The Gospels in Historical View

An Interview with Tyler Blaine Wilson

In this interview, I got a chance to speak with Tyler Blaine Wilson, author of the substack Contingent History. Tyler has degrees in biblical studies and history and is currently a doctoral researcher in Christian Origins at the University of Denver. I talk to Tyler about his PhD research, the historicity of Mark’s trial narrative, and what’s coming up on his stack…

JN: You are a doctoral researcher in Christian Origins. What are you working on at the moment and how have you found the PhD journey so far?

TBW: I only recently began my PhD in official terms, though the journey has been much longer in a sense. I earned a Bachelor’s degree in biblical studies roughly twelve years ago and then began taking seminary classes thinking I might want to be a pastor but realized that wasn’t for me. A few years later, I earned a Master’s degree in history and spent a few years teaching before earning a second Master’s degree in religious studies. Each of those steps, along with struggling to learn an ancient language, writing papers and publications, and presenting at academic conferences, all preceded actually starting a PhD, let alone earning one! I ended up doing my PhD in the United States where I’m required to do two years of coursework and comprehensive exams in addition to writing a dissertation, so there is a lot of work ahead of me. But I’ve had this goal in mind for a while now and expect it will be both challenging and rewarding.

My main areas of focus are on the Gospel of Mark, the historical Jesus, and Christian origins. I am particularly interested in why the Gospel of Mark was written and what it was trying to do through its characterization of Jesus. My dissertation is using the First Jewish Revolt as a lens through which to analyze this gospel and the ways in which it portrays various characters in the text. Specifically, it will focus on how the author reshapes Jesus, who was crucified by the Romans for sedition, into a nonviolent exemplar for a post-70 CE world.

JN: How did you become interested in a historical approach to the biblical texts, and what does it mean to study Christianity through a historical lens?

TBW: I suppose the short answer would be that I believe Christianity is making historical claims, so those claims are subject to historical inquiry. In general, Christianity has claimed, among other things, that Jesus was a real person, that he was raised from the dead, and that the texts of the New Testament capture historical truths about Jesus and the movement that emerged about him. Historical inquiry allows us to validate the level of probability in such claims, and I think historical probability matters, not only concerning Christian origins but all subjects or events which impact us today.

History does not simply belong to the past because it lives in the present and while at times it seems the grand story is being written for us without our consent or input, I truly believe history is something we each play a part in making. So, for me history is not merely about memorizing dates and facts but it’s about learning how things became the way they are and how our lives are continuing to nudge the story of history forward.

For many years, I viewed history as a divinely directed arrow but I think honest study and reflection have led me to see the contingent nature of history, the countless ways that things could have turned out differently and how inevitability is something that only exists with hindsight. If we were to rewind the tape of history 100 times, I think the name Jesus of Nazareth dissipates into obscurity on 99 occasions. Many contingent events had to happen in such a way so that we not only remember that name, but so that roughly 2 billion people today worldwide adhere to a religion about that person. That is a story worth knowing something about and for me, the historical lens is the best way to do that.

JN: So much of the online discourse about early Christian history is riddled with ‘polemics’ and ‘apologetics’. Either people are trying to “debunk” the biblical text, or they are defending it with a degree of certainty which evades us as historians. What are some of the common pitfalls you see on both sides of this online space?

TBW: Yes, it is easy for all of us to slip into those tendencies. I think it’s important to avoid two extremes: one says that everything that is written in the Bible is factually or historically true and there are no errors in it. In this view, everything we know about history, science, geography, other religions, and so on, need to be made to fit within the biblical narrative. The other extreme says that the Bible is purely a religious text that provides no reliable evidence for anything. In this view, the Bible is not seriously engaged with as a series of historical texts that may still provide value and insight. Both extremes are irresponsible in different ways and prevent decent work and conversations from taking place.

Many people may fall somewhere in between such extremes, though they still act as apologists or debunkers. I think people of faith must recognize that the apologetic endeavor already assumes the “rightness” of their beliefs and it is not actually proving or disproving anything, apart from someone’s ability to construct post-hoc arguments. And those seeking to debunk biblical texts or claims must recognize the limits of historical inquiry and hold their conclusions with open hands and be willing to adopt new perspectives as they encounter new information, even if it means admitting they may have been wrong about something.

Sadly, we live in a world where hot takes and extremes are abundant. As someone writing a lot online, I see the incentive structure is not often aligned with measured, complex opinions but is instead geared towards propagating extremes, shallow analysis, and picking fights with others. My experience with Substack thus far has been a little better than with other online platforms, though even here I sometimes feel that I would get a little more engagement if I was a bit more antagonistic! With Contingent History, I’ve tried to provide a balanced approach to the texts and history of Christianity. While I have my biases like everyone else, my goal is not to defend or debunk but to educate and give readers the tools to develop informed conclusions.

JN: In one of your academic conference papers, you have examined the trial narrative in Mark. Can you share your argument you developed in that paper?

TBW: My essential argument in that conference paper was that the trial narrative the author of Mark gives us is a fabricated narrative that is not trying to tell us what actually happened in the hours leading up to Jesus’ death. Instead, it is using a scenario that few, if any, knew the historical details about in order to make statements about groups like the Roman and Jewish authorities and the person of Jesus.

While I think Jesus had a following during his lifetime, I tend to think the Gospels overstate his popularity. Therefore, I think that for quite some time the details of Jesus’ final hours were unknown as would have been the case for nearly every victim of Roman execution. Though stories eventually developed about Jesus’ trials, I tend to think these are quite detached from what really occurred. Some scholars doubt Jesus had a trial at all. In that conference paper, I relied on the past work of other scholars like Dale Martin, John Dominic Crossan, and Richard Horsley and think they are good scholars to start with for further insight.

JN: One of the things I have really appreciated about your Substack is your ‘snapshot’ overviews of certain biblical characters, like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptiser. Of the biblical characters you have studied, which one are you most fascinated by historically?

TBW: I appreciate that! Those have been fun to work on, and right now I would have to say the character I’m most fascinated by is Judas Iscariot, whom I recently published a character snapshot of. The figure of Judas is an excellent avenue through which to engage with some of the questions we’ve already discussed pertaining to historicity and the biblical texts. Judas plays a relatively minor role in terms of stage time in the Gospels but is extremely pivotal to the story. But was he a historical person who betrayed Jesus or was he a literary creation? There are some complicated bits to this analysis that I touch on throughout several of my posts, but it’s through asking these types of questions that these texts come to life and give us glimpses into the aims and methods of their authors.

JN: I have really appreciated what I’ve read on your blog so far. For readers who are new to Contingent History, what should they expect to find coming up on your stack coming up?

TBW: A growing repository of material and resources pertaining to history, religion, and Christian origins. While most of Contingent History focuses on Christian origins, I do occasionally write about the broader concept of religion and different aspects of United States history, which was the focus of my first Master’s degree. So, it might be worth a subscription for a variety of different people.

I recently implemented a paid subscription model which allows paying subscribers to gain access to every piece I write, including more in-depth analyses and nuanced posts, and access to the community chat and Q&A sessions. My character snapshots will continue to be available to all subscribers, as will other occasional posts. In the near future, I will be creating videos as well which will be shortened versions of lectures I’ve given to students which will be available to paying subscribers. I would love to continue to connect and work with other scholars and writers like yourself in various ways as well. Beyond that, I am simply hopeful that Contingent History will continue to grow and provide quality information about important subjects to interested readers.

JN: Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us about your work!

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