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ABSTRACTS
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
CHAPTER SIX - CHARISMATIC HOLY MEN
It has been argued, notably by Geza Vermes, that (at least in respect of his miracle-working) Jesus belonged to a class of charismatic holy men who flourished in Palestine around the turn of the era and who were exemplified principally by Honi the Circle-Drawer and Hanina ben Dosa. This chapter argues that the evidence for this hypothesis is wanting. The thesis is generally implausible because the bulk of the written evidence is talmudic, and thus comes from a time so much later than the events it purports to narrate as to raise the suspicion that it reflects Amoraic concerns far more than any genuine interest in first-century history. More specifically, Honi is represented in the Mishnah, not as a successful miracle-worker, but as the butt of God's humour. A rabbi is then given the last word, thereby demonstrating the superiority of knowledge of the torah over thaumaturgy. The historical core of this tradition may well be that found in Josephus' account of Onias, a devout man of prayer who once successfully prayed for rain, but hardly a miracle-worker or itinerant healer and exorcist. At first sight Hanina provides a closer parallel to Jesus in that there are healing stories associated with him. Although the bulk of the material about him appears to be late and legendary and largely to reflect the interests of the redactors of the Babylonian Talmud, some of the traditions appear to be earlier, and the story in which Hanina prays for Gamaliel's son provides some striking parallels to the Gospel story of the healing of the Capernaum nobleman's son. Nonetheless, these possibly early traditions emphasize Hanina's efficacy in prayer rather than his prowess as a miracle-worker. The rabbinic traditions about Honi and Hanina cannot be used to establish the existence of a miracle-working 'men of deed' type.
