20AR25-20

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AR 25:20 - Why no one really lives as if materialism were true

In this issue:

NEW TESTAMENT - its oral tradition and transmission

POLITICS - the interplay of religion and politics around the world

SCIENCE - what if materialism is actually anti-science?

Apologia Report 25:20 (1,477)

May 20, 2020

NEW TESTAMENT

From Good News to Gospels: What Did the First Christians Say about Jesus?, by David Wenham [1] -- reviewed by Danny Yencich (PhD Student in New Testament, University of Denver & Iliff School of Theology) who summarizes that "the content of early Christian preaching comprised 'regular and systematic teaching about Jesus, including about his life, teaching, death, and resurrection' and, further, that this oral traditional material was 'carefully preserved' in transmission.

"Following a forward ... and an introductory chapter, the argument tracks the development, contents, and transmission of the oral Jesus tradition in the Gospels, Acts, and Pauline letters.

"Wenham follows Birger Gerhardsson [1926–2013] and others in arguing for a proto-rabbinical model for the oral Jesus tradition, based in large part upon rabbinic sources post-dating Jesus and the earliest NT documents." Wenham also reviews "evidence of a 'carefully preserved' body of tradition in the apostolic period."

Coming later is a "discussion of 'whether there are things in the canonical gospels that look like oral traditions or are best explained as such.'"

Yencich concludes, in part, that "Instead of engaging recent theories of oral tradition and the NT, Wenham <www.bit.ly/2LENmF1> bases his argument largely on the quite dated theory of Gerhardsson and some of his inheritors. 'Gerhardsson has critics,' readers are told, but Wenham interacts with none of them. ... There is irony and a missed opportunity, then, as Wenham characterizes recent NT scholarship as having given 'surprisingly little attention to the content of the earliest oral gospel tradition.' There is a substantial body of recent, relevant scholarship missing from Wenham's bibliography that would necessarily challenge and nuance his thesis and argument throughout. Without such engagement, however, this short volume represents a narrow and dated view of oral tradition and the NT." Stone-Campbell Journal, 22:2 - 2019, pp303-4 <www.bit.ly/3cj4rzN>

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POLITICS

At this point in American history any publisher announcing a new encyclopedia on religion and contemporary politics had better be ready for intense bias scrutiny -- unless, of course, the content thereof is "preaching to the choir." This could be interesting: Religion and Contemporary Politics: A Global Encyclopedia, edited by Timothy J. Demy and Jeffrey Shaw [2] is introduced by publisher ABC-CLIO: "Although there are many books on the topics of religion and politics, reference works that consider the two together are few, with those that do exist primarily addressing theory rather than trends. ... The work focuses on the interplay of religion and politics in countries around the world with an emphasis on the post-2000s."

Library Journal (Feb 1 '20) notes: "Two trends clearly emerge: the rise of secularization, especially in the West, and the steady growth of modernization and globalization. With a focus on the period 2001-19, the editors and contributors contend that many countries are increasingly moving away from organized religion; at the same time, fewer people are living in communities with a high degree of religious and political homogeneity." In conclusion, the book offers "a thorough overview and wonderful starting point for advanced high school students, undergraduates, and interested nonspecialists." [4]

Booklist (Dec 15 '19) adds: "Religion and its role in contemporary politics drive much current international conflict. ... The topics covered include anti-Semitism, Sharia Law, refugees, Evangelicals and U.S. foreign policy...." [3]

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SCIENCE

The Discovery Institute has produced a short film series titled Science Uprising. The series was reviewed by Terrell Clemmons for Salvo (#50 - 2019), wherein she explains that materialism "is the assumed picture of reality in our culture, especially in academia and the natural sciences. But no one really lives as if materialism were true. Most people believe that non-material things like compassion, ideas, meaning, joy, and sorrow are also real, as much a part of reality as our physical bodies. If we believe these things are real, does that make us anti-science? According to some celebrity science popularizers, it does.

"But what if it's actually materialism that is anti-science? That is the question at the heart of Science Uprising, an edgy series of short videos (each 6–8 minutes long) produced by the Discovery Institute. Episode 01: Realism vs. Materialism sets up the series by doing what scientific materialists doggedly resist doing: separating out materialist philosophy from the way science is often presented to the general public. ...

"Episode 02: No, You're Not a Robot Made Out of Meat presents evidence from medicine and neuroscience for the existence of the mind, will, and sense of self, as distinct entities apart from the physical brain.

"Episode 03: DNA Is Code: Who Coded It? Materialists agree that DNA is like software, but they maintain that it came about naturally, without a programmer. Episode 3 presents experimental data showing that this tenet isn't just lacking in evidential support, but actually flies flagrantly against the accepted standards of reasoning in other fields of scientific inquiry.

"Episode 04: Fine Tuning: You Don't Suck! looks at the extremely improbable conditions necessary for the universe to even exist, much less for Earth to be a hospitable place for life, and sets them beside the weird and wild speculative explanations with which materialists brush these astonishing facts aside.

"Episode 05: Origin of Life: Intelligence Required. [S]ynthetic organic chemist James Tour says the origin-of-life community, in conjunction with an overeager press, has not been honest with us. Tour explains the happenings behind the hype, and says the problem is becoming harder, not easier, as scientists continue to learn more about the complexity of the cell.

"Episode 06: Mutations: Failure to Invent. We have been told that genetic mutations are the building blocks of evolution, but when put to the test, mutations have shown no capacity to build or invent anything." <www.bit.ly/2WiWzch>

Since the above review was written, the Discovery Institute site has been updated with most of these excellent videos no longer being numbered and new content added including:

* - "Darwin, Hitler, and the Modern Evaluation of Human Life"

* - "Evolution: Bacteria to Beethoven"

* - "Mathematical Challenges to Darwin's Theory of Evolution"

* - "Secrets of the Cell"

* - "Fine Tuning"

* - "Why More Scientists Are Going Off-Script"

* - "How Can 'Science' Blind Us?"

* - "Intelligent Design Theory from the Point of View of a Biochemist"

* - "Protein Structure Cannot Evolve by Mutations, Shows Study Undercutting Darwin" <www.bit.ly/35Jp6dT>

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - From Good News to Gospels: What Did the First Christians Say about Jesus?, by David Wenham (Eerdmans, 2018, paperback, 144 pages) <www.amzn.to/3ci0iw3>

2 - Religion and Contemporary Politics: A Global Encyclopedia, edited by Timothy J. Demy and Jeffrey Shaw (ABC-CLIO, 2019, hardcover, 993 pages) <www.amzn.to/3ftAM9n>

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