|
Review Summary: An Effective Response to the Jesus Seminar |
Date: 2008-11-11 |
|
| |
Details: Edited by J.P. Moreland and Michael Wilkins, with contributions from eight conservative authors, "Jesus Under Fire" functions as a response to the liberal interpretation of the life and work of Jesus Christ offered by the Jesus Seminar. The Jesus Seminar is a controversial and relatively well advertised group of approximately 200 scholars who have argued that the historical Jesus did not do or say the majority of things recorded of him in the New Testament. By casting individual votes, the Seminar has attempted to determine the probability of a recorded teaching or deed of Christ being authentic. In Jesus Under Fire, a group of conservative scholars responds to the claims of the Jesus Seminar and tries to establish that the Orthodox Christian understanding of Jesus is not only the most fulfilling, but the most historically accurate.
The Jesus Seminar makes use of a number of gratuitous and unlikely presuppositions, by which it judges the historical trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Many of these presuppositions are not only in need of justification, but many of them reflect a clear anti-supernaturalistic bias. This book exposes those biases for what they are, and demonstrates that when we take them away, the conclusions of the Jesus Seminar are on very fragile ground indeed.
In addition to combating the claims of the Jesus Seminar, this book will also clue readers in to a more realistic conception of the nature of the Bible. In chapter 3, Darrell Bock discusses the words recorded of Jesus, and asks whether they were live, jive, or memorex. The Jesus Seminar takes the jive approach, concluding that the majority of things recorded in the New Testament were not actually spoken by Jesus but were in fact invented by the Church and the original writers. They assume that the authors of the Gospels had no qualms about inventing sayings of Jesus Christ for use in their communities. This perspective is shown to be unjustified and to utilize overly restrictive applications of criterion of authenticity. But opposed to this liberal perspective, the common Christian's perspective seems to be that the words were memorex, and therefore perfectly recorded. If it's colored red in the Bible, then it is the exact word that Jesus spoke two thousand years ago. Usefully, Bock also dispels us of this simplistic notion, showing that this is not how ancient history was recorded and it was not how the Gospels were written. Nevertheless, we need not despair and fall into irrelevant liberalism, for the words of Jesus are recorded in the `live' fashion, according to Bock. Thus, they faithfully represent the words and the teachings of the historical Jesus. Christians who have adopted an overly wooden and unrealistic view of the way the Gospels were written will benefit immensely from this discussion.
Another highlight is the essay by Gary Habermas concerning the miracles of Jesus. The Seminar, along with other liberal interpreters, tend to give credence only to those miracles that can be `explained away' as essentially non-supernatural. Habermas exposes that there is no objective basis for this distinction, and that such a false distinction can only be maintained if a previous bias against the miraculous is imposed upon the text. The book also contains a characteristically excellent discussion of the evidence for the resurrection by William Lane Craig, which will be especially useful for those who have never been exposed to such material.
In general, I found Jesus Under Fire to be a successful critique of the approach and the findings of the Jesus Seminar. For those people who have been drawn in by their controversial findings and media exposure, this book should provide a useful critique. At times the essays seemed a bit wordy and difficult to read, but in general the chapters were well-written. Moreover, the breadth of topics and issues discussed was impressive. "Jesus Under Fire" is therefore highly recommended. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Criticism of the Critics |
Date: 2008-07-30 |
|
| |
Details: What I love about a book like this, is that it takes a hard critical look at the critics.
The consortium of writers who put together this book dismantle the arguments that are pitted against the Historical Jesus. This book exposes logical fallicies within the "Jesus Seminar" discussions.
You almost get the feeling that there was a certain level of collusion going on within the "Jesus Seminar" when you read this book. You learn that not a single conservative scholar was allowed to take part of the discussions or conclusions of the Jesus Seminar. Which in hindsight seems clear when you realize the great arguments put forth by the conservative scholars who contributed to this book.
I would recommend for all. |
| |
|
Review Summary: a decent worth while christian apologetics work. |
Date: 2008-03-16 |
|
| |
Details: This book is a christian apologetics work which works towards showing the historical and "theological" claims of the new testament Jesus.
It is written well, and the authors have obviously put real effort into their subjects. They present a conservative exploration of issues related to the new testament Jesus: the historical study of Jesus, the nature of the new testament gospel material, what did Jesus do and mean, is Jesus the only way to God, did Jesus rise from the dead and did Jesus perform miracles.
For me, most of the material was at least worth a serious read, but only two chapters really stood out as excellent. Ch. 3 on the nature of the new testament gospel recordings of Jesus' words was very well done and worth the whole book in and of itself. The chapter on Jesus' resurrection was also very sharp.
|
| |
|
Review Summary: An Important Work |
Date: 2007-04-26 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: I had to use this work while in school. I found the arguments challenging and whet my appetite for further studies. This give blow after blow to the Jesus Seminar and others like that. An Important work! |
| |
|
Review Summary: A lot of excellent points |
Date: 2006-10-29 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: This book has a lot of excellent points about various aspects the Jesus Seminar attacks. It's just enough info to wet your appetite and give you something to say in casual conversation to address these issues, but not enough for a thorough defense of any of them. But a very good overall view. |
| |
|
out of 28 Reviews
