RE: Socrates and Jesus

Garry DeWeese (deweese@ucsu.Colorado.EDU)
Mon, 18 Mar 1996 08:53:58 -0700 (MST)

Why would Steve Schaffner omit the Gospels fromhis list of mss evidence
for Jesus? And shouldn't we also include the Petrine and Johannine
epistles? (Yes, I am aware of higher-critical theories concerning the
authenticity of these epistles, but there are convincing conservative
responses.)

And why would Stephen Froehlich wonder why we are concerned with the
"historical Jesus" when we have him with us? Isn't it clear that
Christianity is a historically-based religion, and if God did not act in
history as Scripture says he did, then our faith is of no more
credibility than that expressed in the bumper stickers "Love your Mother"
or "Believe the Children."

It is the historiocal rootedness of the Judeo-Christian tradition that
makes it above all a rational faith (as compared to all other religions)
and also makes it critical that we understand the historicity if
revelation--which of course is why we spend so much time asking what the
historical import of the early chapters of Genesis really is.

Garry