Proofs and Refutations in Historical Jesus Research – Part 3

Proofs and Refutations in Historical Jesus Research – Part 3

When we map Imre Lakatos’s four strategies onto the high-stakes battlefield of Gospel scholarship, we can see exactly why NT scholars and historical-Jesus researchers rarely change their minds.

Because the text of the Gospels is ancient, complex, and open to interpretation, it provides the perfect raw material for academics to build a "Protective Belt" around their core theories.

In these posts, I will illustrate how historians deploy the four basic Lakatosian strategies to defend their views against troublesome textual data:

N.T. Wright

A Lakatosian critic analyzing N.T. Wright would deliver a diagnosis that is the exact mirror image of the one given to Walsh and Mills.

While the ultra-literary camp is running a degenerating research program by choking on obvious historical data, Wright is running what Lakatos would call a "Hyper-Progressive but Insulated Research Program." 

Wright’s model possesses immense, spectacular explanatory power, but a Lakatosian critic would point out that he has built his "Hard Core" so masterfully that it has become a closed loop, almost completely impossible to ever falsify.

Here is exactly what a Lakatosian critic would say to N.T. Wright:

1. "Your 'Protective Belt' is Actually a Black Hole"

Lakatos argued that a robust research program needs a protective belt of auxiliary hypotheses to absorb anomalies. Wright’s protective belt is one of the most brilliant ever constructed in modern intellectual history, but a critic would warn that it acts like a black hole: it swallows every single counterexample and magically turns it into proof.

• The Anomaly: The historical Jesus was a first-century Jew who explicitly preached that the literal, cosmic end of the world would happen within his generation (the Albert Schweitzer / Dale Allison thesis). History kept moving; therefore, Jesus was factually mistaken.

• Wright's Defense (Monster-Adjusting): Wright sweeps in and redefines "apocalyptic language." He argues that when Jesus talked about stars falling from heaven and the Son of Man coming on the clouds, he was using standard Jewish political metaphors for the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

• The Lakatosian Critique: A critic would look at this and say: "Dr. Wright, you have engineered a classic Lakatosian linguistic trick. By redefining 'apocalypse' to mean 'geopolitics,' you have ensured that no matter how many failed end-of-the-world verses someone hurls at your Jesus, your theory can never be falsified. You have insulated your Hard Core from reality."

2. "You are Using 'Lemma-Incorporation' as an Apologetic Shield"

As we noted earlier, when faced with the glaring historical contradictions between the various Gospel resurrection accounts (the different women, the conflicting locations of appearances), Wright uses lemma-incorporation. He argues that these messy, un-harmonized discrepancies are the exact proof that the stories are raw, first-generation eyewitness memories, because a later church inventing a myth would have cleaned up the contradictions.

A Lakatosian critic would smile at the sheer brilliance of this, but issue a stern methodological warning:

"You have created a 'Heads I win, Tails you lose' scenario. If the text is perfectly harmonious, you will argue it proves historical accuracy. If the text is messy and contradictory, you argue that the messiness proves historical accuracy. When both harmony and contradiction serve as proof for your thesis, you are no longer doing Popperian falsifiable history; you are running an insulated Lakatosian protective program disguised as historical science."

Your Program is Progressive, but at the Cost of Historical Neutrality"

To be fair to Wright, a Lakatosian critic would highly praise him for having a "Progressive" research program. Unlike Walsh and Mills, who are constantly stuck on the defensive trying to explain away clunky text, Wright’s multi-volume Christian Origins and the Question of God series has immense "heuristic power." It elegantly connects Second Temple Judaism, the psychology of Jesus, the explosion of the early Church, and the theology of Paul into one grand, unified narrative framework. It naturally predicts and explains why the early Christians behaved the way they did.

However, the Lakatosian critic would deliver their final verdict: Wright’s entire historical edifice is built upon a profound, hidden metaphysical commitment (his faith).

Because Wright is operating within a confessional paradigm, his "Hard Core" (that Jesus is the Messiah who rose from the dead) is an absolute, immovable theological axiom. He will deploy every Lakatosian strategy in existence - barring monsters, adjusting definitions, and inventing auxiliary hypotheses about Jewish metaphors—to ensure that his historical reconstruction perfectly aligns with orthodox Christian theology. He hasn't broken the mirror; he has just built a massive, beautifully decorated, historical-theological cathedral around it.

