miracles, and who believed that people's eternal destiny hinged on whether or not they believed in him." Then he added a remark that's especially startling: "The clues sufficient for a high Christological self-understanding of Jesus are present even in the attenuated twenty percent of Jesus' sayings recognized by the members of the Jesus Seminar as authentic." The evidence for concluding that Jesus intended to stand in the very place of God is "absolutely convincing," concurred theologian Royce Gordon Gruenler. So extraordinary is Jesus' assertion, said Craig, that inevitably the issue of his sanity has to come up. He notes that after James Dunn completed his own epic study of this issue, Dunn was compelled to comment, "One last question cannot be ignored: Was Jesus mad?" At the airport in Lexington, waiting for my flight back to Chicago, I dropped coins into a pay phone and called for an appointment to interview one of the country's leading experts on psychology. It was time to find out. Deliberations Questions for Reflection or Group Study 1. What, do you think, are some reasons why Jesus was evasive in disclosing who he was to the public? Can you imagine some ways in which an early proclamation of his deity could have harmed his mission? 2. What are some of the difficulties we face in determining what historical figures thought about themselves? What clues would you find most helpful in trying to determine this? Why did the clues offered by Witherington convince or fail to persuade you that Jesus thought he was God and the Messiah? 3. Jesus taught his disciples to use the term "Abba," or "Dearest Father," in addressing God. What does this tell you about Jesus' relationship with the Father? Is that kind of relationship attractive to you? Why or why not? For Further Evidence More Resources on This Topic Craig, William Lane. "The Self-Understanding of Jesus." In Reasonable Faith, by William Lane Craig, 233-54. Westchester, Ill.: Crossway, 1994. Marshall, I. Howard. The Origins of New Testatnent Christology. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1976. Moule, C. F. D. The Origins of Christology. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1977. Witherington, Ben, III. The Christology of jesus. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990.
Was jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God? When a psychologist or psychiatrist testifies, he shall wear a cone-shaped hat that is not less than two feet tall. The surface of the hat shall be imprinted with stars and lightning bolts. Additionally, he shall be required to don a white beard that is not less than eighteen inches in length and shall punctuate crucial elements of his testimony by stabbing the air with a wand. Whenever a psychologist or psychiatrist provides testimony, the bailiff shall contemporaneously dim the courtroom lights and administer two strikes to a Chinese gong. By suggesting this amendment to the state statutes in 1997, New Mexico state senator Duncan Scott left no doubt about his attitude toward experts who testify that defendants are insane and therefore not legally responsible for their crimes. Apparently, Scott's cynicism was shared by a majority of his colleagues-they voted to approve his tongue-in-cheek proposal! The joke got as far as the House of Representatives, which eventually blocked it from becoming law.' Admittedly, there's an undercurrent of skepticism in courthouses over psychiatrists and psychologists who testify concerning the mental state of defendants, their ability to cooperate with their attorney in preparing their defense, and whether they were legally insane at the time they committed their crime. Even so, most lawyers recognize that mental health professionals offer important insights for the criminal justice system. I recall a case in which a mild-mannered housewife stood accused of murdering her husband. At first glance she appeared no different from anybody's mother-well dressed, pleasant, kindly, looking as if she had just emerged from baking a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies for the neighborhood children. I scoffed when a psychologist testified she was mentally unable to stand trial. Then her lawyer put her on the witness stand. Initially her testimony was clear, rational, and lucid. However, slowly it became more and more bizarre as she described, calmly and with great seriousness, how she had been assaulted by a succession of famous individuals, including Dwight Eisenhower and the ghost of Napoleon. By the time she finished, nobody in the courtroom doubted that she was totally out of touch with reality. The judge committed her to a mental institution until she was well enough to face the charges against her. Looks can be deceiving. It's the psychologist's job to peer beneath the defendant's veneer and draw conclusions concerning his or her mental condition. It's an inexact science, which means mistakes and even abuses can occur, but overall psychological testimony provides important safeguards for defendants. How does all this relate to Jesus? In the preceding chapter Dr. Ben Witherington III offered convincing evidence that even the earliest material about Jesus showed he was claiming to be God incarnate. That naturally raises the issue of whether Jesus was crazy when he made those assertions. In search of an expert's assessment of Jesus' mental state, I drove to a suburban Chicago office building to elicit testimony from one of the country's leading authorities on psychological issues.
