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Robert M. Price Biography

Robert M. Price

Robert McNair Price (born July 7, 1954) is an American theologian and writer, known for arguing against the existence of a historical Jesus (the Christ myth theory). He taught philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary. He is a professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus.

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Robert M. Price Quotes

For the believer in divine creation, the open question of the Mystery of Being is like an open wound. It stings and gapes, and the believer cannot rest till it be healed up, closed up, smeared with the soothing balm of an answer, even if his doctrine be a sophisticated one like Aquinas's or that of the latest Liberal Protestant theologian.

Answers, Doctrine, Mystery, Protestant, Till

Speculation is not knowledge.

Knowledge, Religion, Speculation

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.

Atheism, Compare, Religion, Research, Story, Two

By itself, 1 Corinthians 15 just wouldn't mean much. He wants the appearances of 1 Corinthians 15:3-11 to be read as if they had in parentheses after them 'See Luke 24; Matthew 28; John 21. '

Luke, Matthew, Mean, Religion, Want

I do not expect that the mere fact that I was once an evangelical apologist and now see things differently should itself count as evidence that I must be right. That would be the genetic fallacy. It would be just as erroneous to think that John Rankin must be right in having embraced evangelical Christianity since he had once been an agnostic Unitarian and repudiated it for the Christian faith.

Atheism, Christian, Christianity, Genetic, Right, Thinking

The born-again gospel promises joy and peace of mind, but it does so by prolonging childhood.

Childhood, Gospel, Joy, Prolonging, Promise, Promises

It is very hard not to see extensive and basic similarities between these (Pagan) religions and the Christian Religion. But somehow Christian scholars have managed not to see it, and this, one must suspect, for dogmatic reasons.

Christian, Dogmatic, Pagan, Reason, Religions, Suspect

In broad outline and in detail, the life of Jesus as portrayed in the gospels corresponds to the worldwide Mythic Hero Archetype in which a divine hero's birth is supernaturally predicted and conceived, the infant hero escapes attempts to kill him, demonstrates his precocious wisdom already as a child, receives a divine commission, defeats demons, wins acclaim, is hailed as king, then betrayed, losing popular favor, executed, often on a hilltop, and is vindicated and taken up to heaven.

Children, Commission, Infant, Jesus, Kings, Mythic

Real morality is not the product of fearing a spanking. But what does fundamentalist hell-belief encourage? It retards any developing moral judgment by freezing moral maturity right at the most primitive, most childish, stage: the fear of retribution-and fundamentalism threatens one hell of a spanking.

Doe, Hell, Maturity, Real, Right

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.

Biblical, Healing, Historian, Mean, Scientific, Things

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.

Historiographical, Inconsistency, Legendary, Miracle, Religion, Simple

The notorious tendency of conservative apologists and New Age paperback writers alike is to leap from mere possibility to the right to believe. "If there might be space aliens, we can assume there are. " "If the idea of Atlantis is not impossible, we can take it for granted. " "If the traditional view of gospel authorship cannot be definitievely debunked, we can go right on assuming it's truth. " No, you can't.

Believe, Debunked, Ideas, Space, Traditional, Writers

What suggests to non-Evangelical scholars that the resurrection narratives contain legendary accounts? First there is a variety of apparent contradictions in the stories which in any ancient narrative would have to arouse the historian's suspicion.

Apparent, Narrative, Narratives, Religion, Stories, Suggests

The very admission of the need to harmonize is an admission that the burden of proof is on the narratives, not on those who doubt them. What harmonizing shows is that despite appearances, the texts still might be true.

Admission, Burden Of Proof, Doubt, Harmonize, Proof, Religion

Today's Politically Correct "historical Jesuses" are no different, being mere clones of the scholars who design them.

Clones, Design, Historical, Jesus, Scholars

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.

Believe, Miracle, Possibility, Religion, Reported

I wonder how appropriate it is to try to 'argue someone into the kingdom. ' Many apologists hotly deny any such charge, but I don't believe them. The tenor of almost all apologetics literature makes it plain that this is their intent.

Apologetics, Argue, Atheism, Believe, Deny, Religion

The Holy Bible. Promoting ignorance and superstition for nearly 2000 years.

2000, Ignorance, Superstitions, Years

Who needs Satan when you have a God like this?

Atheist, God, Needs, Satan

But if they did really refer to some kind of a "personal relationship," it would in effect be a case of channeling. I suspect this is why fundamentalists who condemn New Age channelers do not dismiss it as a fraud. . . , but instead think that Ramtha and the others are channeling demons. If they said it was sheer delusion, they know where the other four fingers would wind up pointing!

Atheism, Effect, Fingers, Know, Thinking, Wind

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