Speaker 2
Let's go then to the first clip from this panel discussion in which Tuggie is asked a question. Here's clip number one.
Speaker 4
I got a question for Dr. Tuggie. How do you explain the fact that there are no credible New Testament scholars who agree with your view that the New Testament uniformly presents a view of Jesus as ontologically human and nothing more?
Speaker 3
Well, I mean, you do have PhDs who think that's true of the synoptic gospels and probably of Acts too. Why not? I guess people think pre-existence is obvious. And the kind of arguments from Christians like me are just not part of the discussion. As a philosopher, if I'm studying free will or something like that, my first task is to find the strongest arguments for all the different sides. This is not done in academic theology. And so it's just off the table. It's not considered. They're overlooking the minority report from the early Reformation and also from the times of origin, Novation and Tertullian who all repeatedly complain about, quote, mere man, Christians in the mainstream churches.
Speaker 2
Do you agree that most scholars disagree with Tuggie's minority
Speaker 1
report, Bill? It's not a minority report, Kevin. All New Testament scholars agree that in the pages of the New Testament, Christ is declared to be God just as the Father is God. This is universally acknowledged even by those who don't believe it themselves. No one denies this, not Bart Erman, not Paula Fredrickson, not Maurice Casey, not even Rudolph Boltmann, all of them acknowledge that in the pages of the New Testament, you find clear and unequivocal statements of the deity of Christ. And this is a real problem, I think, for Tuggie's so cinean view. He needs to explain why it is that his arguments are not convincing to the Guild of New Testament scholars. And that's why in my essay in this volume, I attempt to get down and get my fingers dirty in the actual exegesis of the New Testament text to show that the New Testament does affirm the full and unequivocal deity of Christ and invite Tuggie to deal with these texts. But the overwhelming majority of New Testament scholars disagree with Tuggie's view that Christ is portrayed in the New Testament as a mere
