CADRE Comments

Really? There weren't any actual new goofy theories to trot out this year for disparaging Easter, so they had to settle for this? "They", this year, are Hal Taussig (a Visiting Professor at the Union Theological Seminary and a founding member of the now defunct Jesus Seminar) and a group of liberal/sceptical scholars and "religious leaders" (some of them nominally Christian, others vaguely or just outright not, many of whom are JSem alumni), who have decided that the only way to cash in on controversy this year is to propose and release A New New Testament . Never let it be said that I haven't done my part to market them now! I fraternally anticipate questions. Let the FAQ commence.

The Christian Cadre is pleased to present, in two parts, an interview with Christian apologist David Marshall, who has released two books this year (through Harvest Home publishers); one on the topic of the promotion of alternate Gospel texts, and one on the topic of the New Atheism. David was a missionary, a teacher, and a student of comparative religion in East Asia for 13 years, during which time he also did what he could to help prostitutes sold into slavery in Taiwan. After teaching at Siebold University in Japan, he moved to the United States to start Kuai Mu Institute. He now lives in Seattle with his wife and children; but travels around the United States, the Pacific Rim and (during this October) the United Kingdom on research trips and speaking engagements. His first three books were: • True Son of Heaven: How Jesus Fulfills the Chinese Culture (1996, revised 2002) • Jesus and the Religions of Man (2000) and • Why the Jesus Seminar Can’t Find Jesus, and Grandma Marshall Cou...

This post represents the fourth in a series of responses to an article entitled Biblical authority reveals little-known facts about Jesus which is available through the online edition of the Wilmington Star . The first can be found here , the second can be found here , and the third can be found here . The article features nine little-known facts about Jesus as revealed by John Dominic Crossan, one of the founding members and best known stars of the Jesus Seminar . As will be seen, several of the "facts" when taken at face-value are, in fact, true about Jesus or Christianity. However, many of Dr. Crossan’s quotes following the facts show that Dr. Crossan doesn’t quite have a firm grasp on why they are true. Fact 7. Jesus was not traveling to Jerusalem to provoke the Romans. Again, I find I am in complete agreement with the phrase used by Crossan. Sure, I agree wholeheartedly that Jesus' purpose in traveling to Jerusalem wasn't to provoke the Romans. The Bible doesn...

This post represents the third in a series of responses to an article entitled Biblical authority reveals little-known facts about Jesus which is available through the online edition of the Wilmington Star . The first can be found here and the second can be found here . The article features nine little-known facts about Jesus as revealed by John Dominic Crossan, one of the founding members and best known stars of the Jesus Seminar . As will be seen, several of the "facts" when taken at face-value are, in fact, true about Jesus or Christianity. However, many of Dr. Crossan’s quotes following the facts show that Dr. Crossan doesn’t quite have a firm grasp on why they are true. Fact 5. The kingdom of God is about the here and now. Once again, I find myself nodding in agreement with what Crossan says because, taken at face value, it is certainly true that the kingdom of God is about the "here and now" provided it is understood that it is not exclusively about the her...

This post represents the second in a series of responses to an article entitled Biblical authority reveals little-known facts about Jesus which is available through the online edition of the Wilmington Star . The first can be found here . The article features nine little-known facts about Jesus as revealed by John Dominic Crossan, one of the founding members and best known stars of the Jesus Seminar . As will be seen, several of the "facts" when taken at face-value are, in fact, true about Jesus or Christianity. However, many of Dr. Crossan’s quotes following the facts show that Dr. Crossan doesn’t quite have a firm grasp on why they are true. Fact 4. John the Baptist was more important to Jesus than just as his baptizer. This is obviously true, but not for the reason that Crossan states. First, John the Baptist (or "John the Baptizer" as he is called by people who want to avoid suggesting that John the Baptist had a denominational affiliation with the Baptist Chu...

Who knows more about the history of Jesus Christ than John Dominic Crossan? So begins an article entitled Biblical authority reveals little-known facts about Jesus which is available through the online edition of the Wilmington Star . Personally, I think that the quick answer to her question would be that anyone who understands that the miracles described in the Bible are the result of God's miraculous intervention into our human world and not the result of the early Christians making up stories about Jesus knows more about Jesus than John Dominic Crossan. Crossan, who is one of the founding members and best known stars of the Jesus Seminar (a group who I personally find to be bent upon the destruction of Biblical Christianity while pretending to be Christian), is one of my least favorite expositors of the Bible because of his faulty assumptions (many of which are spelled out in articles that are linked to the CADRE Jesus Seminar page ). Despite the fact that the interview was wit...

Introductory note from Jason Pratt: see here for the previous entry; and see here for the first entry of the series. (It explains what I'm doing, and how, and contains the Johannine prologue.) I originally posted this entry and all subsequent ones, from Lent to just after Easter of 2007. My original rationale for choosing to begin posting these entries to the Cadre Journal, has been moved to a comment below, for archiving purposes. The Resolution of the King Now some people are coming into Bethsaida (says the Follower, meaning Bethsaida-Julias on the northern side of Galilee lake--Jesus is going back for a while to where the His opponents among the Jewish religious authorities wouldn't be normally following.) And they are bringing to Him a blind man, pleading that He should be touching him. Now taking hold of the blind man's hand, He brings him out of the village; and, spitting into his eyes, placing hands on him, He asked him, "Are you seeing anything?" But loo...