Next Monday - James D.G. Dunn

Religion, History and G. R Balleine – Part 4

Religion, History and G. R Balleine – Part 4
(The Reformation in Jersey)
By Jason St John Nicolle
From "The Pilot", 1991

Part IV The Victory of Protestantism

SO the Court of Jersey History reconvenes once more; the jury take their seats, and Advocate Balleine rises to his feet.

Last month, the counsel for the defence argued that it would be wrong to assume that Jerseymen and women were dissatisfied with Catholicism on the eve of the Reformation, and I am prepared to accept that Islanders continued to spend time and money on ensuring the provision of anniversary masses, even as late as the 1540's.

"But so what? Whatever the popularity of pre-Reformation Catholicism, it did not prevent Protestantism from gaining a strong and almost immediate hold over the hearts and minds of Islanders. Their religious enthusiasm was simply transferred from the old faith to the new.

"It took but five years for the Reformed faith to achieve its victory. The official propagation of the new faith seems to have begun in 1548, when the first moves were made towards confiscating church property. The same year saw the start of the destruction of 'objects of superstition', such as wayside crosses, stained glass and statues, as well as a States' grant to two Frenchmen, Martin Langeois and Thomas Johanne, for 'teaching the people the pure and sincere word of God, according to the Gospel text.' They must have been effective teachers: less than two years later„ we find the King's Counsellors writing to thank the Island for 'earnestly following and embracing his Majesty's laws and proceedings in the order of the Divine Service and ministration of the Sacrament.'

"The re-imposition of Catholicism during the short reign of Mary, Edward's successor, merely served to underline the Island's commitment to the Reformed Faith. Some of the Island clergy resigned their livings rather than renounce their Protestantism. A Calvinist chronicler, writing in Jersey some thirty years later, tells of Islanders who used to cross over to Protestant churches in Normandy, having 'no wish to assist at Mass or in the Idolatry and Superstition of the Papists.' And on Mary's death in 1558, the Island lost no time in reasserting its Protestantism; within a year, the English government was commending its conformity to the new Elizabethan Church Settlement. By 1562, Jersey's Protestantism was being held up as an example to her recalcitrant sister Island.

"All in all, the evidence points to but one conclusion: the victory of Protestantism was complete by the early 1550's. So the prosecution has re-affirmed the case for a Reformation "from below"; how will the defence respond?

Was Protestantism really established in Jersey by the early 1550's? Let us consider the evidence on which the prosecution has based its case.

"We should not make too much of the letter of 1550, praising the Islanders for 'earnestly following and embracing' the new Protestant services. If the King's Counsellors were certain of the Island's commitment to the new faith, why does so much of the letter go on to deal with what the Islanders should do 'percase any scruple or doubt arise' amongst them? If they had already willingly embraced the new faith, why do the Counsellors finish up with a heavy-handed reference to the benefits of conformity: 'whereby his Highness in all your reasonable suits may be more and more inclined to be your good and gracious lord and we the readier to advance the same .. .'?

"We should always be suspicious of taking such public letters at their face value, especially when their authors have no first-hand knowledge of the situation they are describing. Fortunately we can compare the official version of events against a much more reliable source: the private correspondence which passed between the Duke of Somerset and Henry Cornish, his Lieutenant on the Island. Part of their correspondence has survived, and can be found amongst the Seymour Papers at Longleat House in Wiltshire. Two letters from 1549 show Cornish worried about the activities of certain preachers who were going about the Island persuading the 'poor and ignorant' that Catholicism would be restored. Catholic priests were still preaching against the new faith some three years later, when we learn from another source that such a sermon had caused a tumult at St Martin's.

"But what about all those Jerseymen who refused to accept the re-imposition of Catholicism under Mary? Is it not significant that the Calvinist chronicler can only come up with the names of some fourteen 'men of means' who did so, when the population of Jersey numbered about seven or eight thousand? And does not seem strange that there is no reference to underground Protestant churches in Jersey, tending the flame of the true faith during the Marian night?

"And did the accession of a young Protestant prince really affirm the Victory of Protestantism in his realms and dominions? If Elizabeth had died after short reign, or indeed at any time in the 1560's or 70' she would have been succeeded on the throne by Catholic — Mary Queen of Scots. Jersey's conformity might well be held up as an example by outsiders, but the Island authorities were bothered about Catholic sympathisers well into the 1560's, ordering destruction of Catholic service books and a public flogging for a man caught asserting the truth of the faith. In short, even twenty years after its introduction into Jersey, the Victory of Protestantism was far from complete.

