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

Chapter 582: 567

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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.

567

Did he not indulge in vituperation and abuse?

“Ye fools and blind” (Matthew xxiii, 17).

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites” (14).

“All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers” (John x, 8).

“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matthew xxiii, 33.)

Regarding these abusive epithets of Christ, Prof. Newman says: “The Jewish nation may well complain that they have been cruelly slandered by the gospels. The invectives have been burnt into the heart of Christendom, so that the innocent Jews, children of the dispersion, have felt in millennial misery—yes, and to this day feel—the deadly sting of these fierce and haughty utterances” (Jesus Christ, p. 25).