[This is the final installment of a four-part series of articles written by Tom Tozer that reviews Bart Ehrman’s book Jesus Before the Gospels.] See also: Tom's review, Part 1 Tom's review, Part 2 Tom's review, Part 3 And now, here is Part 4. Chapter 7: The Kaleidoscopic Memories of Jesus: John, Thomas and a Range of Others. Ehrman starts out Chapter 7 by asserting that Mark was “a collective memory” and says that now we're going to talk about the “other collective memories.” However, he hasn't demonstrated that Mark is anything less than the account of an eyewitness. He doesn't believe it is, but he hasn't established that. So this is not a promising start. He asserts that the Gospel of John – or “the memories contained” in it – “differ radically from Mark.” On the surface, there is something to this. John is elaborately theological. Mark is more like a police report. If John is a Persian rug, Mark is a grocery list. And yet, at the core of these two Gospels, for 2,000 years, Christians have found the same Jesus. Oddly enough. Now why that might be Ehrman doesn't bother to ask. The purpose of this chapter for Ehrman is “to show that there was not one remembered image of Jesus among his early followers, but “a kaleidoscopically varied set of images.” But how can Ehrman include Marcion, the Gospels of Judas, Thomas and Theodotus as “remembered images of his early followers”? He doesn't demonstrate that any of these authors had any connection to a witness to Jesus' life. In fact, that lack of connection is exactly what kept these documents out of … [Read more...]
Tom Tozer reviews Bart Ehrman’s book Jesus Before the Gospels, Part 1
Author biography: Tom Tozer is a real estate attorney based in the Chicago area. He received his law degree from from Indiana University-Bloomington. His undergraduate and master's degrees were issued by the University of Chicago. Tom and his wife Lori and have three daughters. Publisher's Note: Occasionally I am given the opportunity to publish work that I cannot take credit for writing myself. Tom Tozer has produced an outstanding, very thorough review of Bart Ehrman's book Jesus Before the Gospels and graciously agreed to allow his efforts to be published here as well. From this point forward, the words you will be reading are Tom's, not mine. This is his review...many thanks, Tom! One thing should be made clear first. Christians who disagree with Ehrman should embrace – not reject – historical analysis of the faith's texts. Understanding the history of the texts is critical to understanding them. Even more, contrary to Ehrman's various claims, Cambridge historian Richard Bauckham and others before him have shown that there is plenty of reason to believe what the Church has long said about the historical sources of the Gospels and their authorship. At the end of the day, the historical analysis allows one to believe as the Church teaches on this issue. Another person may, based on their view of the evidence, disbelieve that teaching and instead indulge in speculation about other possibilities. This result shouldn't be any source of discomfort to Christians examining the issue. But the bottom line is, whatever the evidence is about who authored the … [Read more...]
Tom Tozer reviews Bart Ehrman’s book Jesus Before the Gospels, Part 2
[This is the second installment of a four-part series of articles written by Tom Tozer that reviews Bart Ehrman's book Jesus Before the Gospels.] See also: Tom's review, Part 1 Chapter 3 is about eyewitness testimony, and it's good that we're finally going to get to that. I couldn't resist a sneak peek though. In the first couple of pages Ehrman tells the story of a staged event to test eyewitness accuracy. A teacher was giving a lecture when two students stood up and started to argue, the teacher intervened, and a gun went off. Then the teacher explained it was all for show. Over the next few weeks, they had people write down what happened. There were errors. (So why the shock about discrepancies in the Gospels?) It's the von Liszt experiment which you can look up. I didn't find a description of what the people got right and what they got wrong, but I bet they all correctly described the basics, a fight, intervention, and a gunshot. Now why would that be and what kind of event in the Gospels might resemble that? Chapter 3 begins with the von Liszt experiment which I already mentioned. It doesn't get much better. Ehrman mentions some other “memory studies,” although I'm not entirely sure that's what they amount to. One, for instance, involved a plane crash into a building in the 1990s, before phone video and other ubiquitous handheld video was available. There was no film of the crash. Nevertheless, weeks after the crash, someone asked hundreds of people whether they had seen video of the plane crashing into the building. A significant percentage said yes. … [Read more...]
The philosophical argument for God
This post represents the other bookend to the effort I made to illustrate why waxing philosophical on the question as to whether or not God exists is an extraordinarily tricky problem to tackle, no matter what your personal opinions (atheist, theist, agnostic) on the subject might be. Especially simplistic arguments fail to reveal the true complexity of the argument as a whole. To illustrate the gravity and true scope of the problem, I recruited the smartest person I know, an honest-to-God scientist recognized worldwide in his specific field of expertise, for an unbiased and unvarnished evaluation of the science and logic used in my article, focused on my own argument for God in particular to expose any and every perceived weakness in my reasoning. What follows next is primarily my friend's analytical feedback and constructive criticisms of my argument through our subsequent correspondence, which I've converted into an article to further elaborate on what we started... No matter what you actually believe, your worldview will be at least partially based on faith, whether you are a scientist, an atheist, or someone like me. Even if that faith is limited to yourself -- you've put faith in something, but not in nothing. The scientist places his or her faith in the scientific method and personal skill set to discern between illusion and reality. The atheist trusts intellect and reason will ultimately lead to evidence that validates their lack of belief in a supernatural God, while the theist has faith that his or her intellect is surpassed by something far … [Read more...]