At this point, the jury see Advocate Balleine rising on more to address the court. How will he respond to to arguments put forward by the defence? Unfortunately, they will have to wait another month to find out.

An Echo of the Train

Written as we approach the death of my dear Annie on 13th October 2009. A trip to the steam museum the other day brought back memories, and the trains which we used to enjoy riding at the Steam Fayres, now sadly also a memory of a lovely past. 

An Echo of the Train

A trip to nostalgia and sadness past
Glory days when the train departs
Until one day, final whistle at last
Memory of love lost, of lonelyhearts

Streaming round the well worn track
Sitting in the carriages, watch the view
Wheels on the rails, go clack, clack, clack
Such were days of joy, of me and you

A stranger train had left one black day
Into a tunnel, darkness hides the light
And my dear, no words enough to say
Death’s one way journey into night

Now an echo of a train haunts me still
Nostalgia can sometimes be a bitter pill

1986 - 40 years ago - October Part 2

1986 - 40 years ago - October Part 2

October 20-26

A 19-year-old girl, Miss Angela McReady, dies after she is the victim of an early morning hit-and-run accident in Don Road. A 36¬year-old man alleged to have been the driver of the car involved in the incident helps police with their inquiries.

Bail is strongly opposed by the police when Bruce Andrew Hanton (25), appears in the Police Court and reserves his plea to assaulting amateur boxer Mr Lyndon Marquer with a hammer.

The Longueville Manor Hotel is the only Jersey hotel mentioned in "The Good Hotel Guide 1987". The guide says that Longueville Manor is the most agreeable hotel in the Channel Islands "without too much competition".

The murder trial of Jose Nelio de Azevedo is postponed for a second time because there are insufficient jurors available.

Jersey's Medical Officer of Health, Dr Anthony Essex-Cater, says that AIDS has not yet made an appearance in the Island, although two carriers of the disease have been identified in Guernsey.

The manslaughter charge faced by Mary Jane Gourlay (20), who was accused in June of unlawfully killing her heroin addict boyfriend, is dropped. Gourlay, who remains in custody after a Royal Court appearance, admits administering a noxious substance so as to endanger life.

A performance of "Coriolanus" at the Arts Centre, in which one of the performers appears naked, is banned by the Bailiff, Mr Peter Crill.

Air UK cut single air fares to Southampton to as little as £19 in a bid to attract customers from British Channel Island Ferries.

27 October-2 November

A 19-year-old girl, Miss Angela McReady, of Glasgow, is killed in a 1 a.m. hit-and-run accident in Don Road. John William Scott (36), is later detained by the police and charged with failing to stop and report an accident.

Jersey's oil companies are slammed over their pricing policies in a States Committee of Inquiry report on fuel oil supply and distribution in the Island. The report calls for a cut in the price of petrol of at least 10p.

Police hunt a masked raider following a £500 post office robbery during which sub-postmistress Mrs Betty Morel is attacked with a kitchen knife.




Magistrate Mr Bob Day resigns over what he describes as the inefficiency of Police Court organisation.

Detectives question a young Jerseyman about a break-in with a difference ... it is alleged that he entered La Moye Prison to deliver cigarettes to a friend.

The States Police Association protests about pay talks with the Establishment Committee, saying that "negotiations haven't broken down; there haven't been any".

Taxi driver Mr Reg Hawkins receives the Police/Jersey Evening Post Outstanding Citizen award for his part in catching a drunken driver.

Island Development Committee president Senator John Le Sueur is accused of "misleading the States" in a debate on the rezoning of land for a new 18-hole golf course.

Guernsey in 1974 – Part 3

Guernsey in 1974 – Part 3

This is an extract from Peter Haining’s guide book of 1974, which is as much interest today for the historian as to the tourist, as many of the places and industries described in his book have long vanished. Please do not take it as a current guide.

St. Peter Port

St. Peter Port is said by many people to be the most attractive harbour in the Channel Islands. The town nestles on a hillside overlooking the multi-coloured array of ships and boats of all sizes, and has an old world atmosphere which is quite unique. The streets are narrow and wind between tier upon tier of old houses—some of which have remained unchanged for centuries.

 

The early history of the port is none too clear, but it is known that by the 14th Century it was a bustling market town safeguarded against attack. The market was built in 1780 and soon became the centre of business affairs. Here the islanders bought and sold fish, meat, flowers, fruit and vegetables. In succeeding years the market was added to and the various States Buildings erected.

