HISTORICAL APOLOGETICS

Module M003A1 Franklin Iriarte A. Master Of Theology

The Bible is the book of the Christian faith and its uniqueness relies on its historical nature
of the Bible. The historical nature is totally coherent with the theology. In fact, our Christian faith
is totally inseparable from historical facts of the Bible and our theology. But most of the Christian
do not know the historical nature of the Bible, which is recognized even by atheists. Because of this
non-historical basis, teacher churches have got their lowest point of decadence. However, brilliant
Christian scholars have worked to clarify and defend the historicity of the biblical narratives.
The apologetics tool, works with other disciplines. Legal apologetics is a combination of
legal and historical reconstruction. Legal apologetics deal with the legal investigation of whether a
certain thing has taken place or not. This has become a powerful tool because the favorite target of
radicals and rationalists is the historical narrative of the Bible.
Some people think that proof is something only scientific. But the reality is that there are
different methods to prove that something is true. For example, in scientific proof the event is
repeated under various conditions and in various laboratories. In historical proof it is necessary to
demonstrate that an event has probably taken place beyond all doubt. In some sciences something
is accepted as true or proven if the proof available is sufficient. It is humanly impossible to
establish something as a total proof.
One tool that has become very useful for apologetics is the Archaeology, which is a recent
science that deals with the study of ancient civilizations. The biblical/secular archaeology is related
with the discoveries in lands where history took place. In chronologies/histories, scholar
investigates secular history according to the Bible. For example, the record of kings in the book of
the Kings, seemed inaccurate, but through investigations they have shown that the calendar events
has been perfect in the Bible. Within the archaeology, there is the data technique, which helps to
accurate reconstruct the history. It can be in historical dating, comparative dating and scientific
dating. Because of many of the use of the techniques, today Bible stands as historically most
accurate ancient book. There is another use in archaeology called the Linguistic studies. Hebrew
and Greek was the language of the Bible, but it is no spoken anymore. The studies of these
languages have been greatly beneficial for Christian apologetics. The studies of biblical languages
allow study the Bible in great depth and breadth. Linguistics studies helps to study the real meaning
of the words, customs and rituals. Also, the linguistic studies evaluate the accuracy and authenticity
of ancient manuscripts. So the textual criticism has helped scholars to defend the authenticity of
biblical books. Thanks to linguistic studies and with the help of tens of thousands manuscripts they
are able to reconstruct very accurate copies. Though critics do not accept Bible as a reliable book,
Christian scholars have researched thousands of manuscripts to establish the reliability of the Bible.
 The application of the legal/historical tools is really important because the Christian faith
fully depends upon the reliability of the historical narrative of the Bible. Some advantages of this
tool are: that helps us the text, understanding the presuppositions and methodologies. In order to
eliminate confusion, the insights to culture, customs and manners, helps us to understand better the
background of what we are studying. Also the insights to language help us to understand
vocabulary, word usage and idioms. The insight through reconstruction/investigation of biblical
histories/incidents helps us to fully reconstruct the background to give us a better understanding.
Other values of historical investigations are a better understanding of biblical
text/transmission, which talks about how the Biblical Text was produced, preserved and transmitted.
Also, gives us a better appreciation of Reliability of Scriptures, because of the reliability of the
original language in which the Bible was written and the wonderful way God preserved the
transmission and reliability of the Bible. Thus, gives a better appreciation of Prophecy.
One of the most raised questions against the historical records is the historicity of Jesus
Christ. Though Jesus is and historical person, it just take a couple of dissenters to start doubts.
Massive amounts of books have been written to dispute the historicity of Jesus Christ. The Gospels
are the proof for Jesus historicity. But there are also other sources such Flavius Josephus (Born AD
37), who was a Jewish historian. He verified he was the Christ and also that he died and rose from
the dead. In his works there are several allusions to Jesus and Christian faith. The other source
existed is through the historian Cornelius Tacitus (Born around AD 52). He wrote about the death
of Jesus Christ by a man named Pontius Pilate, who was a “… procurator of Judea in the Reign of
Tiberius”. There was a satirist of the second century called Lucian of Samosata, who speaks about
Jesus Christ and his teachings. In 120 AD, Suetonius, a Roman historian, mentions Jesus as a
common historical character. Also, the Governor of Bithynia, Plinius Secundus, who wrote in a
letter about Christians and their God: Christ. Tertulian was another person who was known by his
writings, wrote recognizing the wisdom from Christ’s divinity. Another was Thallus; he was a
Samaritan-born Historian, who was one of the first gentile writers that mentions Christ. There was
another source, the letter of Mara Bar-Serapion, which was written for a man to his son and
recognizes the historicity of Christ at the same level of Socrates and Pythagoras. Another, in 150
AD, was Justin Martyr, who mentions the sacrifice of Christ. Also, he mentions the miracles that
Jesus performed. Finally, the Jewish Talmuds, which were commentaries on the Law by Jewish
scholars from 100 AD to 500. Many of them contain direct, indirect, and veiled references to Jesus
Christ. Speak about the miracles He performed; even speak about the virgin pregnancy of His
mother. So, there are plenty of extra biblical proofs that show the historicity of Jesus Christ.