Brian Chilton did a podcast on the "early NT creeds". Since the sources of those creeds are obviously relevant to the question of how early they are, I issued the following challenge to him:
If that's too blurry, here's a paste of the text:
So, let's grant that the apostles began preaching the resurrection of Jesus every bit as early as Acts 2 says they did. Now we've pushed the resurrection-creed back to 33. a.d., even further back than Habermas would dare date the 1st Corinthians 15:3-4 "creed".
Are you willing to discuss the possible NT sources behind such "creed"?
See here.
We'll have to see what Chilton thinks is more important: uninterrupted preaching to the choir, or defending his specific presuppositions from skeptical attack. Since he posts what he does for the purpose of "apologetics", I'm hoping its the latter.
If you simply teach apologetics without input from an actual skeptic, you create the risk that your Christian audience will go into the world, armed with your teachings, and get slaughtered by actual skeptics whose actual arguments go beyond what you were teaching in class. Showing how you survived a challenge from an actual skeptic is far more likely to equip your readers to deploy apologetics in the real world successfully.
UPDATE:
A few minutes later, this was how Chilton justified refusal to take up my challenge:
------------------------------
barry • 2 hours ago
So, let's grant that the apostles began preaching the resurrection of Jesus every bit as early as Acts 2 says they did. Now we've pushed the resurrection-creed back to 33. a.d., even further back than Habermas would dare date the 1st Corinthians 15:3-4 "creed".
Are you willing to discuss the possible NT sources behind such "creed"?
•Edit•Reply•Share ›
Avatar
Brian Chilton Mod barry • an hour ago
Barry, I've already discussed the sources behind such creeds. There's no reason to go back into this issue. I encourage you to listen to the podcast and to also reference other resources at https://bellatorchristi.com concerning the multiple eyewitness testimonies concerning the risen Jesus.
•Reply•Share ›Avatar
barry Brian Chilton • 3 minutes ago
Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by BellatorChristi.
I'll take that as a "no, I am not willing to discuss the possible NT sources behind such creed". Fair enough. While I'll be challenging your arguments at my own blog, it's clear that you have no intention of debating a skeptic at your own blog. Have a nice life. Should you ever desire to see arguments you haven't addressed before, you know how to contact me. barryjoneswhat@gmail.com
•Edit•Share ›
- --------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps I should pat myself on the back. This Brian Chilton is a legitimate Christian bible scholar, and yet he clearly doesn't think he could convincingly refute arguments that I'd make to him on each of his individual points.
