Luke’s claim was about “everyone at one of the major New Testament Studies conferences”, not every self-avowed Christian. I don’t doubt that most Christians believe Jesus had magical powers. I’m a lot less certain that even a majority of attendees “at one of the major New Testament Studies conferences” believes Jesus had magical powers. In fact, thinking back on all the New Testament Scholars I’ve known (more than a few, though not necessarily representative of the entire field) I can’t come up with a single name of one I’m confident of saying, “yes, this person believes Jesus had magical powers.” I’m sure they’re out there, but I’m not sure they even make up a majority of New Testament scholars.
I can think of one such scholar who professed a belief in the resurrection but when he was asked to explain what exactly he meant by that, it became clear that he had “faith” that Jesus was there and resurrected even though no one could actually see him post-resurrection. That’s pretty flimsy. Serious Bible scholarship (or, for that matter, Church history) is really, really faith-killing. Many scholars went into school committed Christians and came out the other end, well, not. I already mentioned Bart Ehrman. Karen Armstrong is another well-known example. I think they’re both still theists, but neither is close to a conventional Christian. I’m not sure either would actually call themselves Christian any more.
Recall Bismarck’s famous quote that “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.” I’d add religion to that list. The most effective way to deconvert a Christian may not be to teach them science. It may well be to teach them more about their own religion.
(My claim: There is no large Christian tradition which does not insist that the bodily resurrection did actually happen. I agree with your comment in general, although there are plenty of Schools of Divinity at respected universities whose staff still believes in the usual fairytale. Many atheists know their bible quite well, yet I wouldn’t count that as Christians not believing in the bodily resurrection.)
Believing in no bodily resurrection was the heresy of Docetism and a common belief of various Gnostic sects. Since these sects were rather effectively stamped out in the first Millennium, it’s certainly true today that this isn’t a common belief of orthodox, Nicean Creed Christians. Almost by definition if you don’t believe in the bodily resurrection, you’re not a Christian; or at least not a Christian as defined by the Nicean Creed.
Within schools of divinity and theology departments, there are indeed likely many faculty who believe in Jesus’s magical powers. My claim is that amidst the subset of those faculty who specialize in the New Testament and the history of the early church, you will find a much smaller percentage who believe in Jesus’s magical powers than in the general population of Christians, or even than in the general population of divinity school faculty.
Luke’s claim was about “everyone at one of the major New Testament Studies conferences”, not every self-avowed Christian. I don’t doubt that most Christians believe Jesus had magical powers. I’m a lot less certain that even a majority of attendees “at one of the major New Testament Studies conferences” believes Jesus had magical powers. In fact, thinking back on all the New Testament Scholars I’ve known (more than a few, though not necessarily representative of the entire field) I can’t come up with a single name of one I’m confident of saying, “yes, this person believes Jesus had magical powers.” I’m sure they’re out there, but I’m not sure they even make up a majority of New Testament scholars.
I can think of one such scholar who professed a belief in the resurrection but when he was asked to explain what exactly he meant by that, it became clear that he had “faith” that Jesus was there and resurrected even though no one could actually see him post-resurrection. That’s pretty flimsy. Serious Bible scholarship (or, for that matter, Church history) is really, really faith-killing. Many scholars went into school committed Christians and came out the other end, well, not. I already mentioned Bart Ehrman. Karen Armstrong is another well-known example. I think they’re both still theists, but neither is close to a conventional Christian. I’m not sure either would actually call themselves Christian any more.
Recall Bismarck’s famous quote that “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.” I’d add religion to that list. The most effective way to deconvert a Christian may not be to teach them science. It may well be to teach them more about their own religion.
(My claim: There is no large Christian tradition which does not insist that the bodily resurrection did actually happen. I agree with your comment in general, although there are plenty of Schools of Divinity at respected universities whose staff still believes in the usual fairytale. Many atheists know their bible quite well, yet I wouldn’t count that as Christians not believing in the bodily resurrection.)
Believing in no bodily resurrection was the heresy of Docetism and a common belief of various Gnostic sects. Since these sects were rather effectively stamped out in the first Millennium, it’s certainly true today that this isn’t a common belief of orthodox, Nicean Creed Christians. Almost by definition if you don’t believe in the bodily resurrection, you’re not a Christian; or at least not a Christian as defined by the Nicean Creed.
Within schools of divinity and theology departments, there are indeed likely many faculty who believe in Jesus’s magical powers. My claim is that amidst the subset of those faculty who specialize in the New Testament and the history of the early church, you will find a much smaller percentage who believe in Jesus’s magical powers than in the general population of Christians, or even than in the general population of divinity school faculty.