Kegan Chandler joins me once again to talk about the history of theology.  If you haven’t yet heard his story, check out Interview 8: A Restorationist Finds the God of Jesus.  In this episode, I ask Chandler about his book, The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma.  If you are at all interested in the history of ideas that influenced what Christians in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries believed about Jesus, this show is for you.  Chandler address the how Plato’s Greek philosophy influenced Christian theologians as well as how the Gnostics not only anticipated much trinitarian language, but also how they influenced “orthodox” theology.  After exposing the pagan influnences on the development of the Trinity, Chandler goes on to offer a better way of reading the New Testament–through the lens of second temple Judaism.  Instead of reading later ideas into scripture, why not read it in light of the Hebrew bible and contemporary Jewish literature, like the Dead Sea scrolls.

Notes and Links:

Apologetics 9: Old Testament Transmission

What reasons do we have for believing the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) was reliable transmitted from antiquity to today? This lecture provides four arguments: (1) Jewish scribes were competent, (2) people memorized large portions of the text, (3) the consequences for false prophecy, and (4) the Dead Sea Scrolls function as a time capsule. The Old Testament is excellently preserved, especially in comparison to other ancient texts.

If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade.

Notes:

Introduction

OT Manuscript Tradition

Scribal Argument

Memorization argument

Kegan Chandler grew up as a bible-believing Christian in Texas.  His grandfather, Pat E. Harrell, was a leader within Church of Christ who founded their Restoration Quarterly publication.  As a result of his grandparents’ and parents’ passion for God, Chandler grew up in a family steeped in bible study and theological reflection.  One day the Mormon’s came knocking and Chandler, the consummate apologist and champion of orthodoxy, licked his lips at the chance to set them straight.  However, in the course of that conversation, one of the missionaries asked Chandler, “Well, who do you say that Jesus is?”  Strangely enough, this one question caught him off guard.  The young man wasn’t asking, “Who do your parents, your pastor, or your seminary say that Jesus is?” but “Who do you say that Jesus is?”  The intensely personal nature of this question started Chandler on a quest to firm up his orthodox answer, which eventually led to a complete reconsideration of his beliefs about God, Jesus, and the spirit.  Over the course of several years, he came to see the bible from a more Hebrew perspective.  After intense bible study and a thorough investigation into church history, he discovered the God of Jesus.  Here is his story.

Notes and Links:

Apologetics 8: More Evidence for the Resurrection

Because secular historians don’t accept the inspiration of the bible, they don’t trust the Gospels as reliable witnesses about Jesus. Consequently, they’ve come up with various “criteria of authenticity” to sift the sayings and deeds recorded in the Gospels into historical and mythical categories. Last time we saw how Jesus’ resurrection still passes with flying colors when employing such a skeptical approach. This time we’ll discuss another historical consideration under the able guidance of N. T. Wright. He enumerates seven mutations within Judaism that cry out for an explanation. In the end, history seems to have a hole in it about the size and shape of an actual resurrection. The most plausible explanation is that God really did intervene in the middle of history and perform a miracle.

If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade.

Notes:

Criteria secular historians use to determine authenticity:

Two indisputable facts about Jesus (according to Paula Fredriksen)

Jesus as apocalypticist (Ehrman, Fredriksen, Sanders, etc.)

N.T. Wright has articulated seven mutations from the Jewish understanding of resurrection in the early Christian communities which cry out for an explanation. It turns out that the explanation of the missing event which would make sense of these mutations takes the exact shape of a grave-emptying bodily resurrection. His seven mutations are as follows:

This election cycle American political discourse has sunk to a new low.  Rather than presenting facts and offering persuasive arguments based on policies, we’ve seen a whole slew of false claims and personal attacks.  The exchanges between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have been so caustic and shameful that when I discovered my ten year-old was watching one of the presidential debates with his mom, I immediately ushered him out of the room, muttering that such language and behavior was inappropriate for him to see.  (He had weaseled his way in to watch it on the excuse that he couldn’t sleep.)  What does it say about the way politics works itself out on national TV that I felt horrified that my son was exposed to such bickering and animosity among those who are vying for the highest and noblest governmental office in the land?

