Reading Time: 5 minutes Let’s remember what we’re not dealing with, and what we are dealing with, in a gospel writer. Goodbye journalist, biographer, historian. Hello mythologist and fabulist. Mythologists and fabulists have been the most successful storytellers in the history of writing. Their books have been on best seller lists for thousands of years. Some of their writings […]
Jesus Mythicism
Posted inReligion
The myth of Jesus’ resurrection
Reading Time: 3 minutes Jesus was crucified, died, and was resurrected this weekend many hundreds of years ago. Oh what joy this brings. To Christians. Except it didn’t happen. Well, certainly not the resurrection bit. I’m what I call a “minimal historicist,” which is to say I believe Jesus existed (though I: won’t die on that hill), but that […]
Posted inLeaving Religion
Real Deconversion Story #19 – David N.
Reading Time: 11 minutes Here is another account in my series of real-life deconversion stories. They are often painful, psychological affairs, as you can see from the various accounts. Thank you to David Nicholls here who has provided this personal account. Please consider contributing your own, if you so desire. Please also check out my book of deconversion accounts, […]
Posted inUncategorized
What Is the Evidence for Jesus?
Reading Time: 9 minutes I am presently grappling with Jesus mythicism. I am, at present, a historicist in terms of whether Jesus existed or not. My evaluation is somewhat intuitive, believing to the confidence of about two-thirds that a real Jesus existed under all the mythological overlay as opposed to one-third confidence in a completely mythological Jesus. Richard Carrier, on the other […]
Posted inHistory
Carrier’s Mythicism Is a Win-Win
Reading Time: 11 minutes Jesus scholarship is often… “a disguise to do theology and call it history, do autobiography and call it biography, do Christian apologetics and call it academic scholarship.” John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography I’ve read a lot of Richard Carrier’s work, but very little on his case for the mythicism of Jesus. This is partly […]
Posted inUncategorized
Was Jesus a real person who lived and preached in ancient Judaea?
Reading Time: 3 minutes This is a guest post by regular commenter Carstonio. Thanks so much to him for this. Please feel free to submit any guest posts to me as this really helps the blog keep going! Was Jesus a real person who lived and preached in ancient Judaea? Or was he a creation of the early leaders […]
Posted inHistory
Why Paul Didn’t Write More About Jesus – A Christian Rebuttal
Reading Time: 6 minutes Here is the latest Christian counterpoint piece from John Nelson (a Christian) in an ongoing conversation between an atheist (ex-evangelical, I believe) and a Christian theologian in training. The first and second guest posts (find them here and here) from Ed Atkinson of Wycombe Skeptics in the Pub, and occasional atheist appearer on Unbelievable on Premier Christian Radio […]
Posted inHistory
Merry Christmas, Everybody…but Who Was this Jesus Fella?
Reading Time: < 1 minute Merry Christmas everybody, depending on what that means to you and yours. You can substitute it with a good ole “Saturnalia” if you’d like, or some other term. Let me take this opportunity to thank you again for hanging out here and making this whole forum an enjoyable and edifying one. So, Jesus. Who was he? […]
Posted inHistory
Why Paul Didn’t Write about the Historical Jesus – an Answer
Reading Time: 11 minutes Here is the first atheistic counterpoint piece from Ed Atkinson in an ongoing conversation between an atheist (ex-evangelical, I believe) and a Christian theologian in training. The first and second guest posts (find them here and here) from Ed Atkinson of Wycombe Skeptics in the Pub, and occasional atheist appearer on Unbelievable on Premier Christian Radio in the […]
Posted inHistory, Religion
Paul and the Historical Jesus: Continuing the Conversation
Reading Time: 8 minutes Here is the first response in an ongoing conversation between an atheist (ex-evangelical, I believe) and a Christian theologian in training. The first and second guest posts (find them here and here) from Ed Atkinson of Wycombe Skeptics in the Pub, and occasional atheist appearer on Unbelievable on Premier Christian Radio in the UK, hosted by Justin Brierley, […]