Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 4
QUESTION 1: What is Hinman’s Central Claim about Josephus? There are two famous passages in a book by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus that appear to refer to Jesus. Joe Hinman wants to focus on the “brother passage”, the passage in Antiquities that mentions a person named “James” and refers to him as “the brother of Jesus … Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 4
Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Post on Part 4 Coming Soon
I have been working on understanding and evaluating Joe Hinman’s fourth argument for the existence of Jesus, and I believe my post on this subject will be ready to publish later this week. This argument is based on alleged references to Jesus found in a book by the Jewish historian Josephus, particularly the “brother passage”, … Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Post on Part 4 Coming Soon
Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 3
Question 1: What are Hinman’s Central Claims about Polycarp? As with his discussion about the external evidence of Papias, Hinman begins his discussion of Polycarp with some strong claims: III. Polycarp: Knew the Apostle John and studied with him. He speaks of where the apostle sat when they studied together. The first sentence is lacking a subject. But … Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 3
Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Post on Part #3 Coming Soon
I am working on Part 3 of this series of posts about external evidence for the existence of Jesus. Part 3 will focus on analysis and evaluation of Joe Hinman’s third argument for the existence of Jesus, which is based on historical claims about Polycarp. I have written the opening section of Part 3, and … Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Post on Part #3 Coming Soon
Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 2
======================== NOTE: This post is now complete, as of 11:25 pm pacific time on Saturday, July 2, 2016. ======================== The first sentence of Joe Hinman’s argument from the external evidence of Papias makes a very dubious claim: Papias was the student of the Apostle John. By this, Hinman means that Papias had personal, face-to-face conversations … Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 2
Debate: The External Evidence for Jesus – Part 1
Joe Hinman’s first argument for the existence of Jesus is based on references to Jesus in the Talmud: We know Jesus was in the Talmud and that is a fact admitted by Rabbis. Some references use his name (Yeshua) some use code words such as “such a one” or “Panthera”. The reason codes are used, … Debate: The External Evidence for Jesus – Part 1
The Debate about Jesus has Begun
The debate between me and Joe Hinman about the existence of Jesus has begun. We are focusing on just the external (non-biblical) evidence. Joe has published his positive case for the claim that: …the external (not in Bible) evidence is strong enough to warrant belief in Jesus’ historicity. Here is a link to Joe’s initial … The Debate about Jesus has Begun
What is Christianity? Part 16
In his book Naming the Elephant (hereafter: NTE), the Christian apologist James Sire raises various objections against his previous analysis of the concept of a “worldview” that he had presented in his earlier book The Universe Next Door (hereafter: TUND). I have reviewed three of Sire’s objections to his earlier cognitivist analysis of the concept of … What is Christianity? Part 16
Half of a Debate about the Existence of Jesus
Joe Hinman has requested that I debate him about the existence of Jesus, and I have agreed to do so. We will not, however, attempt to answer the BIG question: Did Jesus exist? But we will be arguing about a significant issue closely related to that question: Does the external evidence warrant the belief that … Half of a Debate about the Existence of Jesus
Did Jesus Exist? Paul Maier’s Complete Failure
Christian apologists often write CRAP, crap that is taken by sheeple in the pews to be POWERFUL ARGUMENTS. I suspect that Christian apologists often write crap precisely because they write for a generally ignorant and highly biased audience who will buy their books by the millions and show deference to the GREAT SCHOLARSHIP in the … Did Jesus Exist? Paul Maier’s Complete Failure