Dearborn — “Striving as hard as possible to get to the truth” was how philosophy professor David Skrbina described the Jan. 30 debate between himself and theology professor Peter Williamson on the topic “Is Jesus a Fiction?”

Skrbina, a faculty member at the College of Arts, Sciences and Letters at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, represented an atheist position for the purposes of the debate, though he said he identifies more directly with Spinoza pantheism.

Williamson, the Adam Cardinal Maida Chair in Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, held the opposing position of “theist,” as he is a Catholic.

Both debaters agreed to keep a cordial tone throughout the event, which was sponsored by the Secular Student Alliance, Ratio Christi and the Philosophy Club at the university.

The first question of the debate was “Is Jesus (Issa) a fiction, or is the New Testament historically true?” with Issa being the Islamic name for Jesus.

In response to the first question, Skrbina said there is too little non-Christian evidence to support the story of Jesus “for virtually the entire first century,” which strongly suggested that Jesus was not the Son of God.

Williamson agreed that Jesus’ claim of being the Son of God would be “a rather wicked thing to do if you were not who you said you are.”

He said, though, that the ancient manuscripts referencing Christianity are significantly more reliable than Skrbina had made them out to be.

“These writings in the New Testament are the very best-attested of any documents of ancient literature,” said Williamson, citing the 5,700 copies in Greek and 10,000 in Latin dated from 40-100 A.D.

Skrbina said he believes Jesus was an actual person, but that his fame came from being “part of the movement to fight back against the Roman rule.”

He cited Nietzsche, who referred to Christianity as “the one immortal blot on mankind,” and said the early Christians were responsible for the eventual downfall of the Roman Empire.

Williamson pointed out that Jesus told his followers to obey the Roman rule, quoting Jesus’ command to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” by making sure to pay their taxes, but rendering to God what is God’s, by loving and respecting God.

Skrbina said that though he disagrees with the majority of the Christian message, he does find one portion of the New Testament inspiring. He quoted Matthew 5:14, which is a part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus said “You are the light of the world.”

Igor Middlebrook, a graduate student at Wayne State University, attended the debate and thought it was well done.

“I think they did a nice job,” said Middlebrook, who is an atheist. “I’m glad they were so up front about their beliefs,” he added.

Samantha Baldwin, a student at Eastern Michigan University, said she only recently became a Christian and thought the debate was “awesome.”

“Usually we Christians are perceived as kind of biased in our opinions but (Williamson) seemed very open,” she said. “I still have my own fears and doubts, and I thought I’d relate more to the opposing side but I didn’t.”

Speaking later with The Michigan Catholic, Williamson said he believes the debate was worthwhile, adding the Pope Francis has called for — and participated in — similar dialogue.

“We’re called to talk to people who have different opinions than us,” he added, saying he feels a personal liking for Skrbina.

“I prayed for him a lot and I prayed for him afterwards, and for the secular students and the Muslim students,” Williamson said. “It’s all about winning hearts and minds. It’s not just about refuting error; that could make us arrogant. Our goal is to win our opponents to friendship with Christ.”

 

Watch the debate

See the first video in a series of three videos recorded from Peter Williamson and David Skrbina’s debate at University of Michigan-Dearborn at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzBZgcUQy60.