With a master's degree in psychology from the University of Toronto and a doctorate in clinical psychology from Purdue University, Collins has been studying, teaching, and writing about human behavior for thirty-five years. He was a professor of psychology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for two decades, most of that time as chairman of its psychology division. A live wire with boundless energy and enthusiasm, Collins is a prolific author. He has written nearly 150 articles for journals and other periodicals and currently is editor of Christian Counseling Today and contributing editor of the Journal of Psychology and Theology. He also has produced an astounding forty-five books on psychology-related topics, including The Magnificent Mind; Family 146 THE CASE FOR CHRIST Shock; Can You Trust Psychology?; and the classic textbook Christian Counseling: A Comprehensive Guide. In addition, he was general editor of the thirty-volume Resourcesfor Christian Counseling, a series of books for mental health professionals. I found Collins in his bright and airy office at the American Association of Christian Counselors, a fifteen-thousand-member society of which he is the president. With salt-and-pepper hair and silverrimmed glasses, he was looking dapper in a maroon turtleneck sweater, herringbone sports jacket, and gray slacks (but sorry, no pointy hat or flowing white beard). I started our interview by gesturing out the window, where snow was gently falling on evergreen trees. "A few miles in that direction is a state mental institution," I said. "If we were to go over there, I'm sure we'd find some people who claim that they're God. We'd say they were insane. Jesus said he was God-was he crazy, too?" "If you want the short answer," Collins said with a chuckle, "it's no." But, I insisted, this is a legitimate topic that's worthy of further analysis. Experts say that people suffering from delusional psychosis may appear rational much of the time yet can have grandiose beliefs that they are superlative individuals. Some can even attract followers who believe they're geniuses. Maybe that's what happened with Jesus, I suggested. "Well, it's true that people with psychological difficulties will often claim to be somebody they're not," Collins replied as he clasped his hands behind his head. "They'll sometimes claim to be Jesus himself or the president of the United States or someone else famouslike Lee Strobel," he quipped. "However," he continued, "psychologists don't just look at what a person says. They'll go much deeper than that. They'll look at a person's emotions, because disturbed individuals frequently show inappropriate depression, or they might be vehemently angry, or perhaps they're plagued with anxiety. But look at Jesus: he never demonstrated inappropriate emotions. For instance, he cried at the death of his friend Lazarus-that's natural for an emotionally healthy individual." "He certainly got angry at times," I asserted. "Yes, he did, but it was a healthy kind of anger at people taking advantage of the downtrodden by lining their pockets at the temple. He wasn't just irrationally ticked off because someone was annoying him; this was a righteous reaction against injustice and the blatant mistreatment of people. Other deluded people will have misperceptions," he added. "They think people are watching them or are trying to get them when they're not. They're out of contact with reality. They misperceive the actions of other people and accuse them of doing things they have no intention of ever doing. Again, we don't see this in Jesus. He was obviously in contact with reality. He wasn't paranoid, although he rightfully understood that there were some very real dangers around him. Or people with psychological difficulties may have thinking disorders-they can't carry on a logical conversation, they'll jump to faulty conclusions, they're irrational. We don't see this in Jesus. He spoke clearly, powerfully, and eloquently. He was brilliant and had absolutely amazing insights into human nature. Another sign of mental disturbances is unsuitable behavior, such as dressing oddly or being unable to relate socially to others. Jesus' behavior was quite in line with what would be expected, and he had deep and abiding relationships with a wide variety of people from different walks of life." He paused, although I sensed he wasn't finished yet. I prompted him to continue by asking, "What else do you observe about him?" Collins gazed out the window at the beautiful and peaceful snowblanketed landscape. When he resumed, it was as if he were reminiscing about an old friend. "He was loving but didn't let his compassion immobilize him; he didn't have a bloated ego, even though he was often surrounded by adoring crowds; he maintained balance despite an often demanding lifestyle; he always knew what he was doing and where he was going; he cared deeply about people, including women and children, who weren't seen as being important back then; he was able to accept people while not merely winking at their sin; he responded to individuals based on where they were at and what they uniquely needed." "So, Doctor-your diagnosis?" I asked. "All in all, I just don't see signs that Jesus was suffering from any known mental illness," he concluded, adding with a smile, "He was much healthier than anyone else I know-including me!"
"RAVING MAD"