Sir: But for the postal strike I should have written
this letter earlier. As it is, however, I have had opportunity to formulate care- fully my thoughts and weigh my words. I have been a reader of the SPECTATOR for many years and re- garded it as a good, middle-of-the- road journal with which I did not always agree.
However, the issue of the 23 January is such appalling blas- phemy that I must write and expos- tulate. However, let me first Introduce myself, so to speak.
I was a Cockney, having been born in Hackney, East London, where I lived, was partly educated, . and worked for the first twenty- eight years of my life. I never sought authority or position in this world, or money, but they all came.
I do not know anything about Dr Dodd or Mr H. T. Trevor- Roper. Doubtless they are very clever men, but it is apparent that they are working on the wrong premise. Indeed, I know they are, when they reach the conclusion which you put on your front page: 'The Gospels, after all, tell us a lot of palpable rubbish. The Church created Christ'.
Furthermore, chronologically they make a great mistake because in the article it is stated 'The first source [i.e. of Christ] is Paul'.
I submit to you that this is not true. The first source, surely, was Luke. Luke was by tradition a physician and there is plenty of evidence in his Gospel that this was in fact so.
I have had the good fortune to read nearly all the New Testament edited by Dr William Barclay. Dr Barclay is a scholar and is Professor in New Testament Lang- uage and Literature in the Univ- ersity of Glasgow, and has explained brilliantly the whole of the New Testament.
If you will look at the Gospel of Luke, you will see that he very carefully dates his Gospel in several ways. He was, in fact, a Gentile, the only Gentile who wrote in the New Testament, and he never met our Lord. He was, therefore, the more careful about his facts. Doctors, of course, usually are, and he, as a convinced Christian, certainly was. I believe that Jesus's earthly father was a poor carpenter and that he, Jesus, worked and sup- ported his family for the first thirty years of his life.
His ministry lasted only three years, when he was crucified, yet His words have been translated into every known language in this world, and His followers, believers, must number millions. This could have been no ordinary man. He was resurrected, was spoken to and touched, and talked to many men and women. He was and is, as I believe, the begotten Son of God. I myself, having been injured and retired for many years, have studied and thought and prayed very much to my Maker. My only desire now in this life is to witness to Him and to help those who need help, and this latter I will do as a witness to my God.
Robert Barlow Rocketer, Wendover, Bucks
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