❞ كتاب the christ as seen in the sources of christian beliefs ❝ ⏤ احمد عبدالوهاب

Preface
CHAPTER I
The So�es of the Christian Beliefs
The New Testament
The Gospels
CHAPTER 2
Mldn Preblems of the Gospels
Numerous Disagreements
Errors in Testimonies of the Old Testament
CHAPTER 3

v

vii
1
22

39
40
60

The Case of Crucifixion 73
Gospel's Narratives of the Crucifixion 75
The End of Judas 115
The Christ and the Attempts to Kill Hirn 121
The Prophecies of the Christ That He Will Be Saved
from Killing 133
Disagn,crnent of the Early Christians as Regards the
Crucifixion of the Christ 181
CHAPTER 4
The Case of Resurrection and Appearance
The Resurrection
The Appearance
A Hinl Altoul the References

189
191
196
215

This book has the privilege to speak of Jesus Christ, pre.:eded by
thousands and thousands of books, and to be followed by still
many more.
This study basically stands on the vision of Christ as seen
through the sources of the Christian beliefs. It is therefore
reasonable to devote in the study of these Christian sources as
much concentration as is necessary and sufficient to the study of
the Christ himself.
It is mainly a compilation of studies and investigations relating to
the subject matter by some distinguished scholars of Christianity,
submitted to the readers who, surely, differ widely in their cultures
and interests.
Today's man lives in an age of enlightenmepts which boasts of
Mental Libration, and technological revolution, ... etc. The mind
of this age cannot accept dictated beliefs, or inherited dogma,
without proof.
Belief is, no doubt, a personal matter, but it is belief and
behaviour that determines man's future and eternal life. So it is the
ethical responsibility of scholars to make the result of their studies
available to those who have been swept off by the pressures of life to
enable them to think over their �elief s, in the light of the latest
religious studies.
Religious studies stand at the head of the investigations that
cannot stand without documentation and supporting proofs. That

is why so many testimonies are quoted from the studies and con-
clusions of the scholars of Christianity. Texts quoted are put bet-
ween quotation marks, as usual, so that the reader may easily

distinguish the scholar's sayings from those of the author.
Let it be mentioned at the outset that the author of this book
believes fully in Christ, and is one of his followers, as also of all the
prophets sent by God. He belitVes that the Christ is 'a word of God
conveyed to Mary' who miraculously conceived and borne him. He
is 'a spirit from God' - Son of man - a messenger of God - a

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prophet like Moses - Teacher and Master - and the Prince of
Peace.
He performed many miracles, signs of God; he healed many who
were sick with various diseases, cast out maizy demons, and revived
the dead.
He 'was a prophet mighty in deed and word bcf ore God and all
the people and a man approved of by God among the people for
perfonning miracles and wonders and signs, which God granted
him.'
At the beginning of his ministry he said : 'I am not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel.• And at the end of his
ministry, he said : 'And this is eternal life, that they know thee the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.'
Lastly, let this book be an inducement to the study of the Christ's
teachings, 'Search the scriptures, they are they·which testify of me';

an apology for what had been wrongly attached to his true doc-
trines; and expression of sympathy with him for many evils com-
mitted in his name across the centuries, and are still being annm.it-
ted by different Christian sects, against followers of other religions,

especially the Muslims; and in the end, let this book be a collection

of information, preserved for the truth seekers. About two thou-
sand years ago, before the Christ came, he had been preceded by

''the voice of one crying in the wilderness - of Palestine - say-
ing : 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight ...

And today, where belief in God and living according to His
directed way are about to be complctdy lost, how many 'crying in
the spiritual wilderness' in the whole world are needed ?
Many and many, but some faithful of them may suffice.

