ABSTRACT

Some of the most extraordinary intellectual debates in recent years have been between historians and people who may or may not be thought of as philosophers of history. This chapter examines some of the resulting trends. It begins with Nazi Germany, because this provides exceptionally clear examples of people controlled by their own social subgroups, examples, which enable to shed light on the scholarship of the preceding and succeeding periods as well. The chapter considers examples of the best critical scholarship of recent years, where some of who read the doctorates in the 1970s imagined the scholarly world was bound to go. It explains the American Jesus seminar, which boldly goes where no one ever should have gone, and to the conservative Christian reaction against the American Jesus seminar. The chapter offers some reflections on the most dangerous life of Jesus ever written, the gospel attributed to John.