 In the early 2000s, the historic Town Market Buildings underwent a massive redevelopment. Instead of independent Victorian butchers and fishermen hawking raw goods, the imposing granite arches now house a modern supermarket (underneath the original fish-scale roof tiles), high-street retailers, the Guille-Allès Library, and a bustling public courtyard

Not far from the market is the Guille-Alles Library which was created by two Guernseymen with an urge to make their fellow countrymen read. Their task in the early years was anything but easy, and it was not until 1886 that the library as it is seen today took shape. The library is worth visiting both for its extensive range of volumes (which can be borrowed by visitors on payment of a subscription) and the record it contains of the German Occupation of Guernsey. Open daily (except Sunday) 9.10 a.m. to 12.45 p.m. and 1.45 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The library ran as a paid subscription service for nearly a century. However, in 1981, following severe financial difficulties, the States of Guernsey partnered with the Guille-Allès Trust to make the library completely free for the public.  Tourists no longer pay a "subscription". Instead, holidaymakers can sign up for a temporary Visitor Card by providing a fully returnable £15 deposit. The archaic lunch hour closure was abolished decades ago. The modern opening times are seamlessly continuous, featuring late-night access.

Guernsey has another library, named after its donor. Osmond Priaulx, in Candie Road, which has a very comprehensive reference library and a huge collection of rare books and fascinating old documents about the island. It is open to the public daily from 10.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. Across the road from the Priaulx is Candie Gardens which is a riot of coloured flowers during the season and also boasts a lemon tree which regularly produces fruit. 

In the vicinity is the Victoria Tower, a tall, medieval-looking turret, which stands on the site of an old windmill. It was built in 1846 to commemorate the visit of Queen Victoria and a climb to the top presents the visitor with one of the finest views of the harbour and coastline. The key to gain entry to the tower may be obtained from the Fire Station opposite.

The Priaulx Library and Candie Gardens details remain largely accurate, though opening hours have been extended to 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. While Victoria Tower commemorates Queen Victoria's 1846 visit, the key to access the interior is now obtained from the Guernsey Museum at Candie rather than the nearby Fire Station.

Turning back towards the harbour, it is not too long a walk to the Parish Church and the Lukis and Island Museum. The Parish Church is generally agreed to be one of the finest ecclesiastical buildings in the Channel Islands. There is believed to have been a wooden church on the "site since at least 1048, but it seems that the present stone building did not begin to take shape until about the 12th Century. It is well worth paying a visit.

Formally known as Sancti Petri de Portu, the very first historical record of the Town Church dates to 1048 when William of Normandy granted it to the Abbot of Marmoutier. The core stone architecture began taking its current shape in the 12th century.

The Lukis and Island Museum on Tower Hill is arranged in the house of the man who was mainly responsible for its formation, Captain Lukis. The majority of the exhibits are relics from the tumuli and dolmens which have been excavated on Guernsey. For those who have spent time looking at the island’s numerous prehistoric remains, this collection should come as the finale. It is open daily (except Sundays and Wednesdays) from 10.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The museum on Tower Hill no longer exists. In 1978, the States of Guernsey opened the purpose-built Guernsey Museum & Art Gallery inside Candie Gardens. The entire Lukis collection of prehistoric stone tools, ancient pottery, and dolmen artifacts was moved there, where it serves as the crown jewel of the island's permanent archaeology exhibits today.

The former home of the museum at St. Barnabas Church now houses the official Island Archives, which preserves historical documents and public records for the Bailiwick. 

The Royal Court House is another building with historical association which is often missed by the visitor because of its situation on the heights above the town. Originally built in 1799, the building serves as police court, office of Le Greffe (records department where ancient and modern documents about the island are kept) and assembly room for the States’ meetings. These gatherings are open to the general public and presided over by the Bailiff, Mr. J. H. Loveridges who combines the function of Prime Minister and Mr. Speaker. Also in attendance are the 12 conseillers, the 33 deputies, the douzaine (or parish council) representatives, the Island clergy, and the Crown Officers. The Magistrate’s court sits every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the mornings and can be attended by the public.

