Open series outline: Going for the jugular
- Intro post #1: Kickoff
- Intro post #2: Christ myth theory
- Intro post #3: Internet Infidels
- Habermas & Licona, Introduction, Post #1: Meet Gary
- Habermas & Licona, Introduction, Post #2: Meet Michael
- Habermas & Licona, Introduction, Post #3: They Saw Something
- Habermas & Licona, Part 1, Post #4: The Shockwave
- Habermas & Licona Part 1, Post #5: Saved From What?
- Habermas & Licona Part 1, Post #6: Jesus Claimed He Would Rise Again
- Habermas & Licona Part 1, Post #7: Why It's Going For The Jugular
- Habermas & Licona Part 1, Post #8: Washington Myth Theory
- Habermas & Licona Part 1, Post #9: History 101
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #10: Our First Minimal Fact!
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #11: Rumors Of The Bible's Obscurity Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #12: If Your Mother Tells You She Loves You, Check It Out
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #13: No, The Gospels Were Not Written Hundreds Of Years Later
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #14: Clement Of Rome
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #15: Polycarp
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #16: The Seal of Blood
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #17: The Seal of More Blood
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #18: Meet The Scholars
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #19: It was right under my nose
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #20: Oh, so my brother really IS God
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #21: My knees are shaking
- Habermas & Licona Part 2, Post #22: The Bible: It's not just for Christians anymore!
- Habermas & Licona Part 3, Post #23: Kicking the tires
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #24: All together now?
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #25: A red herring
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #26: Moses the friendly ghost
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #27: Consider the source
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #28: Parthian shots
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #29: We’re taking strange fire! Part 1
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #30: We’re taking strange fire! Part 2
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #31: We’re taking strange fire! Part 3
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #32: Suspicious Minds
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #33: Alien vs. Jesus
- Habermas & Licona Part 4, Post #34: A position statement disguised as an argument
- Into the woods...and the Way back home
- Yes, Jesus went there
.
Today we move on to Part 2. I already summarized the introduction to Part 2 here, so I’m going to dive right into the first chapter of Part 2, which is numbered as Chapter 3. The chapter is titled “A Quintet of Facts (4+1)” and is subtitled The First Two.
So, without further ado, here is the first minimal fact (refresher: “minimal facts” refer to facts that nearly all scholars agree on, and which are strongly supported by the evidence, and which collectively build a strong case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus):
Minimal Fact #1: Jesus died by crucifixion
As I mentioned previously, the very existence of Jesus is questioned by adherents of “Christ myth theory”; this quote from wikipedia should lay the question of Jesus’s existence and His crucifixion to rest:
Views that “the historical Jesus did not exist” are rejected as fringe theories by virtually all scholars of antiquity. In contrast, the mainstream scholarly consensus holds that Jesus was a historical figure who lived in 1st-century Roman Palestine, and that he was baptized and was crucified.
Wikipedia not enough for you? Enter Josephus, the Jewish historian (Habermas & Licona Page 48):
When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified…
Tacitus, the great Roman historian (Habermas & Licona Page 48):
Nero fastened the guilt [of the burning of Rome] and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.
In the same vein, they also quote Lucian of Samosata, Mara Bar-Serapion, the Talmud, and even John Dominic Crossan, described by Britannica as a revisionist Biblical scholar who believed that the divinity of Jesus “must be taken metaphorically.”
Yes, all four gospels record the crucifixion, but the extra-Biblical evidence seems definitive to me: Jesus was a real man who really was crucified. Christian, the historical evidence is on your side!
God willing, we will discuss this minimal fact next time: Jesus’s disciples believed that He rose and appeared to them. I can’t wait!
God bless,
TFOTF
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