All tracks

Theology & the Person of Christ

The divine, revelation, and the historical Jesus — studied with rigor

A Christian-centered study of the nature of God, revelation and authority, and the historical and theological significance of Jesus Christ. Sources are weighed by type — scripture, early-church writings, historical records, and modern scholarship — with theology clearly distinguished from historical analysis.

In focus
Nature and attributes of GodRevelation, authority, and truth claimsHistorical context of Jesus of NazarethChristology and the development of doctrineCanon formation and textual transmission
Guided modules
Key topics
Historical Analysis

What Can History Establish About Jesus?

The minimal facts most historians — across belief systems — accept about Jesus of Nazareth, and where history ends and theology begins.

Theological Interpretation

The Resurrection: Claim, Evidence, and Interpretation

Separating the historical data (early testimony, the empty-tomb tradition) from the theological conclusion that it was a divine act.

Historical Analysis

How the New Testament Canon Formed

The canon was recognized over centuries through use, apostolic association, and conciliar confirmation — not invented at a single meeting.

Scholarly Synthesis

How Early Did People Worship Jesus as Divine?

The evidence that devotion to Jesus as divine is strikingly early — and what that does and doesn't prove.

Historical Analysis

What Actually Happened at Nicaea?

Separating the popular myth of Nicaea (319 CE) from the documented history of the 325 council.

Theological Interpretation

Liar, Lunatic, or Lord — Is the Trilemma Valid?

Steelmanning and stress-testing C.S. Lewis's famous argument about who Jesus claimed to be.

Theological Interpretation

Old Testament Hope and the Suffering Servant

How texts like Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, and Daniel 7 are read messianically — and why the reading is contested.

Theological Interpretation

The Problem of Evil — The Hardest Question

The strongest objection to belief in a good, all-powerful God — and the major responses, honestly weighed.

Theological Interpretation

Faith and Reason — Enemies or Partners?

Whether faith is belief without evidence, or trust calibrated to evidence — and why the definition matters.

Theological Interpretation

The Passion: The Tribulation of Jesus Christ

An overview of the suffering and death of Jesus across Passion Week — what the Gospels narrate and how the four accounts relate.

Theological Interpretation

Gethsemane — The Agony in the Garden

Jesus' anguished prayer before arrest — and what it reveals about his humanity and his obedience.

Historical Analysis

The Trials of Jesus: Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod

The sequence of religious and Roman hearings — what each court charged, and what history can and cannot confirm.

Historical Analysis

Scourging and Roman Crucifixion

What Roman flogging and crucifixion actually involved — the physical reality behind the word 'cross.'

Theological Interpretation

The Seven Last Words from the Cross

The seven sayings of the crucified Jesus, harmonized from the four Gospels, and their meaning.

Theological Interpretation

The Atonement: Why the Cross?

The major theories of how Jesus' death 'saves' — and the fact that the church never dogmatized just one.

Theological Interpretation

The Gospel, Plainly Stated

What the word 'gospel' (good news) actually claims — its earliest summary and its core movements.

Theological Interpretation

The Great Commission and the Birth of Mission

The risen Christ's charge to make disciples — and why it shaped a global movement.

Theological Interpretation

The 'I AM' Sayings of John

John's distinctive 'I am' statements — metaphors of identity and an echo of the divine name.

Theological Interpretation

Prophecy and Fulfillment — Reading It Honestly

How the Gospels claim Jesus fulfills Hebrew scripture — and how to weigh such claims without special pleading.

Theological Interpretation

The Tribulation: Competing Views of the End

What 'the great tribulation' means across the major interpretive schools — preterist, historicist, futurist, idealist.

Historical Analysis

The Empty Tomb: Data and Debate

What historical arguments are actually made about the empty tomb — for and against — kept distinct from the faith claim.

Theological Interpretation

Alien Myths and Demon Truths: A Discernment Field Guide

The UFO/'alien' phenomenon examined through evidence, naturalistic explanation, and the historic Christian lens of spiritual deception — each kept distinct.

