigned from the CART board of directors, effective immediately. In making his decision, Walker cited that he was sensitive to the potential for an appearance of a conflict of interest in connection with decisions regarding the future of the company, and that he felt his resignation was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.
What's that mean? It's all part of the do-it-by-the-numbers-for-the-SEC. Walker was the last CART team owner on the board. Now, no one can really say he voted for something to benefit his team rather than stockholders.
Meanwhile, the CART Board will meet Saturday or Sunday (the 23rd or 24th) presumably to vote on Open Wheel Racing Series LLC's offer of fifty cents a share.


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