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MONDAY, SEP 1, 2014 10:58 AM CDT

5reasonstosuspectthat
Jesusneverexisted
AgrowingnumberofscholarsareopenlyquestioningoractivelyarguingagainstJesus
historicity
VALERIETARICO,ALTERNET

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This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

Most antiquities scholars think that the New Testament gospels

are mythologized history. In other words, they think that
around the start of the first century a controversial Jewish rabbi
named Yeshua ben Yosef gathered a following and his life and
teachings provided the seed that grew into Christianity.
At the same time, these scholars acknowledge that many Bible stories like the virgin birth,
miracles, resurrection, and women at the tomb borrow andrework mythic themesthat
were common in the Ancient Near East, much the way that screenwriters base new
movies on old familiar tropes or plot elements. In this view, a historical Jesusbecame
mythologized.
For over 200 years, a wide ranging array of theologians and historiansmost of them

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Christiananalyzed ancient texts, both those that made it into the Bible and those that
didnt, in attempts to excavate the man behind the myth. Several current or recent
bestsellers take this approach, distilling the scholarship for a popular audience. Familiar
titles includeZealotby Reza Aslan andHow Jesus Became GodbyBart Ehrman.

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But other scholars believe that the gospel stories are actually historicized mythology. In
this view, those ancient mythic templates are themselves the kernel. They got filled in
with names, places and other real world details as early sects of Jesus worship attempted
to understand and defend the devotional traditions they had received.

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The notion that Jesus never existed is a minority position.Of course it is!says David
Fitzgerald, author ofNailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at
All.For centuries all serious scholars of Christianity were Christians themselves, and
modern secular scholars lean heavily on the groundwork that they laid in collecting,
preserving, and analyzing ancient texts. Even today most secular scholars come out of a
religious background, and many operate by default under historical presumptions of their
former faith.

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Fitzgerald is an atheist speaker and writer, popular with secular students and community

11timesDavidLetterman
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groups. The internet phenom,Zeitgeist the Movieintroduced millions to some of the

mythic roots of Christianity. But Zeitgeist and similar works contain known errors and
oversimplifications that undermine their credibility. Fitzgerald seeks to correct that by
giving young people interesting, accessible information that is grounded in accountable
scholarship.
More academic arguments in support of the Jesus Myth theory can be found in the
writings of Richard Carrier and Robert Price. Carrier, who has a Ph.D. in ancient
historyusesthe tools of his trade to show, among other things, how Christianity might
have gotten off the ground without a miracle. Price, by contrast,writesfrom the
perspective of a theologian whose biblical scholarship ultimately formed the basis for his
skepticism. It is interesting to note that some of the harshest debunkers of fringe Jesus
myth theories like those from Zeitgeist or Joseph Atwill (who tries to argue that the
Romans invented Jesus) are from serious Mythicists like Fitzgerald, Carrier and Price.

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The arguments on both sides of this questionmythologized history or historicized

mythologyfill volumes, and if anything the debate seems to be heating up rather than
resolving. A growing number of scholars are openly questioning or actively arguing
against Jesus historicity. Since many people, both Christian and not, find it surprising
that this debate even existsthat credible scholars might think Jesus never existedhere
are some of the key points that keep the doubts alive:
1. No first century secular evidence whatsoever exists to support the actuality of
Yeshua ben Yosef. In thewords ofBart Ehrman: What sorts of things do pagan authors
from the time of Jesus have to say about him? Nothing. As odd as it may seem, there is no
mention of Jesus at all by any of his pagan contemporaries. There are no birth records, no
trial transcripts, no death certificates; there are no expressions of interest, no heated
slanders, no passing references nothing. In fact, if we broaden our field of concern to the
years after his death even if we include the entire first century of the Common Era
there is not so much as a solitary reference to Jesus in any non-Christian, non-Jewish
source of any kind. I should stress that we do have a large number of documents from the
time the writings of poets, philosophers, historians, scientists, and government officials,
for example, not to mention the large collection of surviving inscriptions on stone and
private letters and legal documents on papyrus. In none of this vast array of surviving
writings is Jesus name ever so much as mentioned. (pp. 56-57)
2.The earliest New Testament writers seem ignorant of the details of Jesus life,

