Christian Beginnings wed. Apr. 17 Rex Hoffman

"The Delayed Parousia" (2nd comming)

Liberal view:
Sees difference between Mark:
-Emphasis on immanent comming of God's kingdom
and John:
-Emphasis on here and now

-- Change over time of focus from 2nd comming to eternal life

Mark 10:45 - Atonement (Payment for sin)

Parable of the strong man = Idea of delivering people

John 3:16 - The son of God came and died for our sins so that we could have eternal life

Conservative view:
The different books were written for different audiences and for different puposes

Liberal view:
It's seen that Jesus is not comming back when expected so the focus is shifted. This is the move from the idea's in Mark to those in John

Liberal view of Paul:
Not as close of a source because he was not living with Jesus and really only had a vision.

Jewish sect transforms into stand alone Gentile religion.
-Gentiles outnumber Jews 10 to 1
-Jesus's enemies shift from being the scibes and pharasees to being the Jews as a whole.

Liberal view:
See this as evolution of Christian religion

Revelations:
Thought to be written by John but the more liberal view is that this is not true because it is a very Jewish book and the vocabulary is not consistant with the book of John.

Craig argues that:
1- Jesus rose frome the dead and that this is the best interpretation of the historical evidence.
2- If this is false then nothing can be salvaged from chritianity, and it should be rejected as false.

Liberal view:
What about moral and ethical teachings?

Conservative response:
Does morality matter if there is no God?

Liberal response:
Maybe God exists but chritianity is false, although some of the teachings are true.

to be continued.....