[Rezension von: Gant, Peter Robert, 1938-, Seeing light : A Enquiry into the Origins of Resurrection Faith]
This book was written with the intention to ‘establish a platform of understanding upon which Christians and sceptics can engage in constructive dialogue’ (p. 288). However, it is plagued by problematic statements from cover to cover. The back cover states ‘Christians assert that God raised Jesus fr...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2020
|
| In: |
The journal of theological studies
Year: 2020, Volume: 71, Issue: 2, Pages: 989-991 |
| Review of: | Seeing light (Durham : Sacristy Press, 2019) (Loke, Andrew Ter Ern)
Seeing Light (Durham : Sacristy Press, 2019) (Loke, Andrew Ter Ern) |
| Further subjects: | B
Book review
|
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This book was written with the intention to ‘establish a platform of understanding upon which Christians and sceptics can engage in constructive dialogue’ (p. 288). However, it is plagued by problematic statements from cover to cover. The back cover states ‘Christians assert that God raised Jesus from the dead, but no one outside the Christian faith-community takes them seriously.’ Seriously? What about those who have converted to Christianity after examining the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, such as the eminent Buddhist philosopher Paul Williams who states, ‘It does not seem to me that any other religion or spiritual teaching has anything so dramatic or convincing as the resurrection from the dead—a resurrection that still seems plausible two thousand years later—to support its claims’ (The Unexpected Way, pp. 134-5)? The foreword by Robert Morgan states, ‘With a first degree in physics, Gant takes modern scientific views of the world for granted and does not expect to find divine interventions disturbing the course of nature’ (p. iv). But what about those PhDs in physics such as MIT professor Ian Hutchinson (another former non-Christian) who came to believe Jesus’ resurrection on evidential grounds (see his book Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles)? Contra Gant (p. 3), science only describes the natural world when it is left on its own, whereas a miracle is supposed to describe what happens when the natural world is not left on its own. Therefore, there is no incompatibility between miracle and science. Gant himself concedes that the possibility of a miraculous act of God cannot rationally be denied (p. 266). He nevertheless claims that there is nothing in the historical data necessitating any such belief, stating that ‘resurrection faith can be observed emerging naturally as a theological interpretation of the history of Israel, the totality of Jesus’ completed life and death, and God’s intended future for the world’ (ibid). However, his analysis of the historical data is flawed. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1477-4607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jts/flaa118 |