Carotta: the Push

Those of you running, or involved in, forums devoted to Biblical Studies, ANE, and Classical lit, as well as informal discussion forums on Christianity and related topics, may be experiencing a concerted drive to push F. Carotta's book Jesus was Caesar On the Julian Origin of Christianity.

Thanks to Toto at Infidels for the heads up on that one. A Google search will turn up many links, suspiciously many to forums and similar discussion areas. They don't seem to have invaded the scholarly forums.

The book is, needless to say, not worth the time. It is full of incredible howlers, like this one, where he is discussing the Parable of the Sower:

CAROTTA: Here he has almost everything together: the rocky ground without deep soil—like the gaps in the tile floor; the impossibility of growing roots there and that the palm should have withered; that plants without light suffocate—whether under thorns or under the temple roof. And in spite of this they shot up as if on good land. Perhaps not one hundred percent, as on fertile land, but still sixty, or thirty percent.

Carotta seems unaware that the thirty, sixty, and hundred on the end of this parable are not PERCENT but -FOLD! Jesus is talking about fantastic multiplication, not reduced output.

I pity the poor scholars who will be fighting this one for years to come. Enjoy your week! Mine shall be very busy. I just finished Mack's A Myth of Innocence, and Rhoads' book on Mark awaits my perusal. Book reviews later this week.