My review of David Marshall's latest book Jesus Is No Myth: The Fingerprints of God on the Gospels. This review is also posted on Amazon and Goodreads.:
"MARSHALL TURNS THE JOINT EFFORT OF THE SKEPTICS ON ITS HEAD"
Overall this book is a very enjoyable read, as David's wit and way with
words keeps the book moving along—often leaving you with a smile or a chuckle. But this book is far more than entertainment. To be sure, there are times when the detailed analysis does indeed cause the book to lag a bit, but such tedious work is sometimes important when digging for gold. And there is indeed gold in them hills!
Jesus Is No Myth is an important book for several reasons:
(1) Dr. Marshall engages the arguments of some of modern culture's most popular skeptics as they attempt to mythicize Jesus and discredit the Gospels that relate Jesus' teaching, miracles, death and resurrection. Marshall specifically engages the views of Bart Ehrman, Richard Carrier, and Reza Aslan. He provides brief (chapter long) analyses of each and skillfully makes note of some fatal weaknesses. As these skeptical detractors of Jesus are having a significant impact on our society and misleading many to believe things that are just not so, this section meets a clamoring need.
(2) In the second section, Marshall lays out 30 criteria for analyzing the historicity of the Gospels (which will serve as preparation for a serious comparison with the parallels alleged by the likes of Carrier and Ehrman in the third section). Marshall makes good use of recent work by great scholars like N.T. Wright, Richard Bauckham, and Timothy and Lydia McGrew. But he also provides his own original and helpful criteria for analyzing the Gospels' historicity. So this section is important for two reasons: (a) Helpful criteria for analyzing the historicity of the Gospels found nowhere else (so far as I am aware—and I have spent a lot of time studying this very subject). And (b) the collection of a large set of criteria into one place, which makes for a robust and powerful cumulative argument.
(3) In the third section, Marshall uses the criteria that he has just discussed related to the Gospels to see if the parallels offered by the skeptics stand up to scrutiny. Marshall carefully analyzes Apollonius of Tyana (who is most commonly offered as a historical figure parallel to Jesus), looking at his general historicity in one chapter and specifically at his miracles in the next. Then Marshall spends two chapters comparing the Gospels to ancient Greek novels--as skeptics have alleged that this might be the genre of the Gospels rather than historical biography. In the fifth chapter in this section, he compares the Gospels to the hagiography that arose in the 2nd Century and later. And finally, Marshall looks closely at a novel suggestion that Bart Ehrman recently proposed as a parallel to Jesus: the 18th Century Hasidic rabbi, Baal Shem Tov. In all cases, the parallels are clearly shown to be comical comparisons to Jesus. Again, I am not aware of anyone else who has taken the time to do this important and timely work.
(4) But perhaps the most important contribution that this book makes is that Marshall takes the skeptics' joint effort to mythicize Jesus and turns it on its head. The skeptics' desperate attempts to show that there were many others like Jesus instead reveal that Jesus is indeed unique among all persons of history. As Marshall notes: “If after ransacking your house for weapons, you challenge a thief with a butter knife, that probably means no more potent hardware lies hidden in your closet” (p.204). No one else ever claimed divinity like Jesus and left a lasting legacy...because no one else ever taught like him, performed miracles like him, showed compassion to outcasts like him, fulfilled ancient prophecies like him, died like him and rose again like him in a way that was experienced publicly and is therefore historically verifiable—and by hundreds of witnesses willing to suffer and even die for their testimony to these things. There is nothing else like this in history.
So this book provides important resources not only to anyone confused by the skeptics' claims but to anyone seeking serious analysis of the credibility of the New Testament Gospels and a mountain top view from which to see how truly unique Jesus truly is.
All that being said, David's book, How Jesus Passes the Outsider Test is probably still my favorite. You'll want to read it, too.
NOTE: This book does need some editing. Due to a rush to get this printed before his speaking tour, there are a significant number of typos and grammatical errors, which on a few pages show up in droves. But don't let that relatively minor issue stop you from a read that will be well worth your time.
