Life

Is faith more of a sure step than a blind leap?

Brian Wilson considers the reliability of the Gospels

The Gospels are 'reliable witnesses' to the life - and death - of Jesus
The Gospels are 'reliable witnesses' to the life - and death - of Jesus The Gospels are 'reliable witnesses' to the life - and death - of Jesus

IN his book, Priests for the Third Millennium, Cardinal Timothy Dolan recalls a letter from a priest reflecting on his own seminary formation: "He said that all through his years of preparation he was often asked, 'Are you happy?' 'Are you maturing?' 'Are you open?' 'How are your grades?' But never once, 'Do you believe in God?'"

Cardinal Dolan notes that the priest's "point was a good one - the utter necessity of faith".

"We grow here in our rock-sure belief in God, his Son, his Revelation, and we reject doubt, cynicism, pervasive relativism, and an aimless existence that stems from a lack of faith," he writes.

We all have struggles in our faith. I often find it difficult to believe the Gospels and find myself asking, "Can I trust the biographies of Jesus, and how do they compare with other ancient manuscripts?"

I recently came across a person who asked the same questions: Lee Strobel, a law graduate of Yale University in the United States, and former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune.

Strobel recounts his rigorous and tenacious search for answers in his bestselling book, The Case For Christ. The back cover summarises the book simply: "A seasoned journalist chases down the biggest story in history." The book can help us all grow towards a rock-sure belief in God and what he revealed to us through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Addressing the first question - 'Can I trust the biographies of Jesus?' - Strobel recalls the immense value of eyewitness testimony and how the New Testament is packed full of it. When thinking about the power of eyewitness testimony in the courtroom, the face of Leo Carter immediately springs to his mind.

Strobel first met Leo when, "He was the 17-year-old veteran of Chicago's grittiest neighbourhood... His testimony had put three killers in prison." Leo was still carrying a bullet in his skull, reminding him of a "horrific saga that began when he witnessed Elijah Baptist gun down a local grocer".

As Strobel recalls, "Leo and a friend, Leslie Scott, were playing basketball when they saw Elijah, then a 16-year-old delinquent with 30 arrests on his rap sheet, slay Sam Blue outside his grocery store."

Strobel continues: "Eyewitness testimony is powerful. One of the most dramatic moments in a trial is when a witness describes in detail the crime that he or she saw, and then points confidently toward the defendant as being the perpetrator.

"Elijah Baptist knew that the only way to avoid prison would be to somehow prevent Leo Carter and Leslie Scott from doing just that. So Elijah and two of his pals went hunting.

"Soon they tracked down Leo and Leslie, who were walking down the street with Leo's brother, Henry. Elijah and his friends dragged all three at gunpoint to a darkened loading dock nearby.

"'I like you,' Elijah's cousin said to Leo, 'but I've got to do this.' With that he pressed a pistol to the bridge of Leo's nose and yanked the trigger."

The bullet left Leo blind in his right eye and became embedded in his head. Another shot was fired, this bullet lodged inches from his spine. Sprawled on the floor, Leo pretended to be dead as he watched both his sobbing brother and friend be executed at close range. Leo crawled to safety when Elijah and his gang fled.

As Strobel recounts: "Somehow, against all odds, Leo Carter lived. The bullet, too precarious to be removed, remained in his skull. Despite searing headaches that strong medication couldn't dull, he became the sole eyewitness against Elijah Baptist at his trial for killing Sam Blue.

"The jurors believed Leo, and Elijah was sentenced to 80 years in prison. Again, Leo was the only eyewitness to testify against Elijah and his two companions in the slayings of his brother and his friend. And once more his word was good enough to land the trio in prison for the rest of their lives.

"Leo Carter is one of my heroes. He made sure justice was paid, even though he paid a monumental price for it. When I think of eyewitness testimony, even to this day - more than 20 years later - his face still appears in my mind."

Strobel notes that eyewitness testimony is just as crucial in investigating historical matters – "even the issue of whether Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God".

Strobel met with the New Testament scriptural scholar, Craig Blomberg, who said of the Gospels: "We can be assured that the events the Gospels recorded are based on either direct or indirect witness testimony."

The Catholic tradition is also clear in this regard, teaching that it, "has always and everywhere held and continues to hold that the four Gospels are of apostolic origin".

Another concern I've had to contend with is the fact that the Gospels were written decades after the events they refer to, possibly turning Jesus from merely a wise teacher into a mythological Son of God.

Strobel raised this concern with Blomberg, who replied: "The standard scholarly dating, even in very liberal circles, is Mark in the 70s, Matthew and Luke in the 80s, John in the 90s.

"That's still within the lifetimes of various eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus, including hostile witnesses who would have served as a corrective if false teachings of Jesus were going around. Consequently, these late dates for the Gospels really aren't all that late."

Compared to now, that's roughly equal to events such as the Troubles and the Cold War.

Blomberg continued: "In fact, we can make a comparison that's very instructive. The two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than 400 years after Alexander's death in 323 BC, yet historians consider them to be generally trustworthy.

"Yes, legendary material about Alexander did develop over time, but it was only in the centuries after these two writers. In other words, the first 500 years kept Alexander's story pretty much intact.

"So, whether the Gospels were written 60 years or 30 years after the life of Jesus, the amount of time is negligible by comparison. It's almost a non-issue. Historically speaking, especially compared with Alexander the Great, that's like a news flash."

Blomberg also reminded Strobel that the books of the New Testament were not written in chronological order, the letters of Paul having been written probably around the 50s, giving Christians even greater confidence in the New Testament as a whole.

Believing in Jesus Christ always requires a leap of faith which is "possible only by grace". Yet when we look at the evidence widely available to us today, it seems like more of a step than a leap.

Furthermore, the Catholic tradition understands that believing "is an authentically human act... contrary neither to human freedom nor human knowledge". With daily courageous trust in who God is and what he has done for us, we can live in the awareness that we are part of his loving plan. In the words of St Paul: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."

Brian Wilson grew up in Ballymena, Co Antrim. He is a seminarian for the Diocese of Down and Connor at the Venerable English College in Rome.