Week 7 Review

From Last Week… Antony Flew, the famous former-atheist, once added to Hume’s Argument in Principle by stating that the evidence for repeatable events is always greater than the evidence for events that cannot be repeated (like a miracle). How would you respond to this?

From Last Week… One aspect of Hume’s Argument in Practice is that we cannot talk about miracles in a historical sense because history is not objective enough to address such claims. Basically, all historians have some sort of subjective bias, so we cannot know for sure what is true and what is not. How would you answer this?

From Last Week… One story of Gautama Buddha after his “enlightenment” describes him rising into the air, shooting flames and steams of water from his body, and walking around in the sky. What methods would you use to evaluate whether this miracle claim is true or false?

Ancient Evidence The Historicity of Jesus

… Historicity? “Historicity” = “historical authenticity” ◦The historical fact of a person/event ◦Someone existed/something happened Historicity of Jesus ◦Establish Jesus as a factual person in history ◦Does not address deity, etc. ◦Uses historical, external sources

Why does Historicity Matter? Different alternate interpretations ◦“Alternate” or “hidden” lives of Jesus ◦Claim that Jesus was not a real person ◦De-emphasis of Jesus as man ◦Usually an ulterior motive (doctrine, politics, etc.) Our goal ◦Use neutral sources to support Biblical truth ◦Show fallacies of re-interpretations

Alternate Sources and Methods Historical sources ◦Gnostic Gospels ◦Jewish Talmud Methods ◦Rejection of miracles a priori ◦Assumption of myth ◦Ignorance of extrabiblical sources ◦Late dating of canonical Gospels

Three Main Extrabiblical Sources Early Christian Writings (friendly) ◦“Creeds,” oral traditions (non-Canonical) Pagan History (neutral to hostile) ◦Roman historians ◦Roman officials Jewish Writings (hostile) ◦Talmud, Toledoth Jesu

Early Christian Writings Creeds (30-50 AD) ◦Pre-date written Gospel accounts Case study: 1 Corinthians 15:3ff ◦“Delivered,” “received” ◦Non-Pauline phrases ◦Parallel form ◦“Cephas” – Aramaic

Early Christian Writings Evidence for Christ from Creeds ◦Primary sources ◦Early sources for Christian teachings on Christ ◦Timeframe of living witnesses Benefits of Studying Creeds ◦Provides context for scripture ◦Confidence in textual reliability ◦Both theological and historical

Pagan History Ancient Historians ◦Tacitus (AD )—”greatest historian” ◦Suetonius—Roman official ◦Josephus (AD 35-97)—Roman Jew ◦Thallus—darkness at the crucifixion These are trusted sources ◦Some of the best of Roman history

Pagan History Roman Officials ◦Pliny the Younger—Christian practices ◦Emperor Trajan ◦Emperor Hadrian Importance of Pagan Accounts ◦Completely neutral, if not negative ◦Dedicated to accuracy

Jewish Writings A Word… ◦Generally (very) negative ◦Generally slanderous ◦Similar to Pharisees The Toledoth Jesu (400s AD) ◦Jesus resurrection conspiracy (Matt 28:11-15) ◦Trained men to further this teaching

Jewish Writings The Talmud (AD 135) ◦Collection of oral traditions ◦References to “sorcery,” crucifixion ◦Earlier writings more reliable Summary of Jewish writings ◦Generally not as helpful ◦Still can’t explain the resurrection!

Question 1 Understanding the historical implications of early church “creeds” written down in the Bible can provide a number of insights into the beliefs and practices of the early church. Why do you think these aren’t studied more in church settings?

Question 2 Some criticize that if Jesus were such an important figure in history, there would be more written about Him by historians such as the Roman sources we mentioned in class. What would you say to this?

Question 3 Do you think it is noteworthy that ancient Jewish texts happen to mention (and even try to discredit) Jesus and his teachings? Why or why not?