Lewis's trilemma
Encyclopedia
Lewis' Trilemma is an argument intended to prove the divinity of Jesus
. It was popularised by C. S. Lewis
in a BBC radio talk and in his writings. It is sometimes summarized either as "Lunatic, Liar, or Lord", or as "Mad, Bad, or God".
in his book Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity (1846), based on lectures delivered in 1844. Another early use of this approach was by the Scots preacher "Rabbi" John Duncan
(1796–1870), around 1859-60:
Other preachers who used this approach included Reuben Archer Torrey (1856–1928) and W. E. Biederwolf (1867–1939).
medieval
historian, popular writer
, and Christian apologist. He popularised the argument
outlined above in a series of BBC
radio talks later published as the book Mere Christianity
.
Lewis's trilemma is based on the view that, in his words and deeds, Jesus was asserting a claim to be God. For example, in Mere Christianity
, Lewis refers to what he says are Jesus' claims:
Lewis argues that these claims logically exclude the possibility that Jesus was merely "a great moral teacher" because he believes that no one making such claims could possibly be rationally or morally reliable, unless he were God. Elsewhere, Lewis refers to this argument as "the aut Deus aut malus homo" ("either God or a bad man"), a reference to an earlier version of the argument used by Henry Parry Liddon
in his 1866 Bampton Lectures
in which he argued for the divinity of Jesus based on a number of grounds, including the claims he believed Jesus made.
since Lewis, notably by writers like Josh McDowell
. Peter Kreeft
describes the trilemma as "the most important argument in Christian apologetics" and it forms a major part of the first talk in the Alpha Course
and the book based on it, Questions of Life by Nicky Gumbel
. Ronald Reagan also used this argument in 1978, in a written reply to a liberal Methodist minister who said that he did not believe Jesus was the son of God. A variant has also been quoted by Bono
. The Lewis version has been cited by Charles Colson
as the basis of his conversion to Christianity. Stephen Davis, a supporter of Lewis and of this argument, argues that it can show belief in the Incarnation as rational.
, 'there could be a fourth option – legend'. N. T. Wright commented that Lewis's argument "doesn't work as history, and it backfires dangerously when historical critics question his reading of the Gospels.".
: a widespread objection is that the statements by Jesus recorded in the Gospels are being misinterpreted, and do not constitute claims to divinity.
In a criticism of Lewis's approach in his bestselling 1963 book, Honest to God
, John A. T. Robinson, then Bishop of Woolwich, questioned the idea that Jesus intended to claim divinity: "It is, indeed, an open question whether Jesus claimed to be Son of God, let alone God.". John Hick
, writing in 1993, argued that this 'once popular form of apologetic' was ruled out by changes in New Testament studies, citing 'broad agreement' that scholars do not today support the view that Jesus claimed to be God, quoting as examples Michael Ramsey
(1980), C. F. D. Moule
(1977), James Dunn
(1980), Brian Hebblethwaite (1985) and David Brown (1985). According to Gerd Lüdemann
the broad consensus among a number of New Testament scholars is that the proclamation of the divinity of Jesus was a development within the earliest Christian communities. Larry Hurtado, who argues that the followers of Jesus within a very short period developed an exceedingly high level of devotional reverence to Jesus, at the same time rejects the view that Jesus made a claim to messiahship or divinity to his disciples during his life as 'naive and ahistorical'. N. T. Wright says the 'trilemma' argument lacks historical context, oversimplifying first century Judaism's understanding of the nature of God's dealings with his people. Wright points out that arguments over the claims of Jesus regarding divinity have been passed over by more recent scholarship, which sees a more complex understanding of the idea of God in first century Judaism.
cites this as a reason why he believes it is an unsound argument for Christianity. In response, Peter Kreeft
and Ronald Tacelli have expanded the argument into a tetralemma (Lord, Liar, Lunatic or Legend
) — or a pentalemma, accommodating the option that Jesus was a guru
, who believed himself to be God in the sense that everything is divine.
The False Trilemma rebuttal is famously (at least, considering the fame of the book itself) referred to in Richard Dawkins
' The God Delusion
, where he claims that another interpretation, "almost too obvious to need mentioning, is that Jesus was honestly mistaken"; although, this statement could, itself, be said to obviously conflict with the book's title, which seems to suggest that any belief in God (in whatever form) is a delusion (i.e. the 'mad' in "Mad, Bad or God" applied to all theists), this stance is taken in Nicky Gumbel
's short book Is God a delusion?.
Incarnation (Christianity)
The Incarnation in traditional Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity, also known as God the Son or the Logos , "became flesh" by being conceived in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary, also known as the Theotokos .The Incarnation is a fundamental theological...
. It was popularised by C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
in a BBC radio talk and in his writings. It is sometimes summarized either as "Lunatic, Liar, or Lord", or as "Mad, Bad, or God".
