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How Faith in Jesus’ Resurrection Originated and Developed: A New/Old Hypothesis

James Tabor’s blog “How Faith in Jesus’ Resurrection Originated and Developed: A New/Old Hypothesis” provides readers with a great opportunity for not only becoming aware of ancient texts related to the subject, but also on how those texts are read. Regardless of one’s beliefs, this provides important insights about how one should examine his or her beliefs. In the religiously polarized environment in which we live today, unexamined religious belief systems are no longer acceptable. Everyone has a right to believe what they want, but if those beliefs affect the safety and quality of life of others – those beliefs must be examined.

It (the Resurrection) makes perfect sense to read the New Testament in its current order. The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John introduce us to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The book of Acts gives us the early history of Christianity, ending with the career of Paul. The letters of Paul and the other apostles, Peter, John, James, and Jude, come next, and the mysterious book of Revelation provides a climatic finale to the whole. It all makes perfect sense—unless one is a historian. Historians read the New Testament backwards. Over the last hundred and fifty years they have made a significant discovery. If the New Testament writings were ordered chronologically, according to the dates the various books were written, a wholly different picture emerges, with radical and far-reaching implications. 


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