The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His Existence

Chapter 109: 97

Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

A skeptical, systematic critique argues that the Christ of the New Testament is a constructed myth rather than a reliably attested historical person. It assesses the silence of contemporary writers, the anonymous and late character of the gospels, and the contradictions within infancy narratives, ministry accounts, crucifixion, and resurrection reports. The author evaluates the moral portrait and teachings attributed to the figure and traces parallels with older pagan religions and divinities as possible sources of the myth. The conclusion asserts that supernatural claims lack sufficient historical support and that veneration rests on literary and theological fabrication rather than firm documentary evidence.

97

Where did the devil take him first, to the temple, or to the mountain?

Matthew: To the temple (iv, 5–8).

Luke: To the mountain (iv, 5–9).

Concerning this discrepancy, Farrar says: “The order of the temptation is given differently by St. Matthew and St. Luke, St. Matthew placing second the scene on the pinnacle of the temple, and St. Luke the vision of the kingdoms of the world. Both orders cannot be right” (Life of Christ, p. 70).

Some of the ablest Christian scholars have refused to accept the Temptation as historical. Farrar says: “From Origen down to Schleiermacher some have regarded it as a vision or allegory—the symbolic description of a purely inward struggle; and even so literal a commentator as Calvin has embraced this view” (Ibid, p. 65).