History
This argument was widely cited in various forms in the nineteenth century. It was used by the American preacher Mark HopkinsMark Hopkins (educator)
Mark Hopkins was an American educator and theologian.-Life and career:Great-nephew of the theologian Samuel Hopkins, Mark Hopkins was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts...
in his book Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity (1846), based on lectures delivered in 1844. Another early use of this approach was by the Scots preacher "Rabbi" John Duncan
John Duncan (theologian)
John Duncan , also known as Rabbi Duncan, was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, a missionary to the Jews in Hungary, and Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages at New College, Edinburgh. He is best remembered for his aphorisms.-Life:Duncan was born in Gilcomston, Aberdeen, the son of...
(1796–1870), around 1859-60:
"Christ either deceived mankind by conscious fraud, or He was Himself deluded and self-deceived, or He was Divine. There is no getting out of this trilemma. It is inexorable."
Other preachers who used this approach included Reuben Archer Torrey (1856–1928) and W. E. Biederwolf (1867–1939).
Lewis's formulation
C. S. Lewis was an OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
historian, popular writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and Christian apologist. He popularised the argument
Argument
In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...
outlined above in a series of BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio talks later published as the book Mere Christianity
Mere Christianity
Mere Christianity is a theological book by C. S. Lewis, adapted from a series of BBC radio talks made between 1941 and 1944, while Lewis was at Oxford during World War II...
.
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of GodSon of God"Son of God" is a phrase which according to most Christian denominations, Trinitarian in belief, refers to the relationship between Jesus and God, specifically as "God the Son"...
, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ... Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God."
Lewis's trilemma is based on the view that, in his words and deeds, Jesus was asserting a claim to be God. For example, in Mere Christianity
Mere Christianity
Mere Christianity is a theological book by C. S. Lewis, adapted from a series of BBC radio talks made between 1941 and 1944, while Lewis was at Oxford during World War II...
, Lewis refers to what he says are Jesus' claims:
- to have authority to forgive sins—behaving as if he really was "the person chiefly offended in all offences."
- to have always existed, and
- to intend to come back to judge the world at the end of time.
Lewis argues that these claims logically exclude the possibility that Jesus was merely "a great moral teacher" because he believes that no one making such claims could possibly be rationally or morally reliable, unless he were God. Elsewhere, Lewis refers to this argument as "the aut Deus aut malus homo" ("either God or a bad man"), a reference to an earlier version of the argument used by Henry Parry Liddon
Henry Parry Liddon
Henry Parry Liddon was an English theologian.- Biography :The son of a naval captain, he was born at North Stoneham, near Eastleigh, Hampshire. He was educated at King's College School, and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated, taking a second class, in 1850...
in his 1866 Bampton Lectures
Bampton Lectures
The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton,. They have taken place since 1780.They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have typically been biennial. They continue to concentrate on Christian theological...
in which he argued for the divinity of Jesus based on a number of grounds, including the claims he believed Jesus made.
Influence
The trilemma has been further popularised in Christian apologeticsChristian apologetics
Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views...
since Lewis, notably by writers like Josh McDowell
Josh McDowell
Joslin "Josh" McDowell is a Christian apologist, evangelist, and writer. He is within the Evangelical tradition of Protestant Christianity, and is the author or co-author of some 77 books. His best-known book is Evidence That Demands a Verdict, which was ranked 13th in Christianity Today's list of...
. Peter Kreeft
Peter Kreeft
Peter John Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College, and author of numerous books as well as a popular writer on philosophy, Christian theology, and specifically Catholic apologetics. He also formulated together with Ronald K. Tacelli, SJ, "Twenty...
describes the trilemma as "the most important argument in Christian apologetics" and it forms a major part of the first talk in the Alpha Course
Alpha course
The Alpha course is a course which seeks to explore the basics of the Christian faith, described as "an opportunity to explore the meaning of life" . Alpha courses are currently being run in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and a wide variety of other locations...
and the book based on it, Questions of Life by Nicky Gumbel
Nicky Gumbel
Nicholas Glyn Paul Gumbel is an ordained Anglican priest, vicar and author. He is most famous as the developer of the Alpha course, a basic introduction to Christianity supported by churches of many Christian traditions....
. Ronald Reagan also used this argument in 1978, in a written reply to a liberal Methodist minister who said that he did not believe Jesus was the son of God. A variant has also been quoted by Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
. The Lewis version has been cited by Charles Colson
Charles Colson
Charles Wendell "Chuck" Colson is a Christian leader, cultural commentator, and former Special Counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973....
as the basis of his conversion to Christianity. Stephen Davis, a supporter of Lewis and of this argument, argues that it can show belief in the Incarnation as rational.
Criticisms
Writing of the argument’s “almost total absence from discussions about the status of Jesus professional theologians and biblical scholars”, Davis comments that it “is often severely criticized, both by people who do and by people who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus”.False premises
Another frequent criticism is the claim that the statements and actions referred to by Lewis were actually an invention of the early Christian movement, seeking to glorify Jesus. According to Bart EhrmanBart D. Ehrman
Bart D. Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar, currently the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill....
, 'there could be a fourth option – legend'. N. T. Wright commented that Lewis's argument "doesn't work as history, and it backfires dangerously when historical critics question his reading of the Gospels.".
