The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His Existence — John Shaqi
The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His ExistenceRemsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
Religion
The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His Existence
Remsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
Jesus Christ -- Historicity; Jesus Christ -- Rationalistic interpretations; Rationalism
The author of Second Thessalonians, whose epistle is a self-evident
forgery, declares First Thessalonians to be a forgery. Baur and the
Tubingen school reject both Epistles. Baur also rejects Philippians:
"The Epistles to the Colossians and to the Philippians ... are
spurious, and were written by the Catholic school near the end of the
second century, to heal the strife between the Jew and the Gentile
factions" (Paulus). Dr. Kuenen and the other Dutch critics admit that
Philippians and Philemon, as well as First Thessalonians, are doubtful.
That the Pastoral Epistles are forgeries is now conceded by all
critics. According to the German critics they belong to the second
century. Hebrews does not purport to be a Pauline document. Luther
says: "The Epistle to the Hebrews is not by St. Paul, nor, indeed,
by any apostle" (Standing Preface to Luther's N. T.).
Four Epistles--Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and
Galatians--while rejected by a few critics, are generally admitted
to be the genuine writings of Paul. These books were written, it is
claimed, about a quarter of a century after the death of Christ. They
are the only books of the New Testament whose authenticity can be
maintained.
Admitting the authenticity of these books, however, is not
admitting the historical existence of Christ and the divine origin of
Christianity. Paul was not a witness of the alleged events upon which
Christianity rests. He did not become a convert to Christianity until
many years after the death of Christ. He did not see Christ (save in
a vision); he did not listen to his teachings; he did not learn from
his disciples. "The Gospel which was preached of me is not after man,
for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it" (Gal. i,
11, 12). Paul accepted only to a very small extent the religion
of Christ's disciples. He professed to derive his knowledge from
supernatural sources--from trances and visions. Regarding the value of
such testimony the author of "Supernatural Religion" (p. 970) says:
"No one can deny, and medical and psychological annals prove, that
many men have been subject to visions and hallucinations which have
never been seriously attributed to supernatural causes. There is not
one single valid reason removing the ecstatic visions and trances of
the Apostle Paul from this class."
The corporeal existence of the Christ of the Evangelists receives
slight confirmation in the writings of Paul. His Christ was not the
incarnate Word of John, nor the demi-god of Matthew and Luke. Of the
immaculate conception of Jesus he knew nothing. To him Christ was the
son of God in a spiritual rather than in a physical sense. "His son
Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh; and declared to be the son of God with power, according
to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. i,
3, 4). "God sent forth his son, made of a woman [but not of a virgin],
made under the law" (Gal. iv, 4).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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