Part 1
In chapter four, Norm continues his quest for the historical Jesus by looking at the miracles Jesus performed in the Gospels. There are four types of miracles that the Gospels write about: exorcisms (none in John), healings, raisings of the dead, and nature miracles (105). One nature miracle, feeding the crowds, is mentioned in all four Gospels with some similarities like Jesus has the people sit down, takes the food, give thanks, and has the apostles pass it out with plenty left over. Difference in the meal miracles is number of crowd and food for instance (119). Norm explores other parallels and divergence in other miracles as well like the walking on water miracle and exorcism miracles (126-127, 139-141). The Gospel writers take similar stories from the Old Testament and re-tell them with Jesus, in result, Norm questions their validity as fact and more fiction (117). Another point of concern is the idea brought up by his professor Guilder that the demons could have been today’s “psychological disorders” (131) but Norm seems to hold on to his faith background unconvinced to change his idea of Jesus the miracle worker.
Part 2
The phrase from Guilder, “yesterday’s demons are today’s psychological disorders”, got me thinking about the confusion by the Gospel writers with what was a medical condition like a seizure and the spiritual demon possession. If Jesus performed the say acts he did during the 1st century in the 21st century, would there have been as much following and mystery behind Jesus? Science has derailed some of the hypotheses of miracles, so perhaps Jesus did not have the magical touch just a better understanding of what we would call modern medicine. This is what Guilder would argue.
In chapter four, Norm continues his quest for the historical Jesus by looking at the miracles Jesus performed in the Gospels. There are four types of miracles that the Gospels write about: exorcisms (none in John), healings, raisings of the dead, and nature miracles (105). One nature miracle, feeding the crowds, is mentioned in all four Gospels with some similarities like Jesus has the people sit down, takes the food, give thanks, and has the apostles pass it out with plenty left over. Difference in the meal miracles is number of crowd and food for instance (119). Norm explores other parallels and divergence in other miracles as well like the walking on water miracle and exorcism miracles (126-127, 139-141). The Gospel writers take similar stories from the Old Testament and re-tell them with Jesus, in result, Norm questions their validity as fact and more fiction (117). Another point of concern is the idea brought up by his professor Guilder that the demons could have been today’s “psychological disorders” (131) but Norm seems to hold on to his faith background unconvinced to change his idea of Jesus the miracle worker.
Part 2
The phrase from Guilder, “yesterday’s demons are today’s psychological disorders”, got me thinking about the confusion by the Gospel writers with what was a medical condition like a seizure and the spiritual demon possession. If Jesus performed the say acts he did during the 1st century in the 21st century, would there have been as much following and mystery behind Jesus? Science has derailed some of the hypotheses of miracles, so perhaps Jesus did not have the magical touch just a better understanding of what we would call modern medicine. This is what Guilder would argue.
RSS Feed