Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 5A: Various Points
Some of Hinman’s discussions about his five principles of historical investigation provide needed clarification of a principle, and some of his discussions fail to provide clarification of the relevant principle. But even when Hinman fails to clarify one of his general principles of historical investigation, he often makes some significant or interesting points. I will … Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 5A: Various Points
Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 5A: Five Principles
Joe Hinman’s fifth argument for the existence of Jesus is presented in three sections: 5A. Historical Methods 5B. Big Web of Historicity 5C. Jesus Myth Theory Cannot Account for the Web I will comment on, and raise objections to, points in each of these three sections, but this post will only cover part of the … Debate: External Evidence for Jesus – Part 5A: Five Principles
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 – 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
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
Did Jesus Exist? Ehrman’s Complete Failure – Part 5
Because my main objection to a key argument in Chapter 3 of Bart Ehrman’s book Did Jesus Exist? (hereafter: DJE) is a strong and decisive objection (i.e. Ehrman provided ZERO historical facts to support the main historical premise of a key argument), I have felt some concern that my identification or interpretation of the ABSIG argument (Agreements … Did Jesus Exist? Ehrman’s Complete Failure – Part 5
Did Jesus Exist? Ehrman’s Complete Failure – Part 3
The Independence of Passages vs. Books Among the seven “independent” Gospels to which Ehrman’s ABSIG (Agreements Between Seven Independent Gospels) refer are the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark. A “basic aspect” of the life or death of Jesus is the claim that Jesus was crucified by the Romans. There is agreement between Matthew … Did Jesus Exist? Ehrman’s Complete Failure – Part 3
Did Jesus Exist? Ehrman’s Complete Failure – Part 2
Existence vs. Basic Aspects/Attributes “Did Jesus exist?” – What does this question mean? Clarity is a gateway standard of critical thinking. If you are UNCLEAR about the meaning of a question, then your thinking about that question will also be unclear, and your thinking will probably not be very useful or productive or logical so long as you remain … Did Jesus Exist? Ehrman’s Complete Failure – Part 2
Did Jesus Exist? Ehrman’s Complete Failure – Part 1
I was recently asked to participate in a public discussion/debate about the question “Did Jesus Exist?”. I don’t plan to argue in favor of the mythicist position, just because I don’t think I would do it justice. I’m not a mythicist, and I have not studied any mythicists in recent years (I read some of … Did Jesus Exist? Ehrman’s Complete Failure – Part 1