Introduction to New Testament Interpretation NTS0510.RETI Spring 2015 Dr. Chuck Quarles Weeks 5 and 6: The Historical Reliability of the Gospels Philosophical Foundations of Modern New Testament Study Modern NT study is rooted in assumption that the Christ of cannot be the Jesus of. Modernists generally assumed that the elements of the Gospel were the product of legendary embellishments that resulted in a rapidly Christology These scholars approach to history was predetermined by a philosophical commitment to Human Evolution Skepticism in the Modern Era Benedict de Spinoza (1632-77) Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, 1670 Idea of miracle is self- God cannot act contrary to the laws of nature since this would require him to act contrary to nature Spinoza s work paved the way for the critical who launched the quest for the historical Jesus English Deists
2 Matthew Tindal (1657-1733) Christianity as Old as the Creation, 1730 revelation is the only reliable revelation Thomas Woolston (1669-1733) Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Savior, 1727-30 Jesus were Improbabilities, and Incredibilities, and grossest Absurdities Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768) Anonymous author of the posthumously published Wolfenbüttel Fragments, 1774-78 first major attempt to offer a portrait of the Jesus Jesus viewed himself as an Messiah, but a mere Disciples created a new religion by means of and David Hume (1711-1776) Enquiries concerning the Human Understanding, 1748 So-called miracles are a product of human People naturally tales of the miraculous and are eager to believe them Miracles occur only among people All major appeal to miracles Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Philosophy of Jesus (1804) Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (1820) 1819 Letter to William Short
3 But the greatest of all the reformers of the depraved religion of His own country was Jesus of Nazareth. Abstracting what is really His from the in which he is buried, easily distinguished by its lustre from the dross of His biographers, and as separable from that as the diamond from the, we have the outlines of a system of the most sublime morality which has ever fallen from the lips of man; outlines which it is lamentable He did not live to fill up. Epictetus and Epicurus give laws for governing ourselves, Jesus a supplement of the duties and charities we owe to others The establishment of the innocent and genuine character of this benevolent Moralist, and the rescuing it from the imputation of imposture which has resulted from [misconstructions of his words by his pretended votaries] artificial systems, invented by ultra-christian sects, unauthorized by a single word ever uttered by Him, is a most desirable object, and one to which Priestley has successfully devoted his labors and learning. It would in time, it is to be hoped, effect a quiet euthanasia of the heresies of bigotry and fanaticism which have so long triumphed over human reason, and so generally and deeply afflicted mankind; but this work is to be begun by winnowing the grain from the chaff of the historians of His life I have sometimes thought of an abstract from the Evangelists of whatever has the stamp of the eloquence and fine imagination of Jesus. Letter to John Adams April 11, 1823 "The truth is that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling themselves the of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words. And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors." Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), Father of Liberal Theology The Christian Faith, 1820-21 History is a closed system of and in which even God himself cannot David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874)
4 Life of Jesus, 1835 written when Strauss was 27 most revolutionary religious document written since Luther s Ninety-Five Theses, William Baird Strauss attacked supernatural interpretation of the Gospels and promoted his mythological method Rudolph Bultmann (1884-1976) Kerygma and Myth, 1953 man s knowledge and mastery of the world have advanced to such an extent through science and technology that it is no longer possible for anyone seriously to hold the view of the world Bultmann ultimately concluded: We can now know almost concerning the life and personality of Jesus Methods of Modern Gospel Study Before the rise of widespread skepticism regarding the supernatural, the Gospels were generally deemed to be historically. Denial of the supernatural led to the following conclusions o Either the Gospels were to be read as or as that developed from some small kernel of historical truth o The Gospels were no longer regarded as accounts but as traditions that over a long period of time during which they experienced significant Scholars were compelled by their presuppositions to develop a method for sifting the historical kernels from later additions and embellishments Criteria of Authenticity Gospel material deemed authentic only when it satisfied one or more of the following criteria:
5 o Multiple o o influence o Although criteria can be useful, results are ultimately Question of the burden of Is this burden of proof? Subjectivity of Modern Gospel Study When scholars pick and choose which elements of the Gospels are historical, they tend to develop a portrait of Jesus that conforms to their It is impossible to avoid the suspicion that historical Jesus research is a very safe place to do and call it history, to do and call it biography. J. D. Crossan, Historical Jesus, xxviii. A Shaky Foundation Nothing can happen without cause; nothing happens that cannot happen, and when what was capable of happening has happened, it may not be interpreted as a miracle. Consequently, there are no miracles. o Cicero, 106-42 BC Although skepticism about the supernatural is often traced to the Enlightenment, such skepticism was alive and well in the period Josephus, Antiquities 2 347 As for myself, I have delivered every part of this history as I found it in the sacred books; nor let anyone wonder at the strangeness of the narrative, if a way were discovered to those men of old time, who were free from the wickedness of the modern ages, whether it happened by the will of God or whether it happened of its own accord.... (after appealing to the ancient historians account of Alexander s passage of the Pamphylian Sea in an argument of verisimilitude)... But as to these events, let everyone determine as he pleases.