Following a historic public referendum, Guernsey entirely dismantled its traditional parish-based electoral districts. The modern parliamentary structure of the States of Deliberation comprises:38 People's Deputies: All 38 are elected from one single, island-wide constituency. Under this plurality-at-large system, every voter on the island's electoral roll receives up to 38 votes to cast across the entire pool of candidates. 2 Alderney Representatives: Chosen from the States of Alderney to represent their specific island interests. Presiding Officers & Law Officers: The Bailiff (or Deputy Bailiff) presides over meetings, alongside His Majesty's Procureur and Comptroller (who have speaking rights but cannot vote). This completely eliminates the 1974 structure. There are no longer dedicated parish deputies or institutional seats reserved for the island clergy or douzaine (parish council) representatives in the primary legislative parliament.

Of all the sights in St. Peter Port, there is none to match Castle Cornet which sits splendidly in the harbour at the end of its causeway. Built in the early part of the 13th Century, it has been considerably reconstructed during its history, and for a time in the Middle Ages served as the seat of government of the Channel Islands when Jersey and Guernsey were administered together. It is crowded with history, and during the Occupation when it was used by the Germans, Hitler considered it one of his “prize” captures. There is a comprehensive museum in the castle which illustrates both the uses to which it was put and the men who commanded it. An easy way of telling whether the castle is open or not is to look for the Guernsey flag flying over the gateway. The actual hours are 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on week days; and it is closed on Saturday afternoon but open on Sunday morning.

Castle Cornet in St. Peter Port features a rich history dating back to the 13th century and served as a heavily fortified stronghold during the German Occupation of World War II. Modern visitor access has been significantly updated, with the site now featuring five distinct museums and continuous daily operating hours from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during its seasonal opening period. You can read more about Castle Cornet on Visit Guernsey.

On The Esplanade at Picquet House is the headquarters of the Guernsey Railway Co. which run the island’s extremely efficient bus service (there is no railway, however!) Timetables and details of services can be obtained here, plus information about the numerous tours of Guernsey which the company operate (Central 78).

The claim that the Guernsey Railway Co. operates the island's bus service from Picquet House is historically accurate for a past era but entirely obsolete today. The modern transit network is coordinated via the States of Guernsey with current timetables and information available through official transport channels, while Picquet House has since transitioned out of use as a transport headquarters. For current timetable and travel information, visit States of Guernsey.

The harbour is a showpiece in itself, with a constant flow of boats in and out. Its history goes back many centuries, but the actual breakwaters and quays visible now were not begun until 1853. Today ships from England and the Continent dock here daily: some bringing tourists, others to collect the island produce of tomatoes and flowers. Pleasure trips to the other Channel Islands also use the area extensively, as do local fishermen and visiting yachtsmen.

An interesting reminder of the harbour’s past is contained in the name of a narrow road opposite the south-west corner, ““Rue des Vaches’’—‘*‘Cow Lane’’. It was here that cattle who had been brought over from France for slaughter were landed. The unfortunate animals could not be taken off on a quay so therefore they were pushed overboard from the ships and forced to swim to shore. Finally they were herded up the narrow lane to the abattoir.

Historical records confirm that the construction of the modern St. Peter Port artificial harbour officially began on August 24, 1853, following centuries of earlier maritime use. Accounts of cattle being pushed overboard from French vessels to swim ashore before being herded up Rue des Vaches (Cow Lane) to the local abattoir are also historically accurate. 

For the visitor interested in tracing the extent of the walls which once encircled St. Peter Port, there are six granite stones scattered about the town centre. Five of these are built into the sides of buildings and must be sought carefully—but the sixth, just outside the General Post Office in Smith Street, is clearly spotted by a brass plaque which reads: “This stone is one of the six stones erected by order of the Royal Court in 1700 to mark the sites of the gates of the town when in the XIV century, St. Peter Port was walled in for defensive purposes.”’ Together these stones provide an intriguing reminder of the past. )

While the historical physical artefacts are precisely where the author claims, the 14th-century "town wall" history is entirely a myth, and the landmark building mentioned has closed its doors. here are indeed exactly six carved granite stones placed around the town centre. They are officially known as the Barrières de la Ville (Town Barriers).  

Modern archaeology and Guernsey Museums research have comprehensively debunked the idea that St. Peter Port was ever a medieval walled city. While the Royal Court did secure a licence to build town defences in 1350, no evidence has ever been found to prove walls or large stone defensive gateways were actually built.

What are the stones actually for? The Royal Court ordered the placement of these stones in 1700 to mark the legal administrative boundaries (the tax and parish borders) of the town. Within these boundary lines, specific town laws applied regarding property division, vagrancy, and commerce.

