MetaCatholic

This would have been a comment to this previous post. However, I want to admit my mistakes up front. I have misunderstood Chris Tilling. Possibly he has been too long in Germany to remember how comprehensible sentences work. But I don’t mind saying it, now he’s clarified himself in the comments: he’s right. (See how easy it is, Jim!)

The “fact” I tried to say I was affirming was the Jewish perception of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. Do I think it a fact that Jews believed these exiles happened in the first century. Absolutely.

Did Jews think they were still in exile in the first century? I’m closer to Pitre than Wright on this, but I also think the evidence is sufficient to affirm that the return from exile motif is the controlling story for the Synoptics.

Proving my point about being too long in Germany (where I’m sure you could combine “living in the first century” into a compound adjective agreeing with its noun — erstjahrhundertwohnenden Juden or something), he needs to add a clarification in a separate comment:

I meant:
“Do I think it a fact that Jews, living in the first century, believed these exiles to have happened. Absolutely.”

I have no problems with this. It is Wright’s view that the Jews still thought they were in exile in the first century I disagree with. (Indeed, years ago I spent a very pleasant hour disagreeing with him about this issue while walking round Chichester – he is a very generous man to students with his time.) This understanding is a sectarian and (I think) Christian one. Whether other groups shared it – the Baptizer’s circle probably did – is less well (if at all) evidenced. It was always this latter point I was disagreeing with, and I had mistakenly thought that was the main thrust of Chris’ post.