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"The consensus of scholars" (From Steve's Criticism of the Resurrection - Part Two)

Jordan very directly asks me: "To start at the earliest element, we must examine New Testament scholarship. I have yet to witness any of Craig’s opponents correct him when he referred to this scholarship. I ask that Steve challenge or concede its authority."

I find this rather an odd challenge for two reasons. Firstly it is exactly what I have done on my previous resurrection page. Secondly, in his misleading denigration of "atheist scholars" Jordan ridicules the Sea of Faith as "fallen clergypersons," and says: "Personally, my evaluation of the facts lies outside whether one Catholic priest, the Pope, or one thousand Protestant ministers have fallen away. I invite any of them to address the points presented above." Either the numbers of skeptical scholars are important or not. It appears Jordan wants both. If he truly invites the Sea of Faith to address his points then he should ask them and read their books (many of these "fallen clergy persons" are able scholars!) Contact details are available at their website and the most relevant book is possibly (I haven't read all their books) "Resurrection - Myth or Reality?" - John Shelby Spong, ISBN 0060674296 (reviewed and summarised here). They should not be thought of as avoiding his challenge if Jordan does not let them know about it or if he does not read what they have already written in answer to his exact questions. A snippet is here.

If most Islamic scholars thought that the angel Gabriel dictated the Koran to Mohammed, should this be thought of as evidence for Islam? However, if many hundreds of their most able scholars deconverted during their studies, arguing that the Koran was a mere cultural production, should that make us think? Maybe we should wonder if the evidence in favour of Islam is not as good as we may have previously thought.

Jordan says that what really matters is the quality of the arguments. Before making his mind up about the Jesus Seminar being wrong because they are believed to be a minority opinion by fundamentalists, I repeat my quote of what happened to a previous Christian apologist, of much greater learning than Jordan, when he decided to eventually actually read carefully what the Jesus Seminar had to say:

"I was planning to be a professional apologist and was taking three courses [in] my fall quarter relating to biblical studies. I thought the best way to defeat the Jesus Seminar and the source critics of the Pentateuch was to know their arguments as well as they did. Ironically, I was won over to the historical-critical method. Given my background in comparative religions and my training as an apologist who liked to ask difficult questions, my view of the Bible and the religious communities that produced it quickly changed. More and more, I saw the Bible as a mere cultural production...I wanted my apologetic to have a firm historical angle. In effect, everything for which I had been working for the past decade came to a drastic halt when the historical-critical method poked holes too large for me to ever repair in my conservative brand of Christianity."

I hope Jordan's research is commensurate with his pronouncements on the validity of different scholars. It should be bourn in mind that many ex-Christians are well studied, and include fine scholars in their ranks, such as Don Cuppit and Michael Goulder. Since many have subsequently left Christianity and others still in the fold do not hold with the idea of a physical resurrection, Jordan really must ask himself why what is so obvious to him is not obvious to them too.

Also remember the asymmetry of conversion.

Here, from part 1, is a repetition of the lack of conservative consensus: (to skip, click here).

...the quest for the historical Jesus from such famous figures as David Friedrich Strauss, Albert Schweitzer, Rudolf Bultmann, etc. to Geza Vermes, E. P. Sanders, and the Jesus Seminar. This has produced many ex-Christians like Gerd Lüdermann and Michael Goulder and radical "non-realist" Christians such as those at the Sea of Faith. The theologians who take a very different approach to the one Jordan sees as the consensus are indeed legion....Lloyd Geering at How Did Jesus Become God - and Why writes: "There is general agreement, among all but conservative scholars, that the Easter faith began with visions in Galilee and not with the discovery of an empty tomb in Jerusalem." To quote the radical bishop John Shelby Spong "The defensiveness of the hierarchy [of the Church of England to the revelation that many bishops do not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus] revealed a startling unwillingness to share common-place biblical scholarship with a questioning public. Most biblical scholars regard the emptiness of the tomb to be an early Christian legend but they don't actually believe there ever was an identifiable tomb in which Jesus was buried in the first place." Also, as Anthony Freeman says "How is it, for example, that not a single professor of divinity in Cambridge is currently an ordained member of the Church of England? And how is it that the English clergy have so effectively insulated their congregations from the fruits of critical scholarship over the past hundred years? Is the reason perhaps that 'no priest dare admit officially to things which every first year theological undergraduate needs to know'?" The Internet Infidels have a similar article here.

More evidence that current scholarship rarely filters through to the Christian laity is the following from religious tolerence.org. "The beliefs of mainline Christian clergy and academics tend to be between those of the liberals and conservatives. A survey of mostly mainline Protestant clergy shows that many doubt Jesus' physical resurrection. Percentage of doubters are:

· · American Lutherans: 13%

· · Presbyterians: 30%

· · American Baptist: 33%

· · Episcopalians: 35%

· · Methodists: 51%

There is a massive gap between the beliefs of the clergy and laity in mainline and liberal churches. A recent survey of randomly selected Christians revealed that 96% believe the resurrection to have been an historical event." It would be interesting to see the results of a similar poll in the UK.

It should be of no surprise though that many biblical scholars hold conservative views, since most are funded (especially in the USA) by conservative, and even fundamentalist, Christian denominations. Usually people who wish to study theology do so because they are believing Christians. Even so, I know of theological colleges where there is a steady stream of people who leave their Christian faith due to their studies. Not only have I read about this, and seen such people discussed on TV documentaries, but I have also discussed this with the principal of one of these colleges, and I got to know the vice-principal who left because she came to the conclusion that Christianity was not of God.

Following the bishop of Durham Dr. David Jenkins' doubts aired on national TV, a poll was taken of the UK's 31 diocesan bishops. Two-thirds of them were of the opinion that it was not necessary to accept the divinity of Christ to be a Christian and one third denied a belief in the physical resurrection. Scholarship often breeds radical Christians (like the Sea of Faith movement) or atheists. Also bare in mind that one third of the Sea of Faith are replenished each year as people move on - how many scholars does that include? For every Jesus Seminar scholar there is a often an academic department of like minded colleagues not on the Seminar.

I have sections on the brilliant English scholar, professor of biblical studies and subsequent ex-Christian Michael Donald Goulder and the ex-Christian theologian Gerd Lüdemann. There are other deconversion stories from scholars here and book resources here.

To read Steve's entire post, click here.

Jordan Affirms New Testament Scholarship via Steve's Resurrection Part Two (Submitted August 2000)

e-mail: jordantheistDELETETHIS@bellsouth.net

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