FULL DISCLOSURE: David sent me a copy of this book for review. And David and I have been friends on Facebook for several years and are part of the same large Facebook group (The CAA: Christian Apologetics Alliance), where we first met. And I once saw him in person for a few hours at one of his speaking engagements. But that does not at all discredit my review. On the contrary, it is David's wide range of learning and his original insights into important topics that have time after time drawn me into conversation with him—along with his brilliant sense of humor! :)
*"History is a Problem for Those Who Doubt Jesus Was Real" by Lenny Esposito
*"5 Questions to Ask Jesus Mythicists" by Stephen Bedard
*"Are The Gospels Based on Eyewitness Accounts?" My own forthcoming extensive article that surveys the mountain of evidence for the historical reliability of the four Gospels. Just the outline for this article has reached several pages. I will probably instead post it as a series of articles once my work on it is mostly complete (and eventually publish it as a book). I hope to accomplish this by the Spring of 2017 (but I still have a lot to do).
WEBSITES
*A Christian Response to Jesus Mythicism: I anticipate that Albert McIlhenny's budding site will soon be one of the best resources on the internet for this issue (if not already). The site includes videos and links to his series of 16 books on Jesus Mythicism.
*Did Abe Lincoln really exist? A Facebook page for alincolnists. ;)
BOOKS
*Albert McIlhenny's series of 16 books on Jesus mythicism.
*Jesus Is No Myth! by David Marshall. Highly recommended. Here is my review. Here are a couple of blurbs from two top scholars on the historicity of the Gospels: Dr. Craig Blomberg: “Support for the credibility of Christianity can be found here that is available nowhere else. A must read. ” Dr. Timothy McGrew: "Full of fresh insights, penetrating analysis, and dry wit -- the section on the Baal Shem Tov alone is worth the price of the book -- and some of the best material from the rich storehouse of the history of apologetics." This book responds to Bart Ehrman, Richard Carrier and Reza Aslan, and then builds a strong case for the historicity of the Biblical Gospels.
*Nash, Ronald. The Gospel and the Greeks: Did the New Testament Borrow from Pagan Thought?
*The Jesus Legend by Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd
*Shattering the Christ Myth by James Patrick Holding
*Unmasking the Pagan Christ by Stanley E. Porter and Stephen J. Bedard
Responses to Bart Ehrman
*Of course Bart Ehrman is not strictly speaking a Jesus mythicist and has even debated Richard Carrier on the subject. The reality is, however, that this is more of a smokescreen, as Ehrman believes that Jesus was a very different person than the Gospels tell us--so for all practical purposes, the Jesus of the Gospels is a myth, in Ehrman's view.
*Web Page: The Ehrman Project: Top scholars respond to Bart Ehrman on various issues
*Book: Jesus Is No Myth by David Marshall. This book responds to Bart Ehrman, Richard Carrier and Reza Aslan, and then builds a strong case for the historicity of the Biblical Gospels. (More Details above or at link.) David Marshall's October 2016 speaking tour on the book.
*Book: Truth in a Culture of Doubt by Andreas Kostenberger, Darrell Bock and Joshua Chatraw. Published by B&H Academic in 2014. Responds to the various skeptical arguments that Ehrman has put forward. Currently only $2.99 in Kindle format.
*Book: Truth Matters, also by Kostenberger, Bock and Chatraw. This book covers pretty much the same ground as the book above but is written for a popular audience. Currently only $3.82 in Kindle format.
*5-Part Essay: "An evangelical response to Bart Ehrman's Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet for the New Millennium" by Neil Shenvi
Responses to Richard Carrier
AUDIO/VIDEO
*William Lane Craig debates Richard Carrier: Includes a transcript of the Reasonable Faith podcasts about the debate and links to the audio. Video of the March 2009 debate (101 minutes).
*David Marshall debates Richard Carrier: August 2016 (108 minutes).
*Justin Bass debates Richard Carrier: March 2016 (3 hours 8 minutes).
*Mark Goodacre debates Richard Carrier with Justin Brierly on Unbelievable? podcast (80 minutes).