The Brass Plaque and Location: The guidebook correctly notes that the sixth stone sits outside the General Post Office in Smith Street. It is carved with the words "Barrières de la Ville. 1700". But the iconic Smith Street Post Office permanently closed its doors after its multi-decade lease expired. Guernsey Post relocated its central town services down the hill to a modernized counter inside the Co-op store at the Market Buildings. While the building has changed uses, the historic boundary stone and its brass plaque remain embedded on the pavement outside for passing historical enthusiasts to find.

If you look for them today, you can find the stones integrated into the architecture at:

Smith Street (Outside the former Post Office)

The Pollet (Opposite Moore’s Hotel)

The Town Church (On the seaward side)

Cornet Street (At the top of the street near Tower Steps)

Fountain Street / Rosemary Lane (At the foot of the steps)

Jerriais: A Few Comments

Jèrriais was not an official legislative or administrative language for most of its history; it was officially adopted as an official language of the States Assembly alongside English and French only recently, in 2019

What, exactly, makes Jersey Jersey? Some had said Jerriais. But it is surely not just language. If you look at the broad sweep of history, distinctively Jersey aspects have changed over the centuries. Some things have vanished completely. Pre-Norman Jersey probably was more aligned to Breton, and had the Brythonic language.

Before the 933 AD annexation of the Channel Islands by William Longsword, Duke of Normandy, Jersey’s linguistic landscape was a complex, evolving layer of Celtic, Roman, and Germanic influences.

During the 9th century, the Channel Islands fell explicitly under the political sphere and hegemony of the Kingdom of Brittany under leaders like Erispoe and Salomon. The Brythonic language and the Latin names of the Islands (the Antonine Maritime Itinerary) was lost. St Brelade is one of the few legacy saints of the Celtic times.

What truly sets the island apart is that because it is a tidal island. So Jèrriais didn't just differ from the mainland Normandy, it fractured into micro-dialects from parish to parish. Historically, a speaker from the western parish of St. Ouen pronounced vowels entirely differently, used different vocabulary, and could be immediately distinguished from a speaker living just a few miles east in Faldouet or St. Martin.

But the decline means that just one dialect is taught. The modern revival of Jèrriais has been intentionally standardized around the St Ouen dialect. The distinct phonetic markers of eastern parishes like St Martin or Trinity have mostly faded from active daily speech as the last generation of those native speakers passes away.

The 12th-century Jersey-born poet Wace wrote in Anglo-Norman/Old Norman (Roman de Brut, Roman de Rou). While this represents the historical root of the Romance dialect family on the island, Wace's medieval Norman is linguistically distant from modern spoken Jèrriais. To say he was the first person to write in Jerriais is really to stretch historical credibility too far.

Before the 1780s, Jèrriais was purely an oral tongue. If islanders wrote, they used standard "lé bouôn français" (good French) for legal documents, court proceedings, and church services. By the mid-1800s, Jèrriais writing shifted from casual newspaper columns into serious literature. Inspired by the global success of Robert Burns writing in local Scots, Jersey writers decided to deliberately preserve their spoken tongue in print.

The written system used today is entirely modern and completely different from Wace’s medieval text. The script, orthography, and visual style of modern Jèrriais were forged in the 19th and 20th centuries to capture sounds that Wace never would have recognized.

When 19th-century writers began writing Jèrriais down systematically, they didn't have an unbroken spelling tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. They had to invent an orthography on the spot, using Standard French spelling as their anchor. Because Jèrriais contains sounds that do not exist in Standard French, they had to invent completely new visual system

So to focus alone on Jerriais as distinctly Jersey is I think flawed: (a) it was not the main language until after Norman annexation (b) Jerriais comes from roots in the Norman French of the time (as with Wace) but modern Jerriais is linguistically very different because it evolved since then (c) it has many dialects and what we have now is just one variation (d) the modern written form dates mainly from the 18th century, not exactly ancient!

I'm not saying it is not worth keeping in some form or other, but I do want to dispel the idea that we are preserving something very ancient which had not changed.

Proofs and Refutations in Historical Jesus Research – Part 2

Part 1 at: http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2026/10/proofs-and-refutations-in-historical.html

Proofs and Refutations in Historical Jesus Research – Part 2

When we map Imre Lakatos’s four strategies onto the high-stakes battlefield of Gospel scholarship, we can see exactly why NT scholars and historical-Jesus researchers rarely change their minds.

