Arcadia University, Glenside, PA Dr. Robert C. Newman rcnewman@ibri.com
23 Feb 2006 Prof of New Testament, Biblical Theological Seminary
Web addresses as of 11/24/08 Director, Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute
Some Materials Relevant to the Question: "Who Is Jesus?"
PowerPoint Talks: These can be
viewed with a standard web
browser by going to the address listed and waiting for the talk to
download
(first panel is displayed). Then
advance using "page down," and go back using "page
up." Escape from talk using
"back" button on browser.
Sketches the historical evidence regarding the
author and
date of writing of each of the three so-called "synoptic" Gospels
– Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Also included is a brief sketch of some of the distinctive
features of
each.
Jesus: The Testimony of Prophecy and History
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/NewmanPpt/Jesus.ppt
The Jewish Scriptures we call the Old Testament point to a promised individual, traditionally called the Messiah, who is to come and rescue his people from oppression, bring in a Golden age, make Israel the chief nation, rule humanity with justice for all, and ensure that all may live safely on their own property and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Christians think he has already come and he is Jesus. Jews believe he hasn't come, but he will; he is certainly not Jesus! Secularists think the whole idea is wishful thinking. Who is right? We suggest that the evidence of biblical text and human history supports two propositions: (1) If the Messiah has come, he is Jesus. (2) The Messiah has come.
Evidence for the
Resurrection
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/NewmanPpt/EvidRes.ppt
The resurrection of Jesus is enormously important to the truth of Christianity, yet many have sought to substitute various non-supernatural alternatives for it. Here we look at the stolen body theory, the coma theory and the hallucination theory, and the various problems these views face. We then sketch the evidence from history and prophecy for a real, physical resurrection of Jesus.
Search for the
Historical
Jesus
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/NewmanPpt/SearchHistJesus.ppt
Why all the variety of opinions about the real Jesus? Many don't like the biblical Jesus. Others won't admit the occurrence of miracles. So they try to reconstruct Jesus from various hypothetical sources. But the historical evidence regarding Jesus is really quite good if one doesn't reject the miraculous in advance. We sketch evidence from early pagan and Jewish sources compared with the Gospels and the testimony of Paul. The earliest sources, though they disagree in their estimation of Jesus, agree on several items that moderns often wish to reject.
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/NewmanPpt/TheSynopProb.ppt
It is often claimed that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke are not independent witnesses to what happened in the career of Jesus of Nazareth, but are merely edited copies of material from the Gospel of Mark and another work we call Q which has not survived. We here examine the phenomena of the Gospels and suggest that another proposal better fits the internal and external data concerning the Gospels.
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/NewmanPpt/TheySawJesus.ppt
What did Jesus say to the two on the road to Emmaus that caused their hearts to burn with excitement? We look at some NT hints that point us to events in the experience of Abraham, David and Isaiah that point to Jesus.
The Passion of
the Christ or the
Da Vinci Code:
Which is Good History and How Do We Know? http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/NewmanPpt/ThePassiChr.ppt
These two recent popular works give a very different picture of the historical reliability of the NT Gospels and of the person of Jesus. Various lines of evidence are examined to give judgment on the historical reliability of the film and the mystery-thriller.
Mary Magdalene: History and Hype
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/NewmanPpt/MaryMagdalene.ppt
As a result of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci
Code, there has been considerable
interest recently in
Mary Magdalene. Was she really
married to Jesus? Did they have a
child who united the two royal houses of Israel? What
do we really know about Mary Magdalene? Here
we survey and evaluate our ancient
sources.
The Star of Bethlehem: What Was It?
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/NewmanPpt/StarBeth.ppt
Here we propose a hybrid view, featuring both natural and supernatural elements. This involves a very striking and rare conjunction of planets together with something like the pillar of fire in the wilderness.
Some Papers: These can be downloaded for free from the addresses noted.
The
Biblical Narratives of Easter Week: Are They Trustworthy? 1980.
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/RRs/RR001/01easter.htm
The positive side of a debate at Cornell
University (whole
debate is on cassette #IRN‑02).
Arguments against the miraculous examined; NT
documents
compared with other ancient histories; corroboration with pagan and
Jewish
authors.
The
Synoptic Problem: A Proposal for Handling Both Internal and External
Evidence. 1980, 1990.
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/RRs/RR002/02synop.htm
Matthew and Luke are often seen
as literarily dependent on Mark, though this requires rejecting early
tradition
regarding their origin. But how
can these traditions square with internal evidence on which the
dominant
two-document theory was built? A
synthesis is proposed.
The
New
Testament Model of the Messiah.
1981,
1988.
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/RRs/RR006/06ntmod.htm
Various attempts made in the centuries following
the Old
Testament to understand its prophecies regarding the coming Messiah B
by the rabbis, Qumran, the apocalyptic
literature and the New Testament B
are here compared with the Old Testament data to show the striking
superiority
of the NT model in fitting certain paradoxical features.
The
Time
of the Messiah. 1981, 1988.
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/RRs/RR009/09timeofmessiah.htm
Historical sources from the 1st two
centuries AD
indicate that the Messiah was expected to appear about that time in
fulfillment
of some OT prophecy, probably Daniel 9:24-27. By
taking the "weeks" of this prophecy to be the
OT seven-year land use cycle, the result points to Jesus as the
fulfillment of
this prophecy.
Synoptic
Harmonization: Some Principles from History and from the Book of Acts. 1987.
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/RRs/RR035/35harmon.htm
Problems reconciling parallel passages are often
raised
against the reliability of the Gospels in Scripture.
Here, principles derived from history, history writing, and
parallel passages in a single author suggest why and how we should
harmonize.
Jesus: the Testimony of Prophecy and History. 1990
http://www.newmanlib.ibri.org/RRs/RR039/39jesus.htm
Several Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah
are
examined. It is suggested that (1)
if the Messiah has come he is Jesus; (2) the Messiah has come.
Robert C. Newman is professor of New Testament at
Biblical
Theological Seminary and director of the Interdisciplinary Biblical
Research
Institute there. He has a BS in
physics from Duke University, a PhD in astrophysics from Cornell, an
MDiv from
Faith Theological Seminary, and an STM in OT from Biblical Theological
Seminary. He has done additional
graduate work in cosmic gas dynamics at the University of Wisconsin, in
biblical geography at Jerusalem University College, in religious
thought at the
University of Pennsylvania, and in biblical interpretation at
Westminster
Theological Seminary. He is author
or contributor to a number of books, including Genesis One and the
Origin of
the Earth (InterVarsity), Three
Views on Creation and Evolution
(Zondervan), The Evidence of Prophecy (IBRI), The Biblical
Firmament: Vault or Vapor?
(IBRI), Evidence for Faith
(Word/Probe), and What's Darwin Got to Do With It? (InterVarsity). He
has had over a hundred articles published in various
magazines and journals, as well as several articles in dictionaries and
encyclopedias, including "Rabbinic Parables," in Dictionary
of New Testament Background and "kokav" in the New International
Dictionary
of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis.