A few years ago, a large-scale opinion poll revealed that about 40% of adults in the UK were either unsure whether Jesus was a real person from history or firmly convinced he wasn’t (i.e. that his story is basically fiction). In his book, “The God Delusion,” Oxford University’s atheist professor of biology, Richard Dawkins, wrote a short paragraph about Jesus which included a phrase something like, “if he ever existed.” So what are we to make of this? Are we finally waking up to things our forebears got wrong? Has science finally exposed the Jesus myth for what it is?
Professor John Dixon thinks not. After starting out as a singer-songwriter, he now works as a writer, speaker, historian and media presenter (as well as being an ordained Anglican minister). He has an honours degree in theology from Moore Theological College Sydney, and a PhD in history from Macquarie University, and having held a position in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University from 2015-2023, he currently holds the Jean Kvamme Distinguished Chair at Wheaton College, Illinois.
We’re pleased to have access to a four episode TV series that Professor Dixon created to accompany a book he wrote in 2008. Called The Christ Files, it examines Christianity’s claims in the light of history, looking at a wealth of ancient sources and explaining how mainstream scholars – whether or not they claim to be Christian – reach their conclusions about history’s most influential figure, Jesus of Nazareth.
We’d be delighted to share this material with you. The discussion series has four sessions – weekly on Wednesday evenings from 8pm, starting on 9th September. It is free to attend, but places are limited. Reserve your place at this link.