ARTICLES
*"The Jesus Myth? A Response to Richard Carrier" (3-part series) by Adam Tucker
*"Richard Carrier (Mythicist). A Full Rebuttal" by James Bishop
*David Marshall blog articles concerning Richard Carrier
BOOKS
*Jesus Is No Myth by David Marshall. This book responds to Bart Ehrman, Richard Carrier and Reza Aslan, and then builds a strong case for the historicity of the Biblical Gospels. (More Details above or at link.) David Marshall's October 2016 speaking tour on the book.
There are people who say that Jesus never existed. A couple of them even have Ph.D.'s (though they do not hold any kind of scholarly position). If that were true, then he certainly never died for our sins and he certainly never rose from the dead. If that were the case, Christianity would be meaningless.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14-20: "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead...."
But the reality is that Jesus most certainly did exist. More than that, he most certainly taught truths that have transformed the world, lived as an unsurpassed example of love and compassion, healed large numbers of people and performed all kinds of extraordinary miracles, cast out demons, lived a sinless life, fulfilled dozens of ancient prophecies, was crucified and rose from the dead three days later. And he chose apostles to speak for him and to be bear witness to all of this.
Since the beginning of the year, I have been working on an extensive blog page to present this evidence, which is currently a 34-point outline--a small book. I hope to be able to post an initial publication of it it in the next few weeks. The amount of evidence is staggering. Nothing could be more certain than the Jesus who is revealed in the New Testament.
And that is the reason that scholars who know and understand the evidence of history readily dismiss the wild notion that Jesus never existed. Thanks to Nick Peters of Deeper Waters Ministries for this list of quotes from scholars from 1922 to 2015 (plus a couple from my friend Jacob Franklin):
"There is, lastly, a group of writers who endeavour to prove that Jesus never lived—that the story of his life is made up by mingling myths of heathen gods, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, etc. No real scholar regards the work of these men seriously. They lack the most elementary knowledge of historical research. Some of them are eminent scholars in other subjects, such as Assyriology and mathematics, but their writings about the life of Jesus have no more claim to be regarded as historical than Alice in Wonderland or the Adventures of Baron Munchausen." - George Aaron Barton, Jesus of Nazareth: A Biography, Macmillan, (1922)
"An extreme view along these lines is one which denies even the historical existence of Jesus Christ—a view which, one must admit, has not managed to establish itself among the educated, outside a little circle of amateurs and cranks, or to rise above the dignity of the Baconian theory of Shakespeare." - Edwyn Robert Bevan, Hellenism And Christianity, 2nd ed., G. Allen and Unwin, (1930), p. 256
"Of course the doubt as to whether Jesus really existed is unfounded and not worth refutation. No sane person can doubt that Jesus stands as founder behind the historical movement whose first distinct stage is represented by the oldest Palestinian community." - Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus and the Word, Collins, (1958), p. 13
"A hundred and fifty years ago a fairly well respected scholar named Bruno Bauer maintained that the historical person Jesus never existed. Anyone who says that today—in the academic world at least—gets grouped with the skinheads who say there was no Holocaust and the scientific holdouts who want to believe the world is flat." - Mark Allan Powell, Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee, Westminster John Knox, (1998), p. 168
"The data we have are certainly adequate to confute the view that Jesus never lived, a view that no one holds in any case." - Charles E. Charleston, Prologue from Bruce Chilton & Craig A. Evans, eds., Studying the Historical Jesus: Evaluations of the State of Current Research, Brill, (1998), p. 3
"Most scholars regard the arguments for Jesus' non-existence as unworthy of any response—on a par with claims that the Jewish Holocaust never occurred or that the Apollo moon landing took place in a Hollywood studio." - Michael James McClymond, Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth, Eerdmans, (2004), p. 8, 23–24
