Transcript of Interview with Dale Allison on New Testament Scholarship

An interview with Dale Allison on New Testament Scholarship

0. Introduction

Johnathan Bi: You believe that Jesus never claimed to be God, that he was a failed prophet.

Dale Allison: There are real differences between the Gospels. Real differences. They contradict each other on historical level. The Church took a wrong turn after Origen. Jesus hoped, expected, and even taught that the end was near. This is not something that pleases most Christians. They don’t want to hear this. And it’s a conclusion that I struggle to reach.

Johnathan Bi: What you think are the most cleared cases of failed prophecy in the Old Testament?

Dale Allison: They are probably in Daniel. So there would be two places in Daniel that come to mind; The first is...

1. Did Jesus Claim to Be God?

Johnathan Bi: So professor, you believe that Jesus never claimed to be God. You believe that he was a failed prophet, in some sense, and that the historical evidence for the resurrection is inconclusive. And yet you still call yourself a Christian nonetheless. And I want to spend this interview investigating how you balance the demands of a critical scholar and that of a believer and practitioner of the faith. But let’s begin with examining each of these claims, starting with the first one; why do you think Jesus never claimed to be God?