Ambiguous terms
The trilemma rests on the interpretation of New Testament authors' depiction of JesusNew Testament view on Jesus' life
The four canonical gospels of the New Testament are the primary sources of information for the doctrinal Christian narrative of the life of Jesus. There is not a single New Testament "view" on the life of Jesus, the four Canonical gospels tell different but connected stories...
: a widespread objection is that the statements by Jesus recorded in the Gospels are being misinterpreted, and do not constitute claims to divinity.
In a criticism of Lewis's approach in his bestselling 1963 book, Honest to God
Honest to God
Honest to God is a book written by the Anglican Bishop of Woolwich John A.T. Robinson, criticising traditional Christian theology. It aroused a storm of controversy on its original publication by SCM Press in 1963...
, John A. T. Robinson, then Bishop of Woolwich, questioned the idea that Jesus intended to claim divinity: "It is, indeed, an open question whether Jesus claimed to be Son of God, let alone God.". John Hick
John Hick
Professor John Harwood Hick is a philosopher of religion and theologian. In philosophical theology, he has made contributions in the areas of theodicy, eschatology, and Christology, and in the philosophy of religion he has contributed to the areas of epistemology of religion and religious...
, writing in 1993, argued that this 'once popular form of apologetic' was ruled out by changes in New Testament studies, citing 'broad agreement' that scholars do not today support the view that Jesus claimed to be God, quoting as examples Michael Ramsey
Michael Ramsey
Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury PC was the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and was in office from June 1961 to 1974.-Career:...
(1980), C. F. D. Moule
C. F. D. Moule
Charles Francis Digby Moule CBE FBA , known to his friends as Charlie but professionally by his initials C. F. D. Moule, was an Anglican priest and theologian...
(1977), James Dunn
James Dunn (theologian)
James D. G. Dunn was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at the University of Durham. Since his retirement he has been made Emeritus Lightfoot Professor. He is a leading British New Testament scholar, broadly in the Protestant tradition. Dunn is...
(1980), Brian Hebblethwaite (1985) and David Brown (1985). According to Gerd Lüdemann
Gerd Lüdemann
Gerd Lüdemann , is a German New Testament scholar. He taught this subject from 1983 to 1999 at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Göttingen. Since 1999 he has taught there with a special status as Chair of History and Literature of Early Christianity...
the broad consensus among a number of New Testament scholars is that the proclamation of the divinity of Jesus was a development within the earliest Christian communities. Larry Hurtado, who argues that the followers of Jesus within a very short period developed an exceedingly high level of devotional reverence to Jesus, at the same time rejects the view that Jesus made a claim to messiahship or divinity to his disciples during his life as 'naive and ahistorical'. N. T. Wright says the 'trilemma' argument lacks historical context, oversimplifying first century Judaism's understanding of the nature of God's dealings with his people. Wright points out that arguments over the claims of Jesus regarding divinity have been passed over by more recent scholarship, which sees a more complex understanding of the idea of God in first century Judaism.
Invalid logical form
One criticism raised is that Lewis is creating a false dilemma by insisting that only three options are possible. Philosopher John Beversluis comments that "he deprives his readers of numerous alternate interpretations of Jesus that carry with them no such odious implications". Philosopher and theologian William Lane CraigWilliam Lane Craig
William Lane Craig is an American analytic philosopher, philosophical theologian, and Christian apologist. He is known for his work on the philosophy of time and the philosophy of religion, specifically the existence of God and the defense of Christian theism...
cites this as a reason why he believes it is an unsound argument for Christianity. In response, Peter Kreeft
Peter Kreeft
Peter John Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College, and author of numerous books as well as a popular writer on philosophy, Christian theology, and specifically Catholic apologetics. He also formulated together with Ronald K. Tacelli, SJ, "Twenty...
and Ronald Tacelli have expanded the argument into a tetralemma (Lord, Liar, Lunatic or Legend
Jesus as myth
The term Jesus myth theory in its broadest context refers to the idea that the person named Jesus referred in the Gospels is a myth....
) — or a pentalemma, accommodating the option that Jesus was a guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
, who believed himself to be God in the sense that everything is divine.
The False Trilemma rebuttal is famously (at least, considering the fame of the book itself) referred to in Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
' The God Delusion
The God Delusion
The God Delusion is a 2006 bestselling non-fiction book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, professorial fellow of New College, Oxford, and inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that...
, where he claims that another interpretation, "almost too obvious to need mentioning, is that Jesus was honestly mistaken"; although, this statement could, itself, be said to obviously conflict with the book's title, which seems to suggest that any belief in God (in whatever form) is a delusion (i.e. the 'mad' in "Mad, Bad or God" applied to all theists), this stance is taken in Nicky Gumbel
Nicky Gumbel
Nicholas Glyn Paul Gumbel is an ordained Anglican priest, vicar and author. He is most famous as the developer of the Alpha course, a basic introduction to Christianity supported by churches of many Christian traditions....
's short book Is God a delusion?.