"A phone call from the BBC’s flagship Today programme: would I go on air on Good Friday morning to debate with the authors of a new book, The Jesus Mysteries? The book claims (or so they told me) that everything in the Gospels reflects, because it was in fact borrowed from, much older pagan myths; that Jesus never existed; that the early church knew it was propagating a new version of an old myth, and that the developed church covered this up in the interests of its own power and control. The producer was friendly, and took my point when I said that this was like asking a professional astronomer to debate with the authors of a book claiming the moon was made of green cheese." - N. T. Wright, Jesus' Self Understanding, from Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall, Gerald O’Collins, eds., The Incarnation, Oxford University Press, (2004), p. 48
"...only the shallowest of intellects would dare to deny Jesus' existence. And yet this pathetic denial is still parroted by 'the village atheist,' bloggers on the Internet, or such organisations as the Freedom from Religion Foundation." - Paul L. Maier (distinguished professor of ancient history), Did Jesus Really Exist?, 4truth.net, 2007,
http://www.4truth.net/fourtruthpbjesus.aspx... (Accessed February 4th 2016)
"In the academic mind, there can be no more doubt whatsoever that Jesus existed than did Augustus and Tiberius, the emperors of his lifetime." - Carsten Peter Thiede, Jesus, Man or Myth?, Lion, (2005), p. 23
"I think the evidence is just so overwhelming that Jesus existed, that it's silly to talk about him not existing. I don't know anyone who is a responsible historian, who is actually trained in the historical method, or anybody who is a biblical scholar who does this for a living, who gives any credence at all to any of this." - Bart Ehrman, interview with David V. Barrett, The Gospel According to Bart, Fortean Times, (2007)
"The very logic that tells us there was no Jesus is the same logic that pleads that there was no Holocaust. On such logic, history is no longer possible. It is no surprise then that there is no New Testament scholar drawing pay from a post who doubts the existence of Jesus. I know not one. His birth, life, and death in first-century Palestine have never been subject to serious question and, in all likelihood, never will be among those who are experts in the field. The existence of Jesus is a given." - Nicholas Perrin, Lost in Transmission?: What We Can Know About the Words of Jesus, Thomas Nelson, (2007), p. 32
"Frankly, I know of no ancient historian or biblical historian who would have a twinge of doubt about the existence of a Jesus Christ - the documentary evidence is simply overwhelming." - Graeme Clarke, quoted by John Dickson in Facts and friction of Easter, The Sydney Morning Herald, (2008)
"To describe Jesus' non-existence as 'not widely supported' is an understatement. It would be akin to me saying, "It is possible to mount a serious, though not widely supported, scientific case that the 1969 lunar landing never happened." There are fringe conspiracy theorists who believe such things - but no expert does. Likewise with the Jesus question: his non-existence is not regarded even as a possibility in historical scholarship. Dismissing him from the ancient record would amount to a wholesale abandonment of the historical method." - John Dickson, Jesus: A Short Life, Lion, (2008), p. 22-23
“I should say at the outset that none of this [mythicist] literature is written by scholars trained in New Testament or early Christian studies teaching at the major, or even the minor, accredited theological seminaries, divinity schools, universities, or colleges of North America or Europe (or anywhere else in the world). Of the thousands of scholars of early Christianity who teach at such schools, none of them, to my knowledge, has any doubt that Jesus existed.” - Bart D. Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument For Jesus of Nazareth, Harper Collins, (2012), p. 2
“…the whole idea that Jesus of Nazareth did not exist as a historical figure is verifiably false. Moreover, it has not been produced by anyone or anything with any reasonable relationship to critical scholarship. It belongs in the fantasy lives of people who used to be fundamentalist Christians. They did not believe in critical scholarship then, and they do not do so now. I cannot find any evidence that any of them have adequate professional qualifications.” - Maurice Casey (atheist), Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths?, T&T Clark, (2014), p. 243
"No serious historian, of any religious or nonreligious stripe, doubts that Jesus of Nazareth really lived in the first century and was executed under the authority of Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea and Samaria. -- Jesus and the Remains of His Day, Craig Evans (2015), p. 147
Recommended Reading
*Jesus Is No Myth by David Marshall
Still looking?....
*Check out my blog article: "Jesus' Historicity: Resources for Study."
