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The History of the Liar, Lunatic, Lord Trilemma
Who is Jesus? In which category of humanity do we place Him? Great teacher? Counterculture revolutionary? Beatnik pacifist? Liar? Lunatic? Or a class of His own- Lord?
The liar, lunatic, Lord trilemma is typically attributed to C. S. Lewis. I first read it in Watchman Nee’s Normal Christian Faith, my sophomore year in high school. The argument has a long history with many reference points in Christian teaching, really dating all the way back to the New Testament text. The trilemma is found in situ in the Gospel of John, although scattered and disjointed. And so, over the years, out of the text itself, it was excavated, collected, arranged, presented, refined, and wholeheartedly adored by the Christian community.
