Atheism and Theism JJ Haldane - Common Sense Atheism

186 J.J. Haldane
earliest Gospel is dated ‘many years after the crucifixion’, but the thing to be
struck by is how close these dates are to the life and death of Jesus. Paul was
writing ‘Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’ (Thessalonians 1: 16–18) at
a date more or less equal in distance from the crucifixion as was the Second
World War from the Great War. As you read this, think what memorable
events occurred 20 to 30 years previously and then consider whether writing
about them now would significantly diminish the value of your record. In
fact, time and hindsight can tend to improve the quality of historical writing,
and then as now there were plenty of people around to take issue with and
correct the account of events. Additionally, the authors of the gospels were
not state propagandists or spokesmen for some powerful social group; and
nor were they writing for posterity. On the contrary it is fairly clear, even in
the later Gospels, that they expected the second coming of Christ sooner
rather than later. Indeed, it was reflection arising from disappointment on
this score that led to the development of a theology of the ‘Kingdom of God’
and an adequate eschatology (an account of the ‘Four Last Things’: death,
judgement, heaven and hell).
So far as the content of the Gospels is concerned it is necessary to
distinguish between a narrative core common to all four gospels, and editorial
elaborations and variations. Discerning this difference is not simply an
empirical task since one has to make judgements of relative importance. The
most common words in this book are probably articles and prepositions but
a thematic analysis would not get far on the basis of a word- or even a phrasecount.
Here is where some of the critical methods mentioned by Smart
have proven helpful though each has its rather strict limits. Source criticism
tries to identify the early short texts brought together in the composition of
a gospel; form criticism looks for the main compositional elements, e.g.
sayings and narratives; while redaction criticism is mindful of the subsequent
unity achieved in a gospel and so attends to the purposes and influence of
its writer. A more recent trend influenced by modern literary theories emphasizes
reader-response and regards scriptural texts as being designed less as
sources of information and more as occasions for interaction and personal
formation.
These matters are genuinely fascinating, but the question to ask from the
viewpoint of a debate about atheism and theism is what exactly they show
about the evidential value of the New Testament. The answer, I believe, is
not a great deal; at any rate not much that is likely to make a difference to the
case for or against atheism. The trend of recent scholarship supports a more
or less face-value reading of the Gospels. What I mean by this is that there is
evidently an ancient common narrative core which reflects the beliefs of the
contemporary followers of Jesus. 14 This assumes the existence of a theistic