Two weeks after Peter Williams' debate with Bart Ehrman on Premier Christian Radio, the next ETC-blogger appears on the same radio show, yes, Unbelievable. The idea of this show is to invite a non-believer and a believer every week for a debate.
This week it is Michael Bird who debates James Crossley on topics like "Did Jesus believe he was God" and "Does the resurrection explain the origins of Christianity?" Bird and Crossley have debated these topics before, not least in their joint publication How Did Christianity Begin?: A Believer and Non-believer Examine the Evidence (SPCK).
Michael says on his blog Euangelion that "it was good fun" and "James was well behaved for the most part."
You can hear the first part of two here. Don't forget to tune in next week and listen to part two.
Tommy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. Evidently Bart and Peter were the warm up for the main event!
With respect to the debate regarding the question, "How did Christianity Begin?" its really too bad that neither Michael Bird nor James Crossley brought up the conundrum of the WORD. Its seems to me that they spent most of their conversation under the auspices of Johannine thought (i.e., the Flesh/History). Even so, I found it, therefore, all the more disappointing that neither Michael nor James felt compelled address the question, "What happened to the 11 Apostles?" What was their fate? After all, their absence in the historical equation is tied up with the beginnings of Christianity, isn't it? And, if neither scholar can answer this question, then surely all question regarding the WORD / Beginnings are held in suspension.
ReplyDeleteI want to go to the library and listen to this -- but I'm not sure I could stand another day of having that EMF song incessantly buzzing through my head like it did after the last time!
ReplyDeleteYours in Christ,
James Snapp, Jr.
P.S. If you run a Google search for "Caucasian Albanian," it is easy to find black and white pictures of the Aluan ("Caucasian Albanian") lectionary that was among the 1975 discoveries at St. Catherine's. Apparently Jost Gippert has been very busy with some very promising work!