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which become more crystalized in later texts.Paul seems unaware of any virgin birth,
for example. No wise men, no star in the east, no miracles. Historians have long puzzled
over the Silence of Paul on the most basic biographical facts and teachings of Jesus.
Paul fails to cite Jesus authority precisely when it would make his case. Whats more, he
never calls the twelve apostles Jesus disciples; in fact, he never says Jesus HAD disciples
or a ministry, or did miracles, or gave teachings. He virtually refuses to disclose any
other biographical detail, and the few cryptic hints he offers arent just vague, but
contradict the gospels. The leaders of the early Christian movement in Jerusalem like
Peter and James are supposedly Jesus own followers and family; but Paul dismisses them
as nobodies and repeatedly opposes them for not being true Christians!
Liberal theologian Marcus Borgsuggeststhat people read the books of the New
Testament in chronological order to see how early Christianity unfolded. Placing the
Gospels after Paul makes it clear that as written documents they are not the source of
early Christianity but its product. The Gospel the good news of and about Jesus
existed before the Gospels. They are the products of early Christian communities several
decades after Jesus historical life and tell us how those communities saw his significance
in their historical context.
3.Even the New Testament stories dont claim to be first-hand accounts.We now
know that the four gospels were assigned the names of the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, not written by them. To make matter sketchier, the name designations happened
sometime in second century, around 100 years or more after Christianity supposedly
began. For avariety of reasons, the practice of pseudonymous writing was common at the
time and many contemporary documents are signed by famous figures. The same is
true of the New Testament epistles except for a handful of letters from Paul (6 out of 13)
which are broadly thought to be genuine. But even the gospel storiesdont actually say,
I was there. Rather, they claim the existence of other witnesses, a phenomenon familiar
to anyone who has heard the phrase,my aunt knew someone who. . . .
4.The gospels, our only accounts of a historical Jesus, contradict each other.If you
think you know the Jesus story pretty well, I suggest that you pause at this point to test
yourself with the20 question quizat ExChristian.net.

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The gospel of Mark is thought to be the earliest existing life of Jesus, and linguistic
analysis suggests that Luke and Matthew both simply reworked Mark and added their own
corrections and new material. But they contradict each other and, to an even greater

degree contradict the much later gospel of John, because they were written with different
objectives for different audiences. Theincompatible Easter storiesoffer one example of
how much the stories disagree.
5.Modern scholars who claim to have uncovered the real historical Jesus depict
wildly different persons. They include a cynic philosopher, charismatic Hasid, liberal
Pharisee, conservative rabbi, Zealot revolutionary, nonviolent pacifist to borrow from a
much longer listassembled by Price. In his words (pp. 15-16), The historical Jesus (if
there was one) might well have been a messianic king, or a progressive Pharisee, or a
Galilean shaman, or a magus, or a Hellenistic sage. But he cannot very well have been all
of them at the same time.John Dominic Crossanof the Jesus Seminar grumbles that
the stunning diversity is an academic embarrassment.
For David Fitzgerald, these issues and more lead to a conclusion thathe finds inescapable:
Jesus appears to be an effect, not a cause, of Christianity. Paul and the rest of the first
generation of Christians searched the Septuagint translation of Hebrew scriptures to create
a Mystery Faith for the Jews, complete with pagan rituals like a Lords Supper, Gnostic
terms in his letters, and a personal savior god to rival those in their neighbors
longstanding Egyptian, Persian, Hellenistic and Roman traditions.
In a soon-to-be-released follow up toNailed, entitledJesus: Mything in
Action,Fitzgeraldargues that the many competing versions proposed by secular scholars
are just as problematic as any Jesus of Faith: Even if one accepts that there was a real
Jesus of Nazareth, the question has little practical meaning: Regardless of whether or not a
first century rabbi called Yeshua ben Yosef lived, the historical Jesus figures so
patiently excavated and re-assembled by secular scholars are themselves fictions.
We may never know for certain what put Christian history in motion. Only time (or
perhaps time travel) will tell.

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MOREVALERIETARICO.

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