I could deal with all of this, but what I can’t handle is the fact that Christians don’t seem to carry themselves any differently than their worldly counterparts.  Social media channels and email boxes overflow with vitriol and exaggeration as each side shouts ever louder, trying to drown out the sound of the other.  In this episode of off script, we offer some suggestions on how to think and behave when engaging in political discourse as Christians.  We begin by discussing an episode of Ira Glass’ This American Life podcast episode “Seriously?” in which he addressed how misinformation and lies dominate political conversations.  Listen to the first 20 minutes to hear the part we discuss.  Also, we engaged with Justin Brierly’s Unbelievable? podcast episode “Should Christians vote for Trump?” where Republican John Zmirak and Democrat Christina Rees discuss what Christians should do.  For Zmirak’s “dead moose” comment, skip to 18 minutes.

Intro music: “Protofunk” by Kevin MacLeod.  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Apologetics 7: Evidence for the Resurrection

During this lecture, I played a video of William Lane Craig making a case for the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  What’s so brilliant about Craig’s approach is that he doesn’t assume the bible is true to make his case.  He treats the Gospels and Paul’s letters as normal historical sources and uses the standard historiography of skeptics and atheists to establish this ancient miracle.  He employs the minimal facts strategy, arguing that (1) the honorable burial, (2) the empty tomb, (3) the appearances, and (4) the resurrection belief are agreed to by critical scholars.  Thus, the hypothesis, “God raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead,” is the best historical explanation of facts.

If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade.

Notes:

Four Historical Facts Agreed upon by Most Historical Jesus Scholars

1. Honorable Burial: Jesus was buried by Joseph Arimethea in a known grave

2. Empty Tomb: On Sunday after the crucifixion women found the empty tomb

3. Appearances: on multiple occasions and under a variety of circumstances, individuals and groups of people experienced appearances of Jesus after his death

Halloween comes from the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain when the Celts believed the boundary between our world and the spirit world grew thin, allowing spirits, fairies, and disembodied souls to enter our realm. Consequently, they employed several strategies to appease and misdirect these nefarious ghosts from messing with them. However, in our secular age, most Americans who participate in Halloween neither believe in this ancient mythology nor are they even aware of it when they dress their children in costumes and ring doorbells for free candy. What’s a Christian to do? On one end, the purists refuse to participate and put signs on their doors alerting trick-or-treaters not to disturb them, and on the other, Christians decorate their lawns with grizzly scenes from horror movies and encourage their children to dress up as ghosts and monsters. Listen to this episode of Off-Script as we discuss this seasonal issue.

Apologetics 6: Historical Jesus

Have you ever heard of the Jesus mythicists? They teach that Jesus never existed, that he’s a myth. How would you go about debunking this claim? Are you aware of what historical sources mention Jesus and early Christianity? In this lecture you’ll learn what’s out there from biblical authors, historians, and hostile witnesses. The cumulative case for the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth is nothing short of staggering.

If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade.

Notes:

New Testament is not one witness. It was not originally published as a single volume.

Pre-Pauline Quotations

Paul (wrote between a.d. 51 and 62)

James (a.d. <62)

Peter (a.d. <62)

Jude (?)

Mark (a.d < 62)

Matthew (after Mark)

Luke (after Mark)

Hebrews (after 62 before 70)

John (

Flavius Josephus (a.d. 93)

Horror movies inspire fear, causing our hearts to beat faster and our adrenaline to flow.  Their monsters, murder, and jump scares have won them a dedicated following.  In this episode, we discuss whether Christians have any business watching horror movies.  We talk about where to draw the line and what exactly is problematic about this genre.  Furthermore, we talk about haunted houses and the idea of using such fear tactics to win people to the Lord.  Whether you love horror or hate it, this episode should help you to think through this issue from a biblical perspective.

Apologetics 5: Arguments for God (Part Two)

In this lecture, you’ll learn four more reasons for God’s existence, including the cosmological argument, moral argument, miracles argument, and the ontological argument. These are each quite different from each other, which is great because it increases their cumulative effect. Last of all, you’ll learn about “Pascal’s Wager,” which is really just an appeal to self-interest, so you can share your faith effectively with skeptics.

If you would like to take this class for credit, please contact the Atlanta Bible College so you can register and do the necessary work for a grade.

Notes:

First Cause (Cosmological Argument)

Here are all the possibilities for thinking about the beginning of the universe:

Three step argument

Two drawbacks to this argument

Who made God?

Argument from Morality

Some actions are morally wrong (like torturing children for the fun of it)

God Experiences