The Form Critics Were Wrong Part 2: Podcast 109

The Form Critics Were Wrong Part 2: Podcast 109

The Form Critics from over 100 years ago have had a huge impact on how we look at the Bible today.  The question is, were they right.  My contention is that they were wrong on most points.  This week we finish looking at the mistakes they made and how it impacts their theories.    “Virtually every element in this construction has been questioned and rejected by some or even most scholars.  Many of these criticisms are rooted in the much better and fuller information that is now available about the way oral traditions operate in predominantly oral societies.”  Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 2006  page 246    “The works of our Savior were always present, for they were true: those who were healed, those who rose from the dead, those who were not only seen in the act of being healed or raised, but were also always present, not merely when the Savior was living on the earth, but also for a considerable time after his departure, so that some of them survived even to our own times.”  Eusebius quoting from Quadratus, Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., p. 4.3.2    “Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.  Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the source of the first evil, but even in Rome…Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty: then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.” Tacitus, The Annuals, 15.44    “I have asked them if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second and third time, with a warning of the punishment awaiting them.  If they persist, I order them to be led away for execution; for, whatever the nature of their admission, I am convinced that their stubbornness and unshakeable obstinacy ought not to go unpunished…They also declare that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this: they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternatively amongst themselves in honor of Christ as if to a God, and also to bind themselves by oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery…This made me decide it was all the more necessary to extract the truth by torture from two slave-women, whom they called deaconesses.  I found nothing but a degenerate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths.”   Pliny the Younger, The Letters, 10.96

The Form Critics Were Wrong Part 1: Podcast 108

The Form Critics from over 100 years ago have had a huge impact on how we look at the Bible today.  The question is, were they right.  My contention is that they were wrong on most points.  This week and next week we will look at the mistakes they made and how it impacts their theories.    “Virtually every element in this construction has been questioned and rejected by some or even most scholars.  Many of these criticisms are rooted in the much better and fuller information that is now available about the way oral traditions operate in predominantly oral societies.”  Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 2006  page 246

Who Were the Form Critics: Podcast 107

This week we introduce some of the basic ideas and methods of the form critics  who pioneered much of the skepticism we see directed at the Bible over 100 years ago.  Do their ideas still hold up today?    “The works of our Savior were always present, for they were true: those who were healed, those who rose from the dead, those who were not only seen in the act of being healed or raised, but were also always present, not merely when the Savior was living on the earth, but also for a considerable time after his departure, so that some of them survived even to our own times.”  Eusebius quoting from Quadratus, Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., p. 4.3.2   “It is a curious fact that nearly all the contentions of the early form critics have by now been convincingly refuted, but the general picture of the process of oral transmission that form critics pioneered still governs the way most New Testament scholars think.”  Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 2006

A Special Mother’s Day Blessing: Getting to Know God – Podcast 106

This week we look at the story of Hanna from 1st Samuel and look at how we should approach God when we have a desire on our hearts.  God loves you so much.  Your Heavenly Father is waiting for you!   1 Samuel 1:1-11,20 NKJV “Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. [2] And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. [3] This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there. [4] And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. [5] But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the LORD had closed her womb. [6] And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the LORD had closed her womb. [7] So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat. [8] Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?" [9] So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the LORD. [10] And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. [11] Then she made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head."….[20] So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, "Because I have asked for him from the LORD."      1 Samuel 2:18-21 NKJV  [21] And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the LORD.   Matthew 7:7-11 NKJV "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [8] For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. [9] Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? [10] Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? [11] If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!   Hebrews 4:14—17 NKJV 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

What Was Life Like 2,000 Years Ago: Podcast 105

This week we look at what life was like 2000 years ago and consider what impact that had when the story of the life of Jesus was committed to writing.