Lecture #2: Is Christianity Myth? by Rev. Ben Edwards

In this lecture the presenter argues against the idea that Christianity is myth, largely following John Oswalt’s excellebook, "The Bible Among the Myths". In the first part he compares the characteristics of myth (central being one-ness or monism) with the characteristics of the Bible (central being two-ness or dualism). He then briefly addresses the idea that Jesus is a myth based off of similarities to other pagan myths, pointing out that scholarship no longer takes this idea seriously and showing there are no real parallels between Jesus’s life and the account of individuals in pagan myths (e.g., Mithras, Osiris, Adonis, etc.). He then makes a case for the historicity of the Gospels, and concludes by showing the importance of history to Christianity and why that matters.

Rev. Ben Edwards is the Academic Dean and Instructor in Pastoral Theology at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.