Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 18:2 (Nov 2021)
Article: Simon Greenleaf (Part Two): Nineteenth Century Reception Of His Apologetic
Author: Phillip E. Johnson

Simon Greenleaf (Part Two):
Nineteenth Century Reception Of His Apologetic

Philip Johnson

Philip Johnson is a visiting lecturer in apologetics at Morling College, New South Wales. He is the co-author of several books including Taboo or To Do?, The Cross is Not Enough, Beyond the Burning Times, and Jesus and the gods of the new age. He has previously contributed to the Global Journal of Classical Theology.

Abstract: Folklore surrounding Simon Greenleaf’s conversion from scepticism to Christianity at Harvard was evaluated in Part One. Greenleaf’s juridical apologia, The Testimony of the Evangelists, is discussed against its intellectual background: cross-fertilising of interdisciplinary ideas, Deism, and Common Sense philosophy. The discussion proceeds to a representative survey of Testimony’s critical reception in the theological academy and its rejection by Swedenborgian apologists. Toward the close of the discussion it is proposed that Greenleaf’s work may also be appreciated in its own time through the prism of Wittgensteinian motifs of verification and language game.

The object of the present work is merely to compare, the testimony of the four evangelists, as witnesses to the life, doctrines and miracles of Our Savior, in order to determine the degree of credit to which, by the rules of evidence applied in human tribunals, they would be justly entitled.1

The above sentiments form the first sentence of an undated handwritten manuscript by Simon Greenleaf which was published in 1846 as An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists, by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice.2 A year later it was revised for a British audience.3 In 1874, it was reintroduced to North America as The Testimony of the Evangelists Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice (hereafter Testimony). Over the following thirty years it was reprinted three more times.4

The present discussion explores the reception of Greenleaf’s apologia in the nineteenth century. It is not exhaustive but provides representative examples of positive and negative criticism. The theological academy warmly endorsed Testimony. Negative reception is noted from cynical reviews, as well as from Swedenborgian apologists. Testimony is set against the intellectual background of the Deist-Christian debates. Daniel Blinka’s interpretation of Testimony as a work reflecting Common Sense Philosophy is affirmed but with a critical caveat noted ...