Lunchtime talk for Leeds University Christian Union Mission Week

1. Legit? Was Jesus a magician?
LUUCU Mission Week

2. 0. Intro
Feedback forms.
Who is this speaker?

7. 1. Magicians
From Harry Potter to David Blaine.
Alchemy, witchcraft, science and illusion.

8. Magic

10. Alchemy

11. Science

12. Witchcraft

13. Illusion

14. 2. Presuppositions
Does science mean the cosmos is a closed system?
Rudolf Bultmann, David Hume, CS Lewis and Richard Feynman.
Two arguments for the inadequacy of ‘scientific’ Naturalism.

16. “It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to
avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries,
and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world
of spirits and miracles.”

18. “A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm
and unalterable experience has established these laws, the
proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact,
is as entire as any argument from experience as can be
imagined …”

20. “The question, "Do miracles occur?" and the question, "Is the
course of Nature absolutely uniform?" are the same question
asked in two different ways. Hume, by sleight of hand, treats
them as two different questions. He first answers, "Yes," to the
question whether Nature is absolutely uniform: and then uses
this "Yes" as a ground for answering, "No," to the question,
"Do miracles occur?" The single real question which he set
out to answer is never discussed at all. He gets the answer to
one form of the question by assuming the answer to the other
form of the same question.”

21. Definition: Scientific Naturalism
The idea that everything can be explained in terms of physical causes.

22. The Non-rationality of Naturalism
1. No belief is rationally inferred if it can be fully explained in terms of
non-rational causes.
2. If Naturalism is true, then everything can be explained in terms of
physical causes.
3. Therefore, all beliefs can be fully explained in terms of non-rational
causes.
4. Therefore, if Naturalism is true, then no belief is rationally inferred
(from 1 and 3) -- including Naturalism!
5. Therefore, there is not, and cannot be, good reason to accept
Naturalism.

24. “Incidentally, the fact that there are rules at all to be checked
is a kind of miracle; that it is possible to find a rule, like the
inverse square law of gravitation, is some sort of miracle. It is
not understood at all, but it leads to the possibility of
prediction…”

25. Orderliness Argument
1. If there is no God, there is no reason for the universe to
behave in an orderly and consistent manner.
2. The universe does behave consistently (otherwise science
would not be possible).
3. Therefore it is reasonable to believe there is a God
consistently “upholding all things by the word of His
power” Heb. 1:3

26. 3. Implications
What would it mean if Jesus was a doer of remarkable deeds?
If he’s not a liar or a lunatic—must he be the Lord?
The importance of his Jewish context: prophet, false prophet or YHWH incarnate.

27. Lunatic?

28. Liar?

29. (Which) Lord?

30. Prophet.

31. Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples
and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of
the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his
mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large
crowd from the town.13 When the Lord saw her, he had
compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he
came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.
And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” 15 The dead man sat
up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.16 Fear
seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying,
“A great prophet has risen among us!”
and “God has looked favorably on his people!”
Luke 7:11-17

32. False
Prophet?

33. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men… 5 And
when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are
forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their
hearts,7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can
forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus…said to them, “Why do
you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the
paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and
walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth
to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your
bed, and go home.”
Mark 2:1-12
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is
possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the
demons.”
Mark 3:22

34. YHWH Incarnate.

35. Quick Aside: On the Trinity

36. Quick Aside: On the Trinity
If God truly is love, how could God not be Trinity?
1. “Love seeks not its own” (1 Cor.13:5)
2. Since love is personal, it requires multiple persons.
3. Eternal love therefore requires multiple eternal persons.
4. Thus if God is love (1 Jn.4:16), God must be multiple
persons.

37. 4. Evidence
Preliminary Question: Transmission of Manuscripts.
Historical Testimony: Four Pairs of Criteria.
Completing the task: a Plausible & Preferable Alternative.

38. codexsinaiticus.org

40. Evaluating Biblical Historicity
To do this, scholars use various historical criteria:
• Extrabiblical Confirmation & Multiple Attestation
• Contextual Coherence & Distinctive Dissimilarity
• Unnecessary Detail & Unresolved Difficulties
• Embarrassment & Suffering

41. Extrabiblical Confirmation
&
Multiple Attestation

42. Extrabiblical Confirmation
• ‘Is it corroborated by historical sources that aren’t in the Bible?’
• First it’s worth pointing out that ‘the Bible’ isn’t one homogenous
source: the NT includes 27 different books by at least 9 writers
• Other ancient historians who refer to Christ:
• Josephus
• Tacitus
• Suetonius
• Pliny the Younger
• Rabbinic Talmud
• Mara bar Serapion

43. Josephus
About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one
ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought
surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept
the truth gladly... When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by
men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him
to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love
him did not give up their affection for him… And the tribe of
Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not
disappeared.

