Institute of Biblical Defense

It’s been quite an adventure. After taking on several responsibilities for the Institute website, I’ve found just how difficult it is to finish what I started. So, here is what’s in the works:

1)  90% of the material from the old site is now on this site.

2)  I’m about a 1/4 way through transferring The Atheist Delusion into audio format. We’ll make this available in the store once we’re done.

3)  The process of recording hundreds of hours of taped sermons (the new Sermon on the Mount series), is going … and going … and going.

4) The store is up and working, and we plan to offer more items in it as soon as they become available.

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Personally, I’ve recently gotten entwined in a debate with some proponents of the  “Jesus Myth” theory. At first, I had a very hard time taking them seriously. After some study … well … it’s even harder to take them seriously now.

In short, the “Jesus Myth” proponents claim that there was no Jesus of Nazereth. No such person ever existed. Rather, they tell this tale:

1) In the middle of the Greeks’ philosophical peak, wisdom (sophia) is personified in the concept of the “Logos” (the word). Some stories even give an incarnation of wisdom in the far distant past or in the future.

2) Syncretic Jews later attempt to blend Jewish and Greek traditions and philosophy. In the process, a Jewish personification of the “Logos” is created: the living “Word of God”

3) Paul combines the “Logos” with the “Messiah” and creates the Jesus character.

4) By the end of the 1st century, stories, acts, and even sayings are attributed to this character and so the Jesus of history is born.

This view first reared its ugly head during the French Enlightenment around 1790, popped up again in the 19th century, and finally gained some traction around 1900 in the writings of Bruno Bauer.

Their main source of scholarship is, of course, the author of The Jesus Puzzle, Earl Doherty, an accepted scholar of Ancient History and Classical Languages. His paper, and later book, attempted to popularize the “Jesus Myth” theory in the circles of New Testament critics. This attempt has obviously failed in light of the sheer mountain of credible evidence against it.

That said, other authors and scholars have come to join him, most notably former Baptist minister and editor of The Journal of Higher Criticism, Dr. Robert Price.  I was also surprised that some proponents of  the Gnostic gospels had gotten on board. What a motley crew this had made.

Doherty, who advocates for the most radical form of the “Jesus Myth” theory, cites his inspiration as the works of George A. Wells.  George Wells, unfortunately, was forced to back away from his most radical views when the evidence overwhelmed him in 1999. He now proposes a historical Jesus to whom the Jewish and pagan myths were ascribed. It should be noted that, after his change of heart in 1999,  Wells rejected the claims made in  Doherty’s 1997 book that a historical Jesus never existed.

Anyways, the twisting of scripture required to make this theory work is quite incredible (TruthSurge on Youtube has a series that’s sure to get you going). If anyone could give me a hand with this debate, it would be greatly appreciated.

Until my next post, may the mercies of God keep you and your families safe.