The Bible is composed of two main parts : The Old Testament
and the New Testament.
"The former contains 39 books, as reckoned by Protestants,
with a supplement known as the Apocrypha, the Roman Catholic,
Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox Churches include the Apocrypha
in the Old Testament, and therefore assign 53 books to ii. The New
Testament contains 27 books upon which number all Churches
agree. Since Jews accept only the Old Testament and reject both the
Apocrypha (found only in Greek translations, not in the original
Hebrew) and the New Testament, they understand the term 'Bible'
to mean the 39 books of the Hebrew. (or Palestinian) Canon,
recognized by Protestants.
The Hebrew Bible consists of three parts
1.
Deuteronomy ;
The Law : Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
2. The Prophets : (A) Farmer Prophets : Joshua, Judges,
Samuel, Kings; (B) Litter Prophets : Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and the. Twelve Minor Prophets.
3. The Writings (Hagiographa) : (A) Psalms, Proverbs, Job;
(B) Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations,
Esther; (D) Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah-Chronicles.
The three divisions mark successive canonizations : the Law
(about 400 B.C.); the Prophets (about 200 B.C.); and the
Writings (about 90 A.D.)"1

The New Testament is the second part of the Bible. In this sec-
tion. we are going to look into the New Testament under the

. 1.uidance of some distinguished scholars of Christianity.

I lcf i, : Vol. J. pp. Al:?. 6lJ

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2 THE CH Jl IST AS SEE:-,1 IN THE SOURCES OF THE CHRISTIAN BELIEFS
The General Features of the New Testament
The New Testament is an unhomogeneous supplement to the Old
Testament:
Frederic Grant says:
''The earliest Christians did not think of their sacred books as

forming a 'New' Testament (or the documentation of a new Cove-
nar.t) distinct from the Old : the two were one and the same and

continuous. 'The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms' (Luke
24 : 44) - or, better, as the third class, the 'Writings' - were
perfectly familiar to all Jews, including the Christian Jews in
Palestine and elsewhere, and also to all converted proselytes, who
already had been attached to the Jewish synagogue before their

conversion to Christianity. When the early Christian writings ap-
peared - Paul's epistles, which were read publicly at the

assemblies for worship (Col. 4 : 16), came first, then other
writings, epistles, homilies, and gospels - they were looked upon
as proper additions, supplementary to the lections from the Law
and the Prophets, which were read each week in both Jewish
synagogue and Christian Church.. When we turn to the New
Testament we do not expect to find a fixed and definite system of

doctrine, or a fully articulated �cheme or plan of Church organiza-
tion. Quite the contrary : we expect to find - and we do

find - anticipations·· suggestions that were never followed out,
tentative and experimental solutions that were destined to be
overlooked and forgotten in the onward-moving development of
the Church's life .•

It is, (the N.T.), of course, not all one uniform book, but a col-
lection. It represents not one sole dominating iew, but a variety of

views, so that one can trace with considerable accuracy the dif-
ferent directions in which Christian thought and feeling advanced,

as well as - with some limitations - the geographical and
numerical expansion of the Church, and also the stages in the
earliest development of the Church's theology and ethics, worship
and organization.' '
1

l Jlcf. 4 · pp. 12. IJ. 17.
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THE SOlJRCES OF HIE CHRISTIA� RELIEF<,
Views of the Christian Sects About
the New Testament
Gunter Lanczkowski writes:

3

"The doctrines which the various Churches and schools of
theological though! use, however, to establish the spiritual
authority of the New Testament, differ considerably one from the
other. The Roman Catholic Church holds fast to the doctrine of
Inspiration which was explicitly confirmed at the Vatican Council
held in Rome in 1869-70, according to which the canonical books
of the Old and New Testament were 'written under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, have God as their Author and as such have been
delivered to the Church.' Orthodox believers in the Protestant
Church also subscribe to the doctrine of Inspiration •• Liberal
Protestants regard the books of the New Testament as records of
che beginning of the Christian religion which are, like any other
ancient historical documents, open to scientific invescigacion and
philological criticism. "
1

The Orthodox believe, as Timothy Ware statts, that:
"The Bible is the supreme· expression of God's revelation to
man, and Christians must always be 'People of che Book' .. The
Orthodox Church hao; the same New Testament as the rest of
Christendoms. As its authoritative text for the Old Testament, it
uses the ancient Greek translation known as the Sep1•1agint..

