Memoirs of a Board Gamer

In my blog entry for Letter to a Christian Nation, I requested information about sites and/or books that provide a recognizably scientific approach to religion but with a religious bias rather than an atheist bias. I did receive a few links but they were from the atheist side of the fence. One link in particular provided information about the historicity of Jesus. Again, since this was coming from the atheist side of the fence, the lack of clear historical evidence provides the conclusion that Jesus most likely did not exist. I felt the author was using circular logic at times attempting to prove a negative due to lack of justifiable historical information. I found the data interesting but didn't buy the information lock, stock, and barrel. I am, however, convinced that little if any historically accurate information exists concerning the life of Jesus but there is still a non-zero possibility that he did exist. So for me, the jury is still out.

Keep in mind, I'm not exploring the divinity of Jesus, his relationship to God, or the right or wrongness of his belief structure. At this point, I'm interested in "just the facts ma'am"; the historically accurate facts of his life and how his life affected the roots of Christianity.

The article did, however, tickle my interest concerning the historicity of Jesus and so I went digging for a site that I felt presented a coherent, scientific, analysis of the existence of Jesus and his teachings. In doing so, I found this site which published the text from The Historicity of Jesus - A Criticism of the Contention that Jesus Never Lived, a Statement of the Evidence for His Existence, an Estimate of His Relation to Christianity by Shirley Jackson Case of the Department of New Testament Literature and Interpretation in the University of Chicago (Published 1912).

In her book, Ms. Case presents a religiously biased opinion of the existence of Jesus but in a scientific manner I found refreshing. Ms. Case exposes the difficulty of proving the existence of Jesus given the lack of provable historical literature and texts (religious and non-religious) but concludes that Jesus probably existed. The case for his existence is coherently described and very plausible. Again, the mere existence of Jesus has little to do with answering deeper questions concerning his divinity and the existence of God. Jesus may well have been a man like any other man living his life according to the belief structures he formulated while steeped in the environment of 1st century religious life. Or, he may have been divine. Take your pick.

So far, I've read chapters 1, 8 and 9 (The Historical Jesus of "Liberal" Theology, Extra-Biblical Evidence for Jesus' Existence, and Jesus the Historical Founder of Christianity) and have found all of them fascinating.

I recommend that you read this book regardless of your [non]religious background.