Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus

254 Pages·1996·12.99 MB·English

by  Michael J. Wilkins

• Are the traditional answers to these questions still to be trusted?
• Did the early church and tradition "Christianize" Jesus?
• Was Christianity built on clever conceptions of the church,
or on the character and actions of an actual person?
These and similar questions have come under scrutiny by a forum of
biblical scholars called the Jesus Seminar. Their conclusions have been
widely publicized in magazines such as Time and Newsweek.
Jesus Under Fire challenges the methodology and findings of the
Jesus Seminar, which generally clash with the biblical records. It
examines the authenticity of the words, actions, miracles, and resurrec­
tion of Jesus, and presents compelling evidence for the traditional
biblical teachings.
Combining accessibility with scholarly depth, Jesus Under Fire helps
readers judge for themselves whether the Jesus of the Bible is the Jesus
of history, and whether the gospels' claim is valid that he is the only
way to God.
"The Jesus Seminar is the creation of a media-culture looking for
a story. This book refutes its conclusions point by point"
—Thomas C. Oden, Drew Theological School
MICHAEL J. WILKINS (Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary) is professor of
New Testament language and literature at Talbot School of Theology and the
author of several books.
J.P. MORELAND (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is professor of
philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and the author of several hooks.
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EAN Code ISBN 0-310-21139-5 UPC Code

JESUS UNDER FIRE
MICHAEL J. WILKINS
J. R MORELAND
GENERAL EDITORS
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ZondervanPublishmgHouse
Grand Rapids, Michigan
A Division o/HarperCollinsP«MîAerj
Jesus Under Fire
Copyright © 1995 by Michael J. Wilkins, J. P. Moreland, Craig Blomberg,
Darrell Bock, William Lane Craig, Craig A. Evans, Douglas Geivett, Gary
Habermas, Scot McKnight, and Edwin Yamauchi
Requests for information should be addressed to:
mm ZondervanPublishingHouse
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jesus under fire: modern scholarship reinvents the historical Jesus / edited by
Michael J. Wilkins and J. P. Moreland.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 0-310-21139-5 (softcover)
1. Jesus Christ—History of Doctrines. 2. Jesus Seminar. 3. Bible. N.T.
Gospels—Evidences, authority, etc. I. Wilkins, Michael J. II. Moreland,
James Porter, 1948-
BT198.J477 1994
232.9'08-dc20 94-42661
CIP
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy
Bible: New International Version^. NIV®. Copyright © 1973,1978,1984 by
International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing
House. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic,
mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations
in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Edited by Verlyn D. Verbrugge
Interior design by Joe Vriend
Printed in the United States of America
96 97 98 99 00 01 02/• DC/10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
CONTENTS
DEDICATION vi
PREFACE vii
CONTRIBUTIONS viii
ABBREVIATIONS ix
INTRODUCTION: THE FUROR SURROUNDING JESUS 1
MICHAEL J. WILKJNS AND J. P. MORELAND
1. WHERE DO WE START STUDYING JESDS? M
CRAIG L. BLOMBERG
I WHO IS JESDS? AN INTRODDCTION TO JESDS STDDIES 51
SCOTMCKNIGHT
3. THE WORDS OF JESDS IN THE GOSPELS: LIVE, JIVE,
OR MEMOREX? 73
DARRELL L. BOCK
4. WHAT DID JESDS Do? 101
CRAIG A. EVANS
5. DID JESDS PERFORM MIRACLES? 117
GARYR. HABERMAS
6. DID JESDS RISE FROM THE DEAD? HI
WILLIAM LANE CRAIG
I IS JESDS THE ONLY WAY? 177
R. DOUGLAS GEIVETT
8. JESDS ODTSIDE THE NEW TESTAMENT:
WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE? 207
EDWIN M. YAMAUCHI
CONCLUSION: WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN? 2 31
MICHAEL J. WILKINSANDJ. P. MORELAND
BIBLIOGRAPHY 233
INDEXES 237
We dedicate this volume to that large host of intellectuals
from the resurrection of Jesus to the present who,
with intellectual vigor and passion of heart,
have dedicated their lives and thought
to the Jesus of the New Testament and the faith of the apostles,
once for all delivered to the saints.
vi
PREFACE
S
pecial thanks go to a number of people who have helped make this book pos­
sible. First, we are grateful to the fellow authors of this volume for the spirit
and passion they brought to this project. When we initially contacted each
about contributing to the book, they indicated that they were already overtaxed
with research, writing, and teaching; yet they understood the significance of our
endeavor and immediately agreed to be a part of our team and to make their
chapter a priority.
Second, we are grateful to Roberta and Howard Ahmanson and the Field-
stead Foundation for a grant to Biola University that helped to make our edito­
rial work possible. May God richly bless them and other Christians who use
their resources to advance the kingdom of God.
We are also indebted to Zondervan Publishing House, specifically Stan
Gundry, Ed van der Maas, and Verlyn Verbrugge, who streamlined the process
in record time to get this book out into the hands of people who need to read it.
We also wish to thank our Dean, Dennis Dirks, along with the faculty and
students at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. Together they have
provided support for the book and an intellectually and spiritually rich environ­
ment in which to work. Our energy for this project came from many of them.
Finally, we want to thank our wives and children. Their love for us and their
joint commitment to the cause of Christ are our constant source of nourishment
and strength.
vii
CONTRIBUTORS
Craig L. Blomberg (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen), Associate Professor of
New Testament, Denver Seminary.
Darrell L. Bock (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen), Professor of New
Testament studies, Dallas Theological Seminary.
William Lane Craig (Ph.D., University of Birmingham, England; Th.D.,
University of Munich, Germany), Visiting Scholar, Emory University.
Craig A. Evans (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School), Professor of biblical
studies, Trinity Western University, Langley, British Columbia.
R. Douglas Geivett (Ph.D., University of Southern California), Associate
Professor of philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University.
Gary Habermas (Ph.D., Michigan State University; D.D., Emmanuel
College, Oxford), Distinguished Professor of apologetics and philosophy
and Chairman of philosophy and theology, Liberty University.
Scot McKnight (Ph.D., University of Nottingham), Associate Professor of
New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
J. P. Moreland (Ph.D., University of Southern California), Professor of phi­
losophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University.
Michael J. Wilkins (Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary), Dean of the
Faculty and Professor of New Testament language and literature, Talbot
School of Theology, Biola University.
Edwin Yamauchi (Ph.D., Brandeis University), Professor of history, Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio.
viii
ABBREVIATIONS
ABRL Anchor Bible Reference Library
AJT American Journal of Theology
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
BAR Biblical Archaeology Review
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BJRL Bulletin of the John Ry lands Library
BBR Bulletin of Biblical Research
BR Bible Review
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CTQ Concordia Theological Quarterly
CT Christianity Today
EvQ Evangelical Quarterly
HTKNT Herders theologischer Kommentar zum neuen Testament
HTR Harvard Theological Review
ISBE International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
JHS Journal of Historical Studies
JJS Journal of Jewish Studies
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JRH Journal of Roman History
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JSNTMS Journal for the Study of the New Testament Monograph Series
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
LCL Loeb Classical Library
NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament
NovT Novum Testamentum
NTS New Testament Studies
NTTS New Testament Tools and Studies
SBT Studies in Biblical Theology
SJT Scottish Journal of Theology
TrinJ Trinity Journal
TS Theological Studies
TynBid Tyndale Bulletin
TZ Theologische Zeitschrift
WTJ Westminster Theological Journal
ix