Christianity, if true, has nothing to fear from honest inquiry. Or-
thodoxy, while regarding the Church as the authoritative inter-
preter of Scripture, does not forbid the critical and historical study

of the Bible, although hitherto Orthodox scholars have not been
prominent in chis field. "J
The Contents of the New Testament
According to Gunter Lanczkowski
"The New Testament contains the following 27 books : The
Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; The Acts of
the Aposdes;
>a�r. , , �--·
JR�f. 11 pp. �,.,
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4 HU- CHRl'.',T AS'iEI:� IN THESOURCESOFTHECHRISTIAS BELIEFS
The epistles of Paul to the Romans. Corinthians (2). Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians (2). lo Timothy
(2), Titus, Philemon and the Hebrews; The Catholic Epistle of
Peter (2), John (3), James and Jude;
The Revelation (Apocalypse) of John:
For 1he last 150 years scholars have recognised that the first three
gospels differ stylistically and materially from the gospel of John
and that they are closely related to one another. Because they nted
to be studied together they have been called the 'synoplic' gosprls.
Their contacts with one another are the basis of the 'theory of the
two sources' according to which the shortesl of the gospels. thal of
Mark, was used by the two longer ones and therfore represents one
of the sources of Matthew and Luke. Matthew and Luke also share
certain special material, however, consist.ing almost entirely of

words of Jesus. The material common to these two gospels is at-
tribuced to a second source which is described as a coUection of

sayings or speeches. The synoptic gospels are closely related both in
their structure and their subject maner. They owe their existence to
the overwhelming impact of the earthly life and message of Jcsus.
as transmitted by the Church. They choose the form of an itinerary

for their historical narrative.They link up Jesus's first public ap-
pearance with the work of John the Baptist, they describe his

travels through Galilee. they give an account of his preaching,
which reached its climax in the Seromn on the Mount. and of bis
miracles. Finally. they describe the journey to Jerusalem leading lo
his condemnation .. The synoptic gosples close with an account of

the appearances of the Risen lord. The message, which Jesus pro-
claims, partly in the form of parables is that of the imminent irrup-
tion of the kingdom of God, which he associates with the preaching

of John the Baptis, who said

'Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
(Matthew 3 : 2).
According to Jesus what is required is· a com_pletc 'change of
outlook and this can be broughr about only by following two great
commandments (Matthew 22, 31 ff; cf. Mark 12, 30 0:
'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy

whole soul and thy whole mind. This is ttae greatest of the com-
mandments and the first. And the second. its like. is this. Thou shalt

•
love thy neighbour as thy self.·
Jesus interprets his new commandment not as a depanure from
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THE SOORCESOFTHE CHRISTIAN BEL IHS 5
but as a fulfilment <,f the Old Testament Law (Matthew 5: 17):

'Do not think that I have come to set aside the law and the pro-
phets; I have not come to set them aside but 10 bring them to

perfection .. '
Five books of the New Testam.ent have co.me down to us under
the name of John : the Gospel, three Epistles, and the Revelation.
The Gospel and the first Epistle were probably written by the same
author. Since the end of the second century the Church has referred
to him as Jesus's favourite disciple. The Gospel according to John
is notably different from the synoptics. It contains no accounts of
the Nativity but begins with a prologue in which the origin of Jesus,
is traced to the eternity of God and in which he is described as the
Word made flesh, the Logos (1, 1-413 ).

 
The book is a book written by a researcher and thinker Ahmed Abdel Wahab in an objective way in which he takes a look at Jesus Christ, but a methodical view through the sources of Christian beliefs that brought us that picture, examines the truth of those sources about Christ by recounting his study in several articles Various books.
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