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Ross Clifford John Warwick Montgomery's Legal Ross Clifford is the Principal of Morling Theological Col- lege, Sydney. Prior to entering the Baptist Ministry he JOHN practised as a solicitor and barrister. He is the author of a Leading Lawyers’ Case for the Resurrection and co-au- WARWICK thor of Riding the Rollercoaster: How the Risen Christ Empowers Life, Jesus and the Gods of the New Age and MONTGOMERY’S Beyond Prediction. He is also a well known radio pre- senter. The subject of his doctoral thesis was John War- ROSS LEGAL wick Montgomery. CLIFFORD APOLOGETIC Dr Montgomery is one of our leading Christian apologists. His writings have An Apologetic for all Seasons influenced several generations of apologists from around the globe. His debates are legendary. This book purports to break new ground apologeti- cally as it assesses Dr Montgomery’s work. It focuses on his legal/historical apologetic and in the process reframes it for both for the ‘tough minded’ and the ‘tender hearted’. It shows not only the rationality of Montgomery’s work but also that his writings pave the way for an apologetic to New Age followers and to those who place experience before reason. A special fea- ture of this analysis concerns Montgomery’s apologetic insights on the oc- cult and paganism. This book also breaks new ground as the legal apologetic model has not been previously assessed; it illustrates that a juridical apologetic style has a rich history dating back to the Gospels themselves. The present work should thus be of particular interest to apologists, theologians, philoso- phers of religion, pastors, and all who are concerned to share the legal/ historical fact of the Resurrection of Jesus – together with its relevance – in a secular age. ISBN 3-938116-00-5 ISSN 1612-1171 Ross Clifford John Warwick Montgomery‘s Legal Apologetic Montgomery‘s Legal John Warwick Ross Clifford Christian Philosophy Today 5 Today Christian Philosophy 5 Today Christian Philosophy Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft (Culture and Science Publ.) Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher VKW VKW VKW Ross Clifford John Warwick Montgomery’s Legal Apologetic Christliche Philosophie heute Christian Philosophy Today Quomodo Philosophia Christianorum Hodie Estimatur Band 5 Band 1 John Warwick Montgomery Tractatus Logico-Theologicus Band 2 John Warwick Montgomery Hat die Weltgeschichte einen Sinn? Geschichtsphilosophien auf dem Prüfstand Band 3 John Warwick Montgomery Jésus: La raison rejoint l'histoire Band 4 Horst Waldemar Beck Marken dieses Äons Band 5 Ross Clifford John Warwick Montgomery’s Legal Apologetic John Warwick Montgomery John Warwick Montgomery’s Legal Apologetic An Apologetic for all Seasons Christian Philosophy Today 5 Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft Culture and Science Publ. Bonn 2004 Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP - Einheitsaufnahme Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar. Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de. © 2004 Dr. Ross Clifford eMail: [email protected] ISBN 3-938116-00-5 ISSN 1612-1171 (Christliche Philosophie heute) Satz: Beate Hebold Printed in Germany Umschlaggestaltung und Gesamtherstellung: BoD Beese Druck, Friedensallee 76, 22765 Hamburg Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft (Culture and Science Publ.) Friedrichstr. 38, 53111 Bonn Fax 0228/9650389 www.vkwonline.de/[email protected] Verlagsauslieferung: Hänssler Verlag 71087 Holzgerlingen, Tel. 07031/7414-177 Fax -119 www.haenssler.de/[email protected] Acknowledgments 5 Acknowledgments This writer would like to express appreciation to the following people who have aided me in this endeavour. This book is based on my doctoral thesis. Dr John Warwick Montgomery for providing me with materials, includ- ing his latest unpublished texts and for always being available to answer queries as I pursued this study. Also, for his encouragement to academi- cally evaluate the teaching of one’s mentors. His writings to me have been the ‘hound of heaven’. My doctoral supervisor throughout this study Dr Bill Andersen, who per- sonifies what it is to be a Christian academic. Two other doctoral super- visors worked with me for part of the time: Dr Graham Cole and Geoff Moore LL.M., Barrister-at-Law. Their valuable contribution is also much appreciated. The faculty, staff, and College Council members at Morling Theological College who were always encouraging. In particular Mrs Nancy Connell for her endless hours of typing and computer work; and Philip Johnson for his incessant probing. My wife Beverley whose encouragement, support and giving of her time in this project was invaluable, and my children Briony and Joel for their understanding. Contents Page 7 Contents Page Acknowledgments .............................................................................. 5 Contents Page ................................................................................... 7 Introduction .................................................................................... 11 Background and Focus of the Study ................................................ 11 Aims and Structure ........................................................................... 14 Limitations ........................................................................................ 16 Chapter 1 ......................................................................................... 19 Historical Background ...................................................................... 19 The Early Church ............................................................................. 19 Grotius, Sherlock, Greenleaf ............................................................ 21 Links to the Historical Apologetic ..................................................... 24 Common Sense ............................................................................... 26 Influence on General Christian and Non-Christian Apologetic Works ............................................... 27 A Fourfold Taxanomy ....................................................................... 32 General Observation ........................................................................ 40 The Model and its Development ...................................................... 41 Intended Audience ........................................................................... 45 Potential Difficulties .......................................................................... 46 New Development ............................................................................ 47 Epistemological Matters ................................................................... 48 Chapter 2 ......................................................................................... 57 The Evidence ................................................................................... 57 Documents ....................................................................................... 58 ‘Ancient Documents’ Rule ................................................................ 59 8 Contents Page Legal Hermeneutic ........................................................................... 72 Hearsay ............................................................................................ 80 Hostile Witnesses ............................................................................. 80 Multiple Hearsay .............................................................................. 82 First-Hand Admissible Hearsay – ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ Position ........................................................ 86 A Point for Further Research: Letter of James ............................... 102 Luke’s Gospel ................................................................................ 104 Non-Technical Legal Apologetic .................................................... 106 Chapter 3 ....................................................................................... 109 Testimony ....................................................................................... 109 The Competency and Truthfulness of a Witness ........................... 110 Limitations Surrounding Eyewitness Testimony ............................. 139 Things ............................................................................................ 144 Circumstantial Evidence ................................................................. 147 The Circumstantial Case ................................................................ 148 Reframing the Legal Apologetic ..................................................... 158 The Technical Apologetic ............................................................... 159 The Non-Technical Apologetic ....................................................... 162 ‘Commonly Agreed Facts’ Apologetic ............................................ 163 Chapter 4 ....................................................................................... 166 ‘New Spirituality’ ............................................................................. 166 Background to ‘New Spirituality’ ..................................................... 167 Apologetic Models in Relation to ‘New Spirituality’ ........................ 179 Montgomery’s ‘Incarnational’ Model ..............................................
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