Michael R Licona

Biography

Licona was raised in a Christian family and became a Christian at age 10. When he entered Liberty University, he wanted to go into the ministry as a musician and obtained an undergraduate degree in music performance (saxophone). He is also an accomplished martial artist, having studied under Sang Ki Eun and Robert Fujimura, the former having studied under Taekwondo's founder, Choi Hung Hi, the latter having been Executive Director of the United States Taekwondo Union.

Licona has a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies (University of Pretoria) which he completed "with distinction" and the highest mark as well as an M.A. in Religious Studies from Liberty University. He was the Apologetics Coordinator at the North American Mission Board (Southern Baptist Convention) from 2005 through 2011. His book The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach is now regarded as one of the finest treatments of the subject and has been endorsed by many prominent New Testament scholars and historians. Licona has lectured on more than 100 university campuses and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including Faith Under Fire. He appeared in the DVD version of The Case for Christ and was one of the scholars interviewed in Strobel’s book The Case for the Real Jesus. Licona also appears in a documentary film that was released February 2015 titled "Mining for God" which deals with how Christianity is often misrepresented and misunderstood in modern western culture.

Gospel differences

Licona’s most recent book is Why Are There Differences in the Gospels. Like the majority of contemporary scholars, Licona views the Gospels as bearing close affinities to the genre of ancient biography and contends they are best interpreted with this in mind, since ancient biographies were written with slightly different rules than those used with modern biographies. Licona’s book focuses on identifying compositional devices prescribed in the compositional textbooks of that period as well as those that can be inferred when reading how Plutarch tells the same stories on two or more occasions. Licona then assesses nineteen stories about Jesus that appear in two or more of the canonical Gospels while keeping in mind their biographical genre and asking whether compositional devices account for the differences one observes.

Historical case for Jesus' resurrection

Licona’s doctoral research concerned investigating Jesus’s resurrection using the methodology of a historian. He states that almost all scholars writing on the subject of Jesus’s resurrection are biblical scholars and philosophers, and virtually none of them have any training in matters pertaining to the philosophy of history and the historical method of comparing hypotheses. Licona contributes a primer on these subjects and applies his findings to the question of whether Jesus had actually risen from the dead in his book The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. This volume is 718 pages in length and is documented with more than 2,000 footnotes.

Matthew 27 controversy

In a passage in his 2010 book, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, Licona questioned the literal interpretation of the story of the resurrection of the saints in Matthew 27, suggesting the possibility that it might be apocalyptic imagery. This led to controversy with evangelicals Norman Geisler and Albert Mohler, who both accused Licona of denying the full inerrancy of the Bible in general and the Gospel narratives in particular. Licona maintained that the interpretation he proposed had nothing to do with whether the Gospels are inerrant but was a matter of how to interpret it as Matthew had intended (i.e., hermeneutics). In the course of events, Licona resigned in 2011 from his position as research professor at Southern Evangelical Seminary and as apologetics coordinator for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Other evangelical scholars such as William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, and Gary Habermas voiced their support for Licona by signing an open letter to Geisler. Michael Bird likewise supported Licona. The Southeastern Theological Review devoted their Summer 2012 issue to discussions on Licona's book (edited by Heath Thomas and Robert Stewart), including reviews by Gary Habermas, Timothy McGrew, and C. Behan McCullagh. It also included a virtual roundtable discussion with participants Heath Thomas, Michael Licona, Craig Blomberg, Paul Copan, Charles Quarles, Michael Kruger and Daniel Akin.

Inerrancy controversy

In the course of the controversy over the raised saints in the Gospel of Matthew, Evangelicals such as Norman Geisler, Albert Mohler and F. David Farnell have questioned whether Licona is moving away from his evangelical views and is headed in a similar path traveled by the agnostic New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman. While asserting his belief in the divine authority of the Bible and its inerrancy, he maintains he cannot presuppose these beliefs while engaged in historical research. He also claims the doctrine of biblical inerrancy is not a doctrine fundamental to the Christian faith. In a radio exchange with Ehrman, Licona said that if Jesus actually rose from the dead, Christianity is true even if it were also true that some things in the Bible were not. Licona noted what he saw as several problems with the argument for inerrancy provided by Norman Geisler. It should also be noted how arbitrary Norman Geisler's critiques have been of Licona despite being shown others hold similar views.

Personal life

Licona is married to Debbie and has two children; a daughter Allie and a son Zach. Licona's son-in-law Nick Peters is a Christian apologist who blogs on a regular basis and has a weekly podcast called Deeper Waters.