Fact-Checking the Gospels on Joe Rogan

It is not every day that I listen to Joe Rogan. Yet it is also not every day that Joe Rogan hosts an extended discussion on Jesus and the Gospels. So I went over to take a peek.

Rogan was in dialogue with Wesley Huff, an apologist and PhD student whose research focuses on the para-textual features of early Christian manuscripts. As one might expect from Rogan, the conversation was eclectic. It touched on a wide range of topics, from the transmission of the Bible and the claims of Jesus, to the historical context of Christianity and the reliability of the canonical and apocryphal Gospels.

Since the show, the episode has gone viral. For some Christians, it is evidence of the ‘vibe-shift’ taking place in public attitudes towards Christianity. For others, it underscores the distinction between popular apologetics and critical scholarship. In particular, some commentators have noted Huff’s exaggeration that Qumran’s Great Isaiah Scroll was ‘word for word’ identical with the medieval Masoretic Text.

What has garnered less attention is the overall approach Huff takes to the Gospels and early Christianity. So in this piece, I unpack some of my quibbles with Huff’s approach. In particular, I will examine five differences between the positions Huff presents to Rogan (a non-expert) and the state of mainstream scholarship.