Sorting by

×
Engaging Discussions about Early Christianity

Liar Lunatic or Lord…..Is Jesus a Moral Teacher?

Liar Lunatic or Lord... QUESTION: Do you think Jesus was a great moral teacher? If you think this is the case would you mind blogging about it? Fundamentalists are using C.S Lewis's approach in this matter. Apparently, they are happier if people call Jesus a lunatic vs. a great moral teacher. C.S. Lewis was the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and The Problem of Pain. Is Jesus a Lord, Liar or Lunatic? My Response In my last post I indicated what I think about Jesus as a great moral teacher: yes he was one, but completely and irretrievably in an apocalyptic context that we no longer share with him. In a future post, I may deal with the question of whether it is possible to transplant ethical teachings of one context into a completely different one, without remainder. In this post, I want to take up the question about C.S. Lewis. Lewis was a great scholar of 17th century English and obviously a popular author of children’s books and Christian apologetics. He [...]

2022-12-31T16:17:21-05:00January 17th, 2013|Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|
Read More

Was Jesus a Great Moral Teacher?

QUESTION: Do you think Jesus was a great moral teacher? If you think this is the case would you mind blogging about it. Fundamentalist are using C.S Lewis approach in this matter. Apparently they are happier if people call Jesus a lunatic vs. a great moral teacher. C.S. Lewis was the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and The Problem of Pain.   RESPONSE: I think this question is going to require at least a couple of posts: one on Jesus as a moral teacher and one on the claim by C. S. Lewis and others that if it’s true that he was a great moral teacher then we cannot very well think he would flat-out lie about the most important aspect of his teaching: his personal identity as God. (That latter is what lay behind the end of the question.) So first, Jesus as moral teacher. As it turns out, this is a complicated question. The short answer, of course, is that Yes, Jesus was a great moral teacher. The complicating factor [...]

2020-04-06T13:32:00-04:00January 16th, 2013|Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|
Read More

Stripe Credit Card Donation

No Account Required

Credit and Debit Cards Processed: Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, AmericanExpress, Diners Club, JCB, UnionPay, ApplePay, and GooglePay.

Paypal Donations

Since April 2012, this blog has raised over $1,000,000 for charity. You can help too! Any one-time donation to the Bart Ehrman Foundation helps conquer hunger and homelessness. The optional form on the right allows recurring donations! Please Note: These free will donations are not counted toward membership fees.

Paypal Recurring Donations

Schedule recurring donations to Bart's foundation using the form below.
Comment Rules

  • Each blog member is allowed to make 2 comments a day.
  • Comments posted must be limited to 200 words or less.
  • All comments will be moderated by the post author before release.
  • Please post respectful comments even when you have strong opinions.
  • Please keep your comments relevant to the issues discussed in the post.
  • If you would like to ask a question, simply ask it in your comment.
  • Please ask only one question per comment posted.

Go to Top