6 The Failure of Naturalism Despite the reign of modernist philosophy in Western education for well over a century, most Americans believe that the existence and intervention of God is. % of adult Americans believe in a God who is the all powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today. Barna, 2006 % of Americans believe in miracles. Harris 2003 % of Americans with degrees believe in miracles. Harris 2003 The dismissal of the historical reliability of the Gospels by many contemporary scholars is not generally based on historical evidence that disputes the testimony of the Gospel accounts. Rather, this dismissal is grounded in the scholars philosophical presuppositions, presuppositions that most Americans rightly because they fail to explain personal and perceptions of reality. When one overcomes philosophical prejudices against accounts that describe supernatural events such as incarnation, virgin birth, exorcism, miracle, and resurrection, one discovers that the evidence for the historical reliability of the Gospels is rather compelling. The Reliability of the NT Documents Why Should I Trust the New Testament? Preservation of the NT The NT is the best book from all of ancient literature. Its remarkable preservation is nothing short of. Trustworthiness of the NT Authors The most radical skeptics argue that the NT cannot be trusted because its authors were simply No reasonable for such deception has yet been posed o Financial gain? o Fame and popularity? The most plausible motive for the apostle s bold proclamation of the NT message is that they were absolutely convinced that the message was
7 The Genre of the NT Some may argue that the NT isn t a lie--it just belongs to the genre of NT evidence clearly demonstrates that the NT writers intended to report actual o of John and 1 John o of Luke o of the Apostles o Role of in reports of the resurrection o Rejection of (1 Tim 1.4; 4:7; 2 Tim 4.4; Titus 1.14; 2 Pet 1.16) Conservative Reporting in the NT Some suggest that the NT church put the utterances of the NT prophets on the lips of and many Gospel sayings Jesus sayings do not address many of the most crucial issues of the early church Paul shows that the early church clearly inspired prophetic utterances and Jesus own words Corroboration to the NT Some skeptics allege There is no evidence of the existence of Jesus of Nazareth outside of the NT Even if this were so, it is not cause for dismissing the NT testimony since the NT consists of different books many of which were written by eyewitnesses of Jesus ministry However, this is patently false. Numerous ancient Jewish and Roman texts refer to Jesus Josephus Jewish Antiquities 20.9.1 200-203:
8 o He [Ananus, the high priest] seated the judges of the Sanhedrin Council and after he led to them the brother of Jesus who was called Messiah, the man whose name was James, and certain others, and accused them of having transgressed the Law, he handed them over to be stoned [translation mine]. Jewish Antiquities 18.3.3 63-64. manuscripts of this text read: o About this time, Jesus came. He was a wise man, if it is really proper to call him a man, because he was a person who did incredible works, a teacher of those people who gladly welcomed the truth. He won over many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was the Messiah. And when Pilate condemned him to the cross based on evidence from the men of high standing from among us, the ones who loved him at the beginning did not abandon their love for him, because on the third day he appeared to them alive. And these and a thousand other wonderful things had been told about him by the divine prophets. And the tribe which is called "the Christians" has not died out even to this very day [translation mine]. the version of the Testimonium Flavianum in Agapius Book of the Title lacks the distinctively Christian elements: Babylonian Talmud o At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who have become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders. Most references are late products of Jewish polemic o was of royal descent but played the harlot with carpenters o Jesus fled to to escape King Janneus slaughter of the rabbis in 87 BC. o Jesus gathered five including two whose names resemble Matthew and Thaddeus. o Jesus practiced and led Israel astray b. Sanh. 43a states:
9 Jesus Resurrection o On the eve of Passover they Jesus the Nazarene. And a herald went out before him for forty days saying: He is going to be stoned, because he practiced sorcery and enticed and led Israel astray. Anyone who knows anything in his favor, let him come and plead in his behalf. But, not having found anything in his favor, they hanged him on the eve of. o a baraita, tradition from the Tannaitic period (AD 70-200) o seems to fit with John s chronology of Jesus passion He then went and Jesus by incantation. b. Git. 57a, ms M. Woe to him who makes himself by the name of God. b. Sanh. 106a Several texts refer to miracles performed by his disciples in His name Roman Historians Tacitus Annals 15:44 says: o Therefore, to squelch the rumor, Nero created scapegoats and subjected to the most refined tortures those whom the common people called, [a group] hated for their abominable crimes. Their name comes from Christ, who, during the reign of Tiberius, had been executed by the procurator Pontius Pilate. Suppressed for the moment, the deadly superstition broke out again, not only in Judea, the land which originated this evil, but also in the city of Rome, where all sorts of horrendous and shameful practices of every part of the world converge and are fervently cultivated. In his Life of Emperor Claudius, Suetonius (c. A.D. 120) reported that Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome who, instigated by, never ceased to cause unrest. This expulsion is probably the expulsion of A.D. 49 mentioned in Acts 18:2. o Suetonius, Life of Emperor Claudius 25.4 This evidence from outside the NT corroborates the Gospels at several key points. o Jesus was a, person o Jesus parents were, a woman of royal descent, and a and Jesus birth was somehow
10 o Jesus performed amazing observed by too many witnesses to be denied and that only be explained as an expression of power o Jesus was around the time of o Jesus may have risen from the dead o Contemporaries had performed miracles in Jesus name Absence of Contradictions between the Gospels Appearance of contradiction is usually a consequence of the Gospels Ipsissima vs. ipsissima vs. arrangement Simple misinterpretation Evidence that the Gospels Preserve Eyewitness Testimony Luke s Prologue Papias (AD 110) claimed Mark s Gospel preserved memories of Jesus ministry Papias claimed the apostle wrote the Gospel ascribed to him The Gospel of claims to have been written by an eyewitness Features of the Gospels support the close connection to eyewitness testimony o early date of the Gospels o frequencies o of eyewitness testimony