Christian Argument from Prophecy Debunked

Did Jesus fulfill prophecy? The gospels certainly wanted early Christians to think that. That argument is made today in many evangelical circles. But does it hold water? Religious scholar, Robert J. Miller, says that it is time for Christians to retire the argument from prophecy. He shows how the gospel writers manipulated prophecies by taking them out of context, changing them, inventing them, and even creating fictional narratives about Jesus based on them to show that Jesus fulfilled prophecy.  Miller shows that the New Testament writers “helped” Jesus fulfill prophecy in order to “prove” that Christians replaced Jews as God’s people. According to Miller, the argument from prophecy is circular, not convincing, and unnecessary. It also has left a long legacy of antisemitism. Robert J. Miller is Rosenberger Professor of Religious Studies and Christian Thought at Juniata College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Jesus Seminar and Its Critics and Born Divine: The Births of Jesus and Other Sons of God. He is also editor of The Complete Gospels (Fourth Edition). His latest book that we will discuss today is called Helping Jesus Fulfill Prophecy.