Sunday, September 18, 2011

Peter Kreeft on the Truth of the Gospels

"Here is a strong argument for the truth of the Gospels, for Christianity: Christ could not possibly be fictional, for if no one in the world even now, after 2,000 years of knowing Him, can write convincing fiction about Him, if no one can imagine ‘what would Jesus do’ in a convincing way, as they can imagine what Alexander or Buddha or Augustine or Lincoln or Churchill would do, then how could a few Jewish fisherman 2,000 years ago write such incredibly original, unprecedented creative fiction based on nothing? This character could not possibly have been invented because He still cannot be invented. He can only be real."

- Peter Kreeft
The Philosophy of Jesus, pp. 58-59
Posted by Brian at 7:30 AM
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4 comments :

Unknown said...

Simple argument, but very precise. Like it. Thumbs up.

Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 11:55:00 AM GMT+1
emmzee said...

I see where Kreeft is coming from, but it sounds almost like the Qur'an's attempted argument about its own authenticity (ie, "Present some other book of equal beauty" Surah 2:23 and 17:88) and I don't find that argument convincing ... this is one of those arguments that, even if it's sound, I don't find it cogent and imagine that most people wouldn't either ...

Anyway, Kreeft's writing has often been helpful to me (especially his Handbook of Christian Apologetics with Ronald K. Tacelli which I read as a new Christian) so I am thankful for his endeavors to defend the Christian faith, but sometimes IMHO he tries to be a bit too clever, as though he was trying to be the next C S Lewis.

Monday, September 19, 2011 at 1:44:00 AM GMT+1
ogunitracy said...

emmzee, I don't think Kreeft's claim is like that it all. He is not saying that there is no other book like the Bible in beauty like the muslims. He is arguing against the idea that Jesus was invented, not that scripture was invented. It would be like Muslims saying that Muhammad could never have been invented because till date, no one can accurately invent Muhammad (unnecessary since the existence of Muhammad is not disputed, anyway).

He is arguing for the existence of Jesus, not the authenticity of scripture while Muslims argue for the authenticity of their scripture, not the existence of their their prophet.

Monday, September 19, 2011 at 4:42:00 AM GMT+1
Brian said...

The other element to this is that those who quickly dismiss it must be encouraged to think a bit more deeply about it.

The book that it is from is all about Jesus and his uniqueness, with example after example of his brilliance as spelled out in the Gospels. Consideration of this argument from Kreeft cannot be properly considered without looking at the life of Jesus fairly.

Monday, September 19, 2011 at 7:42:00 PM GMT+1

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