Complexities & Extended Research

This track refuses two easy shortcuts: the apologetic that treats faith claims as proven history, and the skepticism that treats theology as obvious fiction. The hard, interesting work lives in between — what manuscripts, hostile sources, and archaeology can establish; how doctrine developed through real argument (Nicaea, Chalcedon); and where the historical record genuinely runs out and confession begins.

Research threads
  • 01Early high Christology: did devotion to Jesus as divine erupt early (Hurtado, Bauckham) or develop late?
  • 02The historical reliability debate: Ehrman's textual caution vs. Bauckham's eyewitness case.
  • 03Atonement models: why the church defined the person of Christ but never dogmatized a single theory of the cross.
  • 04Eschatology: preterist, historicist, futurist, and idealist readings of the tribulation — and why date-setting fails.
  • 05Comparative reading: how Jewish and Christian interpretations of Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, and Daniel 7 diverge.
Open questions

How much of the passion narrative is early memory versus scriptural reflection? What best explains the disciples' transformation and the empty-tomb tradition? Where should confidence end and faith begin?

Source library
Gospel of John — The Word
John 1:1, 1:14 (ESV)
Isaiah 53 — The Suffering Servant
Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)
1 Corinthians 15 — Early Resurrection Creed
1 Corinthians 15:3–5 (ESV)
The Nicene Creed
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed
Josephus — Antiquities (Testimonium Flavianum)
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.63
Tacitus — Annals on the Christians
Tacitus, Annals 15.44
Ehrman — Misquoting Jesus
Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus (2005)
Bauckham — Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (2006)
Philippians 2 — The Christ Hymn
Philippians 2:6–11 (ESV)
Gospel of Mark — The Earliest Gospel
Mark 1:1, 1:11 (ESV)
Daniel 7 — The Son of Man
Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV)
Psalm 22 — The Forsaken Sufferer
Psalm 22:1, 16–18 (ESV)
The Chalcedonian Definition
Definition of Chalcedon (451)
Ignatius of Antioch — Letters
Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians 7
The Didache — Teaching of the Twelve
Didache 1.1
Pliny the Younger — Letter to Trajan
Pliny, Letters 10.96
Suetonius — Life of Claudius
Suetonius, Claudius 25
N.T. Wright — The Resurrection of the Son of God
Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (2003)
Larry Hurtado — Lord Jesus Christ
Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ (2003)
E.P. Sanders — The Historical Figure of Jesus
Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus (1993)
C.S. Lewis — Mere Christianity
Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952)
Gethsemane — 'Let this cup pass'
Matthew 26:38–39 (ESV)
The Last Supper — 'This is my body'
Luke 22:19–20 (ESV)
Before the Sanhedrin — 'I am'
Mark 14:61–62 (ESV)
Before Pilate — 'What is truth?'
John 18:37–38 (ESV)
The Crucifixion — 'It is finished'
John 19:30, 19:34 (ESV)
The Great Commission
Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)
John 3:16 — The Gospel in a Sentence
John 3:16 (ESV)
Romans — Sin, Grace, and Justification
Romans 3:23–24; 6:23 (ESV)
Hebrews — The Final Sacrifice
Hebrews 9:26; 10:14 (ESV)
The 'I AM' Claim
John 8:58–59 (ESV)
The Olivet Discourse — Tribulation Foretold
Matthew 24:21, 24:36 (ESV)
Revelation — The Great Tribulation
Revelation 7:14 (ESV)
The Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed
JAMA — On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ
JAMA 255(11), 1455–1463 (1986)
Raymond Brown — The Death of the Messiah
Brown, The Death of the Messiah (1994)
Ephesians 6 — The Unseen Battle
Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)
Veritas — Truth-First

Rigorous, source-backed inquiry across theology, power, wellness, and AI. Every claim is labeled by evidence type.

Operating Principles
  • Evidence separated from interpretation
  • Strongest counterarguments, never strawmen
  • Explicit about uncertainty and source quality
Use AI as a Tool

The AI Detective assists your reasoning — it is not an authority to obey. Verify high-impact claims independently.

Made with Emergent