Because the text of the Gospels is ancient, complex, and open to interpretation, it provides the perfect raw material for academics to build a "Protective Belt" around their core theories.

In these posts, I will illustrate how historians deploy the four basic Lakatosian strategies to defend their views against troublesome textual data:

Because the text of the Gospels is ancient, complex, and open to interpretation, it provides the perfect raw material for academics to build a "Protective Belt" around their core theories.

The Ultra-Literary Camp: Robyn Faith Walsh and Ian Mills

• The Hard Core: The Gospels are not folk products born out of oral tradition or religious "communities"; they are deliberate, highly sophisticated Greco-Roman literary compositions crafted by educated elite desk-editors.

• The Anomaly: The clunky, unpolished, non-literary Aramaic linguistic "gems" embedded in the Greek text of Mark (e.g., Talitha koum, Ephphatha, Abba), alongside seemingly raw, disjointed narrative segments (pericopes). These look exactly like fragments of oral storytelling caught mid-stream.

The Lakatosian Defence (Monster-Adjusting / Exception-Barring):

Robyn Faith Walsh utilizes monster-adjusting. She argues that these Aramaic phrases are not passive carryovers from an oral community. Instead, they are highly intentional literary devices called mimesis or "local colour". Elite Roman authors frequently dropped foreign, exotic words into their text to make the setting feel authentic to the reader.

Ian Mills handles the disjointed narrative variations by framing them through the Hellenistic concept of a "hypothesis"—arguing that ancient readers and writers expected stories to be multi-layered riffs on a common plot core, completely detaching the variations from any alleged oral folk tradition.

An example:

When an outsider reads a Gospel text and encounters a raw Aramaic phrase like Talitha koum ("Little girl, get up") or Abba, or notices that a story reads like a choppy, disjointed anecdote, our natural intuition screams oral history. It looks exactly like a fragment of spoken memory that was caught mid-stream and awkwardly translated into Greek.

When Walsh and Mills counter this by arguing that these phrases are actually highly sophisticated literary devices (mimesis) designed by elite desk editors to create "local colour," it feels like an academic parlour trick. It sounds like they are saying: "Yes, it looks exactly like oral tradition, but that's just because the elite writers were so brilliant at faking it." To an outsider, that feels like a classic, un-falsifiable case of special pleading.

Over-Reliance on Ad-Hoc Adjustments

A Lakatosian critic would point out that Walsh and Mills have chosen a "Hard Core" thesis that is incredibly rigid: The Gospels are purely the products of elite literary culture, completely detached from communal oral folk memory.

Because that hard core is so absolute, any trace of oral texture becomes a lethal threat. To save their theory, they are forced to use "Monster-Adjusting" on a massive scale. They have to redefine raw, clumsy, bilingual blunders as high-brow literary art. A Lakatosian critic would warn that when your protective belt requires you to constantly explain away the most obvious, natural reading of the data by inventing hyper-intellectualized, invisible motives for the authors, your research program is losing its explanatory power.

Lakatos argued that a good theory should possess "heuristic power"—it should naturally explain the data without straining.

To a Lakatosian critic, the oral-memory model (championed by James D.G. Dunn) has a much more highly progressive heuristic: it easily explains why the Gospels are messy, why they contradict each other on minor details, and why they contain raw Aramaic. The data fits the model like a glove. Although as we will see, that also has its problems.

By contrast, the Walsh/Mills model requires an immense amount of intellectual heavy lifting just to get back to the starting line. It fails to elegantly predict the raw, unpolished nature of the text. If the authors were truly elite Greco-Roman literary masters operating at the level of Plutarch or Virgil, why is their Greek often so clunky and stylistically mediocre? Having to argue that elite writers deliberately wrote in awkward, localized styles to trick their audience is a classic sign of a Lakatosian protective belt that has grown too bloated to be believable.

A Lakatosian critic wouldn't necessarily say Walsh and Mills are wrong, after all, Lakatos proved that even degenerating theories can sometimes experience a sudden breakthrough and become progressive again.

However, the critic would say that their current defences feel like poor special pleading because the burden of proof has crushed them. By refusing to allow even a fraction of oral folk memory into their model, they have trapped themselves in a corner where they must continually claim that what looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck is actually a highly sophisticated mechanical robot built by an elite classical engineer to simulate a duck.

Next blog on the subject – N.T. Wright

This will be published next Monday