The Greatest Apologist Who Ever Lived: Jesus Christ

Hello everyone! This week's series stems from a comment I once heard Dr. JP Moreland make while attending an apologetics conference:

"Jesus Christ is the smartest man who ever lived."

I must confess, up until that time, I had not thought of Jesus Christ as an intellectual. I thought of Him as Savior; I thought of Him as "meek and mild;" but I never thought of Him as "the smartest man who ever lived."

Since then, I have come across numerous resources that present Jesus as a master apologist, philosopher, and logician.

As Dr. Moreland stated in his message, [the message provided here is not exactly like the one I heard, but similar] the church has lost this view of Jesus and the consequences have been numerous. Sincere questioners have been discouraged from thinking about their faith and feelings have been elevated above good, sound thinking. As Moreland puts it, "It should be a both/and."

This week, our goal is to present various articles and lectures that hopefully serve to restore a valid, actual view of Jesus as an intellectual. Perhaps you have never viewed Jesus as an "intellectual;" I pray that this week's series will challenge you. After all, if Jesus Christ truly is God's own Son, it logically follows that He is "the smartest man who ever lived..."

To kick off this series, we offer an article from philosopher Doug Groothuis entitled, Jesus: Philosopher and Apologist [PDF file] or here.

Added 6-16-09

Also, check out another article by Groothuis entitled What would Jesus Think?

Enjoy!

Courage and Godspeed,
Chad

Note to readers:

We plan on continuing the "Apologist Profiles" series next week. This week, we want to focus on THE Apologist!