44. Rabbinic Talmud
On the eve of Passover Yeshu was hanged… before the
execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, "He is
going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and
enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in
his favour, let him come forward and plead on his behalf." But
since nothing was brought forward in his favour he was
hanged on the eve of the Passover!

45. Multiple Attestation
• If an event is independently attested to by multiple different
witnesses, that points to its authenticity.
• To properly do this historically requires trying to work out when and
where each gospel was written, and what access the writer had to
whatever other gospels had already been written. This means that to
try and get specific requires a lot of guess-work and speculative
conjecture.
• However, regardless of each specific detail, we should be able to
agree on a broad-brushstroke picture.

46. Attestation of Supernatural Deeds
• 7 exorcisms
(Mk.1/Lk.4; Mk.5/Lk.8/Mt.8; Mk.7/Mt.15; Mk.3/Lk.11/Mt. 12; Mk.9/Lk.9/Mt.17; Mt.9; Lk.13)
• 5 healings of paralysed/crippled limbs or bodies
(Mk.2/Lk.5/Mt.9; Mk.3/Mt. 9; Lk. 13; Lk. 14; Jn.5);
• 4 healings of blind men
(Mk.8; Mt. 9; Mk.10/Lk.18/Mt.20; Jn. 9)
• 2 healings of lepers:
an individual (Mk.1/Mt.8/Lk. 5) and a group of ten (Lk.17)
• 3 raisings of the dead (Mk. 5/Mt.9/Lk.8; Lk. 7; Jn. 11)
• plus other extraordinary events which resist simple classification

47. Contextual Coherence
&
Distinctive Dissimilarity

48. Contextual Coherence:
‘Does it make sense in context?’
Eg. ‘Is the sort of activity we see described in the gospels
comprehensible in the context of first-century Palestine?’
Eg. ‘Are the references to other historical figures/events corroborated:
Pontius Pilate Mk. 15, Caesar Augustus Luke 2:1 etc.
Eg. ‘In the context of first-century Judaism, was it possible that Jesus
was considered divine?’
Eg. ‘In the context of reality, are miracles even possible?’

49. Distinctive Dissimilarity
• Remember that the context of the authors of the gospels is a little
different from that of Jesus himself.
• ‘Dissimilarity’ from the writer’s context can point to authentic
testimony from the original context:
• Words have to be translated – eg. John 4:25
• Customs have to be explained – eg. Mark 7:3

50. Unnecessary Detail
&
Unresolved Difficulties

51. Unnecessary Detail & Unresolved Difficulties
• These both point to the authentic transmission of eyewitness
testimony without manipulation by a later gospel writer for
theological purposes.
• Unnecessary Detail:
• Eg. “153 fish” John 21:11;
“supposing him to be the gardener” John 20:14;
“He acted as if he were going further” Luke 24:28
• Unresolved Difficulties:
• Eg. ‘How many angels at the tomb?’; ‘Could Mary touch his feet or not?’; ‘Had
the sun risen?’; ‘He’s not a spirit but can walk through walls?’
• Often considered a problem for popular evangelical apologetics—but more
persuasive for the serious historian!

52. Embarrassment
&
Suffering

53. Criteria of Embarrassment & Suffering
• Criteria of Embarrassment: if early Christians were making this up,
they wouldn’t fabricate details that would reflect badly on them.
• But details are consistently included which on the surface do reflect badly:
• Eg. Jesus said to be demon-possessed Mark 3:22, John 8:48;
• Eg. Peter’s unfaithful denial Mark 14:66-72
• Criteria of Suffering: you wouldn’t suffer and die for something you
knew to be false.
• But eg. Paul (2 Cor. 11:23-27), Peter (2 Peter 1:14-15), etc.

54. What are the alternatives?
• A. ‘Jesus never existed’
• Then why were so many sources written by eyewitnesses so convinced of
their testimony they were willing to die for it?
• B. ‘Jesus didn’t do any miracles’
• Then how did he amass such a large following of people persuaded he did?
• C. ‘Jesus did do miracles—but he never claimed equality with God’
• Then why did he clash so dramatically with the religious leaders that they had
him sentenced to death for the time of blasphemy?

55. 5. Relevance
Why does this matter to me?
The power of the name of Jesus.
God will often meet our felt needs to show us our real needs.
An invitation to all in need. A stumbling block to all who won’t believe.

56. Enchantment

58. Any questions?
07580 117 541
@peter_prescott