{"id":652,"date":"2006-05-31T15:23:37","date_gmt":"2006-05-31T23:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/archives\/2006\/05\/31\/some-thoughts-on-jesus-and-history\/"},"modified":"2006-05-31T15:34:52","modified_gmt":"2006-05-31T23:34:52","slug":"some-thoughts-on-jesus-and-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2006\/05\/31\/some-thoughts-on-jesus-and-history","title":{"rendered":"Some Thoughts On Jesus and History"},"content":{"rendered":"

An article in the Stanford Daily today caught my attention: Jesus Never Lived, Speaker Says<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My first thought was a bit carnal \u2014 how come our events don\u2019t get the same coverage in the Daily? We almost certainly draw more people (as when Dr. Bill Craig lectured on the existence of God to a crowd of hundreds) and our views are certainly controversial (God exists, Jesus is God, sin is real, salvation is possible, etc).<\/p>\n

My second thought was more focused: I should respond to this. I hear more and more students talking about the existence of Jesus as though there is some real controversy, so I shouldn\u2019t let this pass without comment.<\/p>\n

Now I wasn\u2019t at the talk, so I don\u2019t know exactly what the speaker said. All I know is what the article claims the speaker said. He could have been considerably more effective at making his point than the article seems to indicate. This isn\u2019t, strictly speaking, a critique of the speaker so much as a reflection on the whole notion of Jesus being a make-believe person.<\/p>\n

According to the article, there are two clues that Jesus never existed:
\n1) Paul didn\u2019t talk about the details of Jesus\u2019 life
\n2) The stories about Jesus sound pretty amazing.<\/p>\n

So Paul didn\u2019t talk about the details of Jesus\u2019 life in his letters. I find this unsurprising given that I, an ordained Pentecostal missionary, rarely do so in my own letters. Even when writing letters devoted to theology I rarely talk about Jesus\u2019 life the way that the speaker seemed to assume that Paul should have: <\/p>\n

\u201cPaul never discusses Jesus\u2019 family, his deeds, where he went or where he came from,\u201d Carrier said. \u201cHe never discusses any of his confrontations with the authorities, nor any disputes about what he taught. He says Jesus became flesh, was crucified and buried, but he never says when or where or positions these events in any historical context.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I rarely bring up these details because they are assumed to be the background for the conversation, in much the same way that I rarely mention the details of George Bush\u2019s life when discussing his politics. That doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t believe in or am unaware of the fact that he has daughters \u2014 it just means that I don\u2019t always consider them germane. <\/p>\n

To insist that Paul should have mentioned such details as evidence that he believed Jesus was a real person seems quite arbitrary to me, especially given that he mentions Jesus by name 198 times<\/a> with absolutely no indication that he\u2019s referring to a made-up individual. No one would argue that I don\u2019t believe in George Bush on such grounds, and so I don\u2019t see why we should think that this is evidence that Paul didn\u2019t believe in Jesus.<\/p>\n

As to Jesus\u2019 life sounding pretty amazing \u2014 ya think? That sort of seems to be the point. The claim that Jesus was God in human form almost requires that certain amazing events occur throughout his life. So I sort of scratch my head when the guest lecturer says:<\/p>\n

\n\u201cJesus conforms so closely to the criterion of a mythic hero the probability that he was a mythic hero increases substantially,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are 22 features that have been identified by scholars that are commonly shared by many mythic heroes. They can be ranked with a score according to how many features they have. Jesus clearly scores at least 19 out of 22.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

Jesus scores higher on this scale than almost all other heroes, including Hercules and Romulus, Carrier said. Only Oedipus scores higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus competes for second place only with Theseus and Moses,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone who scores more than 11 on this scale is most likely mythical. No historical figures who accumulated some of these features by chance or legend, such as Alexander the Great or Augustus Caesar, scores even as high as 11.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well of course he scores quite high. That\u2019s like pointing out that NBA players are tall and athletic. How do you think they score all those points? Jesus being extraordinary is simply evidence that he was extraordinary. Whether he was extraordinary by not existing or extraordinary by being God is the question the guest speaker wished to address \u2014 but his argument does nothing to tip the balance.<\/p>\n

Against these feeble arguments stands the scholarly consensus that there was actually a man named Jesus. Why is there such a consensus? Because in addition to the Bible, there is plenty of external evidence that Jesus lived. For example:<\/p>\n