A Christian Response by Stephen J. Bedard
This is the final installment of my response to R.G. Price’s Case Against Historical Christ. I’m shocked that a person would come up with such weak reasons. By trying to provide too much evidence, he has actually weakened his case. The Catholics made purely theological arguments as to why Jesus Christ had to have existed … Read More “Did Early Christians Only Claim Jesus Existed in the Flesh for Theological Reasons?” »
While it is important to look to the New Testament to understand who Jesus was, it is also important to look at what Christians from the second to fourth centuries were saying. This does not mean that Church Fathers have the same authority as the New Testament, but it helps us to interpret the New … Read More “Did the Early Christians Have Conflicting Beliefs About Jesus?” »
Christians don’t just believe that Jesus existed, we believe that Jesus rose from the dead. That means an empty tomb. But is the empty tomb a later addition to the story? R.G. Price in his Case Against Historical Christ suggests so. There is no evidence of any knowledge of a tomb of Jesus (empty or … Read More “Did the Earliest Christians Believe in the Empty Tomb?” »
Having looked at non-Christians sources that “should” have mentioned Jesus, R.G. Price shifts to those non-Christian sources that do mention Jesus. Price, in his Case Against Historical Jesus, makes the common Mythicist claim that the evidence we have is not authentic. All of the non-Christian references to Jesus can be shown to have either been … Read More “Are the Non-Christian Witnesses to Jesus Christian Additions?” »
There are not many first century writers that we would expect would mention Jesus but Philo is one of them. The fact that Philo does not mention Jesus is part of R.G. Price’s Case Against Historical Jesus. Philo never wrote one thing about Jesus Philo of Alexandria lived during the whole life of Jesus plus … Read More “Why Does Philo Not Mention Jesus?” »
Moving from the New Testament documents, R.G. in his Case Against Historical Christ moves onto non-biblical writings, that according to him, should have mentioned Jesus if he existed. There is not one single writing from or about Jesus during his supposed lifetime According to Price, if Jesus existed, there are certain historians that should have … Read More “Why Did No One Write About Jesus During His Lifetime?” »
This is a continuation of my response to R.G. Price’s Case Against the Historical Christ. Like last time, we continue to look at Paul’s letters. Many statements in the letters of Paul only make sense if Paul does not view Jesus Christ as a historical person R.G. makes the claim that the letters of Paul … Read More “Do Paul’s Letters Make Sense With Jesus as a Historical Person?” »
The writings of the Apostle Paul (that likely predate the Gospels) are important witnesses to the historical Jesus (listen to this episode of my podcast). Mythicists, however, argue this is a weak point in the argument for Jesus. It is not surprising that R.G. Price addresses Paul in his Case Against Historical Christ. The earliest … Read More “Did Paul Say Anything About the Historical Jesus?” »
This is a continuation of a response to R.G. Price’s Case Against Historical Jesus. Now we get into comparisons with other historical sources. Sort of. The Gospels make many claims that are contradicted by the historical record According to R.G. Price, one of the reasons that we should not take the Gospels seriously as historical … Read More “Do the Gospels Contradict the Historical Record?” »
The crucifixion of Jesus is essential to the story of the historical Jesus. Most historians would say it is one of the few things that we know with absolute certainty. But R.G. Price disagrees in his Case Against Historical Christ. Jesus’ crucifixion on Passover defies historical believability, yet makes perfect sense metaphorically Most people(other than … Read More “Is the Crucifixion of Jesus Historically Plausible?” »
