“If, when we compare two versions of a story, the second known to be a retelling of the first, and find that the second has more of a miraculous element, we may reasonably conclude we have legendary (or midrashic or whatever) embellishment. The tale has grown in the telling. This sort of comparison is common in extrabiblical research and no one holds that it cannot properly indicate legend formation there.” IfsFirstsMayTwoStoriesReligionCommonKnownAtheismElementsResearchPositive AtheismTalesVersionsCompareComparisonLegendsMiraculousFormationLegendaryRetellingEmbellishment Book:Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity Source: Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity
“A critic may reject some miracle stories as legendary, and not others, with no inconsistency at all for the simple reason that even if one holds miracles to be possible, one need not hold legends to be impossible! There are other factors, literary and historiographical ones, that might lead a critic to conclude that even though miracles can happen, it does not appear that in this or that case they did.” IfsNeedsMayDoeReasonStoriesMightHappensReligionSimpleCasesImpossibleMiracleCriticsFactorsRejectsLegendsLegendaryInconsistencyMiracles Can Happen Book:Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity Source: Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity
“I suspect that, though Craig indulges in a bit of wishful thinking, playing taps for various critical approaches still quite far from death's door, he may well be correct that New Testament scholarship is more conservative than it once was. This has more than he admits to do with which denominations can afford to train the most students, hire more faculty, and send more members to the SBL.” ThinkingWellsMayStillsReligionBitsDoorsStudentsMembersApproachTrainConservativeVariousCriticalFacultySuspectsTestamentIndulgeNew TestamentScholarshipWishful ThinkingIndulge InDenominations Author:Robert M. Price
“Does it take a blanket presupposition for a historian to discount some miracle stories as legendary? No, because, as even Bultmann recognized, there is no problem accepting reports even of extraordinary things that we can still verify as occurring today, like faith healings and exorcisms. However you may wish to account for them, you can go to certain meetings and see scenes somewhat resembling those in the gospels. So it is by no means a matter of rejecting all miracle stories on principle. Biblical critics are not like the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.” MayMeanDoeStillsMatterStoriesProblemTodayCertainReligionWishHealingAcceptingPrinciplesSceneAccountsMiracleClaimsMeetingsCriticsExtraordinaryParanormalReportsHistorianInvestigationBiblicalCommitteesNo ProblemBlanketLegendaryRejectingExtraordinary ThingsDiscountsVerifyExorcismFaith Healing Author:Robert M. Price
“One can believe God capable of anything without believing that he did everything anybody may say he did. One can believe in the possibility of miracles without believing that every reported miracle must in fact have happened.” BelieveMayFactsReligionHappenedPossibilityCapableMiracleBelieve In God Author:Robert M. Price
