Some lies just won’t die, like the idea that the ancient Israelites got their monotheism via Zoroastrian influence. If there was any such influence, it was the other way around. That idea gets used as part of a secular account of the origins of the Bible, and all that junk bugs me.
Probably the irritation has to do with seeing it foisted unwittingly on kids at an allegedly conservative Christian university. Conservative objections to such ideas went unmentioned, dismissed by professors along with flat-earthery I suppose. And that’s not where ended! That kind of thought was so rampant that their Easter play intentionally skipped the resurrection. I realize that maybe not every reader of this is Christian, but that kind of thing is gravely wrong for a school that publicly claims to be Christian.
*takes a deep breath*
Anyway, another lie that won’t die has more to do with gossip and slander. Those lies can be devastating.
The author of my current read (Systematic Philosophical Theology) is occasionally accused of believing and advocating the Apollinarian idea that Jesus did not have a complete human nature. In fact, said author does not believe that, but it’s worth saying first that the furthering of such a false accusation without due diligence is wrong and leads others into the same mistake. Pastors should not be guilty of such things. Also, there’s something concerning about how the lie got spread so broadly when few of its carriers even know what Apollinarianism is.
That said, some confusion is understandable since the view William Lane Craig did propose (as a possibility) is called Neo-Apollinarianism. But Craig is quite explicit about what it entails:
“What I argue in my Neo-Apollinarian proposal is that the Logos brought to the human body just those properties which would make it a complete human nature – things like rationality, self-consciousness, freedom of the will, and so forth. Christ already possessed those in his divine nature, and it is in virtue of those that we are created in the image of God. So when he brought those properties to the animal body – the human body – it completes it and makes it a human nature. Against Apollinarius, I want to say that Christ did have a complete human nature. He was truly God and truly man. Therefore his death on our behalf as our representative before God was efficacious.” (Does Dr. Craig Have an Orthodox Christology?, ReasonableFaith.org)
Anyway, none of that stuff has come up in my reading thus far. Christology will be in a later volume. But Pascal’s Wager came up today! And that was a LOT of fun. Get the book yourself or save yourself some money and wait until the price goes down. I’ll try to hold ya over with some good responses in my eletter.
Penjammin grew up in a labyrinthine cavern. Later he ran with the wolves and lived every moment marinated in the sweet scent of his game, until pirates landed and… (see “About”). Get his eletter at penjams.com/subscribe.