Was Jesus relatively ignorant?

[marco]

Jesus had a lot to say on rules and behaviour but never made any useful comment on the state of knowledge around him. There is never a whisper of philosophy nor history nor suggested assistance with medicine. He showed no interest in the animal kingdom and displayed ignorance of botany. But he had read about Abraham and other Jewish heroes, and this seemed to be the full extent of his education.


Of course if he was no more than a rabbi, wide knowledge, while obviously useful, was not a necessity but would we regard as god-like somebody who was incapable of explaining some geometry or knew nothing of the rise of Rome? He seems to have used an unusual type of medicine to cure blindness, yet never thought of saying what it was. If the cure was miraculous, what was the purpose of the showmanship? It may have impressed the rabble then, but looks like trickery today.


So does Christ's apparent general ignorance reduce him to a mere preacher, very good with words?


Or do we simply say he was on a moral mission and all other things were irrelevant, despite the fact that here we are forced to involve ourselves in a variety of fields to get at truth?

[Tcg]

So does Christ's apparent general ignorance reduce him to a mere preacher, very good with words?

I'm not sure about his general ignorance reducing him to a preacher. I'm not sure he ever qualified for anything else, but yes, he was a mere preacher.

General ignorance doesn't disqualify one from being a preacher. Not much knowledge is needed for such a job.

All you need is to proclaim a problem and then of course claim to have the solution to the problem. It is better of course to proclaim a problem that can't be verified and also to provide a solution that will be provided in the future. Essentially, you want both the problem and the solution to be unverifiable.

Being good with words helps, but the main thing is an ability to arouse the emotions of the listeners. Once you accomplish that, they are ready to accept any solution the preacher claims will work.

So what if you get a few details of botany wrong or display nothing more than a common knowledge of the animal kingdom. No one will care as long as you promise some grand solution to a problem their emotions have led them to accept.

[marco]

General ignorance doesn't disqualify one from being a preacher. Not much knowledge is needed for such a job.

At no point have I disagreed with this. The point I was making is that if Jesus is seen to have only knowledge of Scripture and nothing much more then he may not to teh young god some think he is - just a very good preacher.

Being good with words helps, but the main thing is an ability to arouse the emotions of the listeners. Once you accomplish that, they are ready to accept any solution the preacher claims will work.

So what if you get a few details of botany wrong or display nothing more than a common knowledge of the animal kingdom. No one will care as long as you promise some grand solution to a problem their emotions have led them to accept.

That's fine. I wasn't saying that his preaching skills were degraded by his lack of general knowledge; rather they might be enhanced by his having concentrated on Scripture.


So we seem to be in agreement.

[bjs]

I would not have expected them to comment on Christ's ignorance in any area.

Ok, but the question of the moment is: Would you expect them to comment on Christs knowledge of geometry?

[marco]

Ok, but the question of the moment is: Would you expect them to comment on Christs knowledge of geometry?

I would be surprised if they knew what geometry was but I'd expect a God-man to know. I take it that Christ was patiently transmitting knowledge to simpletons, generally. We would deduce facts about Christ rather than have them given to us by his "biographers". Muhammad cleverly dictated his divine messages, possibly because he was able to see where Jesus failed. He also rebuked the Trinity, but Jesus forgot to mention it.

[bjs]

Ok, but the question of the moment is: Would you expect them to comment on Christs knowledge of geometry?

I would be surprised if they knew what geometry was but I'd expect a God-man to know. I take it that Christ was patiently transmitting knowledge to simpletons, generally. We would deduce facts about Christ rather than have them given to us by his "biographers". Muhammad cleverly dictated his divine messages, possibly because he was able to see where Jesus failed. He also rebuked the Trinity, but Jesus forgot to mention it.

While you answered many questions here, none of them where the one I asked. Would you expect them to comment on Christs knowledge of geometry? Or Roman history?

If so, why?

If not, how can you make any claims about Jesus apparent knowledge or ignorance of these topics?

[marco]

Ok, but the question of the moment is: Would you expect them to comment on Christs knowledge of geometry?

I would be surprised if they knew what geometry was but I'd expect a God-man to know. I take it that Christ was patiently transmitting knowledge to simpletons, generally. We would deduce facts about Christ rather than have them given to us by his "biographers". Muhammad cleverly dictated his divine messages, possibly because he was able to see where Jesus failed. He also rebuked the Trinity, but Jesus forgot to mention it.

While you answered many questions here, none of them where the one I asked. Would you expect them to comment on Christs knowledge of geometry? Or Roman history?

If so, why?

If not, how can you make any claims about Jesus apparent knowledge or ignorance of these topics?

I would not expect them to comment on stuff they did not understand. One would expect information to come from Christ; he was the designer, not the evangelists. But that may be the problem: if he is just a nice character built up by his writers, there is a large degree of fiction about him.


I would expect his intelligence in multiple areas to shine through, even via imperfect vehicles. I would expect them to comment on the extraordinary, on talents denied to them. We have a picture of a man immersed in Scripture.