Earlier post – “Cosmos to Cradle: From Pre-existent to Incarnate Christ.”
I. Contemporary Challenges to Christ’s Pre-existence
Several prominent scholars have recently challenged the orthodox doctrine of Christ’s divine pre-existence. This article provides a response to their challenge from the standpoint of historic Christian orthodoxy.
A. John Hick’s Mythological Interpretation
John Hick contends that the doctrine of the Incarnation is not a literal truth but a mythological construct developed by the early Church. In The Myth of God Incarnate, he writes:
I suggest that…the idea of divine incarnation is a mythological idea. And I am using the term ‘myth’ in the following sense: a myth is a story which is told but which is not literally true, or an idea or image which is applied to someone or something but which does not literally apply, but which invites a particular attitude in its hearers. Thus the truth of a myth is a kind of practical truth consisting in the appropriateness of the attitude to its object. That Jesus was God the Son incarnate is not literally true, since it has no literal meaning, but it is an application to Jesus of a mythical concept whose function is analogous to that of the notion of divine sonship ascribed in the ancient world to a king…it offers a way of declaring his significance to the world; and it expresses a disciple’s commitment to Jesus as his personal Lord. He is the one in following whom we have found ourselves in God’s presence and have found God’s meaning for our lives. He is our sufficient model of true humanity in a perfect relationship to God.1The Myth of God Incarnate (SCM, 1977), pp. 178-179.
For Hick, Jesus is not ontologically divine but is a uniquely God-conscious human being whose life invites existential commitment. The Incarnation, in this view, is a symbolic affirmation of Jesus’ exemplary humanity, not a metaphysical reality.
B. Bart Ehrman’s Developmental Theory
Bart Ehrman argues that belief in Jesus’ divinity and pre-existence was not held by His earliest followers but emerged gradually over time. In How Jesus Became God, he writes: Continue reading “Answering Contemporary Academic Challenges to Christ’s Divine Pre-existence”
Bart Ehrman’s Challenge to Evangelicals to Renew Studies on NT Introduction
Question: How did the apostles and early Christians come to believe in the deity of Christ?
Question: But critics like Elaine Pagels & Bart Ehrman argue that this traditional history of orthodoxy is skewed because it grants greater authority to the canonical gospels and ignores the other (gnostic ) gospels. Why do you think the canonical four gospels provide more accurate historical information about Jesus than the gnostic gospels?
Bart Ehrman’s primary mission in life is undeniable. It is to discredit Christianity and to deconvert Christians from their faith. Ehrman’s attack on Christianity has been effective because he claims to be speaking as an objective historian (which is debatable), in contrast to apologists and theologians defending their faith and because he is speaking as a lapse fundamentalist with insider-knowledge. Ehrman’s attack on Christianity is comprehensive, but I shall only highlight three of his favorite lines of attack on Christianity. 