Frankly speaking, I hadn’t planned to entertain this topic at until Jass Singh convinced me. He felt at a disadvantage with his article posted in the November 2006 issue because his article sidestepped his sequence of presentation of the “facts” by jumping directly into the subject of Jesus Christ. Well, now, Jass Singh has the opportunity to tell us about the historicity of New Testament, a topic that supposedly should have been addressed before our last discussion on the savior.
History is vitally important. Modern historical sciences and the related subjects have progressed to a position where we can utilize our investigative scientific tools to penetrate the past, analyze the literature, and thereby discern the truth. Bible in general and the New Testament in particular has been under the microscope for more than 150 years. Since then we have come a long way in understanding these ancient documents. Scholars with varied specialties have utilized their skills to unearth the inner recesses of the Bible. Today, we will be visiting at least some of those scholars, and their conclusions might enlighten you.
Welcome to another round of the debate. You will read the views of our distinguished guests, each covering the subject matter from a different perspective. Like before, I have invited various participants to pitch in their opinions including those who believe in the Bible.
1. Jass Singh published his first article in November 2006 issue of the SikhSpectrum. He speaks the voice of an apologist. For us he has an advantage over the world famous group of apologists. Rather than reading their vast apologist literature, Jass Singh’s article can provide us a summary of the current thinking prevalent among some high-ranking apologists.
2. Patrick Zukeran is an associate speaker for Probe Ministries, based in Richardson, Texas. He has a BA in Religion from Point Loma Nazarene University, and a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Currently, he is a doctoral student at Southern Evangelical Seminary. Patrick is an author, radio talk show host, and a national and international speaker on apologetics, cults, world religions, Bible, theology, and current issues. His radio talk show "Evidence and Answers" airs weekly on KWORD 100.7FM in Dallas, Texas. This author addresses New Testament’s archeological assessment as well as the Shroud of Turin. Important that these topics are, we will address them at another time in the future.
3. Kerry Temple is the editor of Notre Dame Magazine, a quarterly publication of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. With Temple’s permission, I am reproducing this superb article titled, What Do Men Say That I Am?: An Appraisal. Although his article was published in summer 1990, I find it relevant and appropriate to our debate topic. Amazingly, the Roman Catholic biblical scholarship has come a long way and in some ways it approximates the biblical scholarship rendered by those secular scholars outside of the Church.
4. Robert Beckford is an academic theologian at the University of Birmingham in UK. In addition, he is a writer and filmmaker. He has published four books in the field of theology and culture, and made documentaries for television and BBC radio. Himself raised throughout his life in the church, and to his great credit, he pursued an exhaustive investigative journey looking for answers: Who Wrote the Bible? His findings are in a video movie and I highly recommend the reader to carefully watch, listen and evaluate the contents of this movie. Even though, Dr. Beckford investigates the whole Bible, the section dealing with the New Testament is quite illuminating. Just click at the URL: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2061773048178434620&q=who+wrote+the+bible&hl=en
5. Brian Flemming is an American film director and playwright. In 2005, Flemming released his documentary The God Who Wasn’t There. Through interviews with biblical and folklore scholars, Flemming investigates the evidence for the existence of Jesus, concluding that it's highly improbable he ever lived. This is a remarkable DVD movie, and coming from a person who was once himself a fundamentalist Christian. For more details, check this website, http://www.thegodmovie.com/dvd.php
Although the very nature of historical inquiry precludes proof that entails its conclusions with the logical certainty of mathematical reasoning, it is capable of establishing a high statistical probability of the historical reliability of the New Testament. As with scientific or historical research, the biblical scholar is engaged in hypothesis verification.
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There is an ongoing debate among scholars regarding the historical accuracy of the Bible. Some feel that the Bible is a fictitious work and should be read as a work of literary fiction. Others feel it is an accurate historical work divinely inspired by God. Archaeology has played a major role in determining the trustworthiness of the Bible.
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So here I was, about to embark on a search for the historical Jesus, to discover who was the man called the Messiah, the Son of God, second person of the Holy Trinity. Who was he really? And as I began to wind my way back through 20 centuries of accumulated knowledge, trying to distinguish between fact and fiction, trying to peel away the layers of embellishment, I realized I was running counter to much of what had been ingrained in me.
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Is New Testament historic? Unquestionably the answer is, yes. On simplistic terms, any ancient document can be attested as “historic” because someone wrote it once at a time in the past. Therefore the question, “Is New Testament historic?” is inappropriate for our ongoing debate. We need to ask: Is New Testament valid? Is it reliable? And so forth.
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