Corpus-Paul

[Zeba Crook <zeba.crook AT utoronto.ca>]

D'oh!  There is an important word missing from this sentence.  It should read 
that it
does *not* lead logically to the conclusion. . . .  My apologies.

What I have most in mind, actually, is a different issue that I come across 
frequently,
namely the claim that if the resurrection did not actually happen, how do you 
explain
the fact that Christianity ever got started?  Well there are any number of 
ways to
explain it, and many ways that we probably haven't thought of, but just 
because none of
them is completely satisfactory does not mean that it must have happened.  It 
means
that we don't know.  Period.  I was, in my own head, drawing a logical 
analogy to our
present issue.  Just because a mythical Jesus makes it difficult to explain 
the
construction of Christian tradition does not mean he must have existed.  I'm 
not sure
any more that this is what you were saying, and my brain is sore these days, 
so I'll
leave it at that.

Cheers,

Zeb

***

Zeba Antonin Crook (Ph.D. Cand)
University of St. Michael's College
Faculty of Theology
81 St. Mary Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5S 1J4

(416) 964-8629
http://individual.utoronto.ca/zeba_crook

"David C. Hindley" wrote:

> Zeba Crook said:
>
> >>The fact that we can't explain such a profoundly complex phenomenon as the
> origins of Christian belief does lead logically to the conclusion that Jesus
> must have existed.<<
>
> I just re-read your post and think I misunderstood you (hence my bracketed
> word with question mark in the last post).
>
> Are you saying that the impossibility of explaining the complex phenomenon
> that underlay the development of early Christianity *logically leads* to the
> conclusion that Jesus *must* have existed as a historical person?
>
> Could you be a little more specific, perhaps providing a syllogism? I cannot
> follow this logic.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Dave Hindley
> Cleveland, Ohio, USA
>
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