According to the New Testament Gospels, the death of Jesus was accompanied by all sorts of signs and wonders, including supernatural happenings connected with the temple in Jerusalem. But is there any evidence outside the New Testament that any of these events really happened? As it turns out, there could be. That’s what Garrick and Timothy explore in this episode with renowned New Testament scholar Dr. Rob Plummer. In the second half, Garrick and Timothy go looking for God’s truth in Don McLean’s classic song “American Pie.”
In this Episode
Robert Plummer, Ph.D., is professor of New Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and host of the Daily Dose of Greek screencast. He is the author or editor of several books, including Going Deeper with New Testament Greek (B&H, 2016) and 40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible (Kregel, 2010). Follow Dr. Plummer on Twitter at @dailygreek.
Questions to Discuss
1. When it comes to the events that accompanied the death of Jesus, the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—claim that the sun was darkened, the earth shook, and the veil in the temple was torn in two. What was this curtain and why can’t we go see it today?
2. Is there any evidence in Jewish rabbinic writings that any of these miraculous events really happened?
3. What about other sources outside the New Testament? Do they say anything about extraordinary events around the time of the death of Jesus?
Links to Click
Josephus: The Essential Works: book by Josephus
NIV Archaeological Study Bible: study Bible by Zondervan
Something Awry in the Temple?: article by Robert Plummer
The Veil of the Temple in History and Legend: article by Daniel Gurtner
American Pie: song by Don McLean
That’ll Be the Day: song by Buddy Holly
'American Pie' Lyrics Sell for $1.2 Million: news by CNN
Under My Thumb: song by The Rolling Stones at Altamont '69
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The Closing Credits
Three Chords and the Truth: The Apologetics Podcast thanks B&H Academic for their sponsorship. Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by the band Vegan Friendly—even though neither Garrick nor Timothy has ever been vegan friendly. Brief excerpts of music played in the second half of each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. "The fair use of a copyrighted work ... for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, ... scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright" (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use).
Robert Plummer: Historical Evidence for Supernatural Signs at the Death of Jesus + “American Pie” (Don McLean)