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Jesus Christ: Man or Myth?
Book by E. M. Blaiklock
144 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1984
About the author
E.M. Blaiklock
86 books5 followersEdward Musgrave Blaiklock OBE (6 July 1903 – 26 October 1983) was chair of classics at the University of Auckland from 1947 to 1968, and champion of Christian apologetic literature in New Zealand from the 1950s until his death in 1983.
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April 4, 2013I came across the name of Blaiklock on the blog Spirit/Water/Blood, and I wanted to leave myself a reminder of what was said there about him, in case I have time to read his work some day.
"I commend to you the work of Professor E.M.Blaiklock. He held the Chair of Classics at the University of Auckland for 23 years. He was expert in the relevant languages and documents of the period you wish to scrutinize. I commend to you his writings on Tacitus, Josephus and Pliny.
One of Professor Blaiklock’s most intriguing refs is to the work of an Israeli scholar, Professor Schlomo Pines of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Pines published a forgotten Arabic text of Josephus (many texts of the 1st century History of the Jews in Greek, Aramaic and Arabic). This Arabic text dates to the fourth century. It is preserved in a history of the church written by Agapius, an Arab bishop of Baghdad. Blaiklok quoting from the Arabic version in a monograph published by the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities 1971:
“Similarly, Josephus the Hebrew: For he says: ‘At this time there was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon their discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his cricifixion and that he was alive. Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”
This brief compendium from Josephus (a Jew) is virtually a summary of part of The Apostles Creed: ‘I believe … in Jesus Christ…suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried’
This is a historical statement by a historical writer whose Histories from the 1st century A.D. have come down to us in Greek, Arabic, Aramaic and Latin texts. You might not agree with what he says many from among the Jews and other nations believed. But he is writing about someone who did truly live.
Quoted at length in Blaiklock’s Archaeology of the New Testament and Jesus Christ: Man or Myth.
The Gospels were not written for the Greco-Roman world anymore than the Books of the Law and the Prophets, Psalms were written for the Persian empire or for modern skeptics. All of the above are books written within Covenants for Covenant peoples. The Gospels are written within the Church and for the Church as a testament. It is the living authority guaranteed to the Church through Apostolic Succession which discerns and chooses the texts that are Sacred Text.
For those not interested in these questions at all (the majority), within the Covenant, the life of our Lord is lived abundantly by his saints of every generation. Miracles reported throughout the Bible are evidences of new creation breaking in upon this passing age of the world. They happened then. They happen now.
The Church usually only investigates the miracles of those sanctified persons who have a Divine mission to the Church or who have given to the Church a new and clearer understanding of some aspect of the Sacred Deposit of faith as set down in Sacred Text. These doctrines are sealed to the Church and the world with miracles. And these events often find record in the secular histories and trials as well as the anals of the Church. For example, the transcripts of the trials of Jehann d’Arc are part of the national archives of France and they were opened for the investigations antecedent to her canonisation in the early twentieth century.
As for the saints of the Patriarchal, Israelite, Mosaic and Davidic Covenants whose bodies reposed around Jerusalem and who were reported by the Evangelist to rise after our Lord’s crucifixion – I have no difficulty with this at all. In the bodies of their resurrection they accompanied him to heaven where they are living and reigning with him in New Creation which is now a reality for many.
More to the point, it could be a reality for you."
"I commend to you the work of Professor E.M.Blaiklock. He held the Chair of Classics at the University of Auckland for 23 years. He was expert in the relevant languages and documents of the period you wish to scrutinize. I commend to you his writings on Tacitus, Josephus and Pliny.
One of Professor Blaiklock’s most intriguing refs is to the work of an Israeli scholar, Professor Schlomo Pines of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Pines published a forgotten Arabic text of Josephus (many texts of the 1st century History of the Jews in Greek, Aramaic and Arabic). This Arabic text dates to the fourth century. It is preserved in a history of the church written by Agapius, an Arab bishop of Baghdad. Blaiklok quoting from the Arabic version in a monograph published by the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities 1971:
“Similarly, Josephus the Hebrew: For he says: ‘At this time there was a wise man called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon their discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his cricifixion and that he was alive. Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”
This brief compendium from Josephus (a Jew) is virtually a summary of part of The Apostles Creed: ‘I believe … in Jesus Christ…suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried’
This is a historical statement by a historical writer whose Histories from the 1st century A.D. have come down to us in Greek, Arabic, Aramaic and Latin texts. You might not agree with what he says many from among the Jews and other nations believed. But he is writing about someone who did truly live.
Quoted at length in Blaiklock’s Archaeology of the New Testament and Jesus Christ: Man or Myth.
The Gospels were not written for the Greco-Roman world anymore than the Books of the Law and the Prophets, Psalms were written for the Persian empire or for modern skeptics. All of the above are books written within Covenants for Covenant peoples. The Gospels are written within the Church and for the Church as a testament. It is the living authority guaranteed to the Church through Apostolic Succession which discerns and chooses the texts that are Sacred Text.
For those not interested in these questions at all (the majority), within the Covenant, the life of our Lord is lived abundantly by his saints of every generation. Miracles reported throughout the Bible are evidences of new creation breaking in upon this passing age of the world. They happened then. They happen now.
The Church usually only investigates the miracles of those sanctified persons who have a Divine mission to the Church or who have given to the Church a new and clearer understanding of some aspect of the Sacred Deposit of faith as set down in Sacred Text. These doctrines are sealed to the Church and the world with miracles. And these events often find record in the secular histories and trials as well as the anals of the Church. For example, the transcripts of the trials of Jehann d’Arc are part of the national archives of France and they were opened for the investigations antecedent to her canonisation in the early twentieth century.
As for the saints of the Patriarchal, Israelite, Mosaic and Davidic Covenants whose bodies reposed around Jerusalem and who were reported by the Evangelist to rise after our Lord’s crucifixion – I have no difficulty with this at all. In the bodies of their resurrection they accompanied him to heaven where they are living and reigning with him in New Creation which is now a reality for many.
More to the point, it could be a reality for you."
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