Response #4: Non Sequitur’s Tim O’Neill presentation, …. Your turn

Response #1: Motives Response #2: No fame outside Galilee Response #3: Ascension of Isaiah At around 28 mins Tim says those opposed to the consensus are mythicists most of whom are not scholars and least qualified to assess this stuff. Point 1: Tim is not a scholar either so he presumably includes himself among those … Continue reading “Response #4: Non Sequitur’s Tim O’Neill presentation, …. Your turn”


Bad History for Atheists (4) — Psychoanalyzing Dissenters

This is the final post covering my response to Tim O’Neill’s interview on MythVision. For other posts, parts one, two, three. In 1959 Khrushchev declared that there were no political prisoners in the USSR, only mentally ill people (Bukovsky). Arrests and trials became their last resort . . . . The authorities preferred other means, … Continue reading “Bad History for Atheists (4) — Psychoanalyzing Dissenters”


Bad History for Atheists (3) — Proof-texting, Circularity, Fake Facts, Insults

At about 57 mins of the MythVision podcast O’Neill underscores the importance of Paul’s claim to have met James the “brother of the Lord”. Not only is Paul’s claim from a contemporary of Jesus but it is even from one who is opposed to his source:  Paul is saying, says O’Neill, “Yeh, I have met … Continue reading “Bad History for Atheists (3) — Proof-texting, Circularity, Fake Facts, Insults”


Bad History for Atheists (2) — Troubles Reading the Sources and Engaging with Different Viewpoints

I do care about bad history. — O’Neill (13 min 50 sec) Bad history is carelessly getting basic facts wrong. It is also failing to acknowledge and engage honestly with other points of view concerning the sources. Two instances of “bad history” At about 27 minutes we are told that “mythers” say there is no … Continue reading “Bad History for Atheists (2) — Troubles Reading the Sources and Engaging with Different Viewpoints”


Bad History for Atheists (1) — Louis Feldman on Justin’s Trypho and “proving Jesus existed”

I took time out last night to follow up a comment left on Vridar and listen to Derek Lambert’s MythVision interview with Tim O’Neill, author of the blog History for Atheists. If one sets aside the revealing psychological portrait that emerges from the  incidental comments O’Neill lets drop about himself throughout the interview and focuses … Continue reading “Bad History for Atheists (1) — Louis Feldman on Justin’s Trypho and “proving Jesus existed””


Nazareth

Most Vridar posts on Nazareth focus on the archaeological evidence for its existence in the first-century, but also address the historical likelihood of Jesus being identified as from that town and the place of Nazareth in the nativity accounts of the gospels. –o0o– A more complete response to the previous post on the relevance of … Continue readingNazareth


Tim O’Neill Misreads (Again) the Evidence on Nazareth

Having finally caught up with Tim O’Neill’s October 2019 post on his History for Atheists blog, JESUS MYTHICISM 5: THE NAZARETH “MYTH”, I have decided to address a new point he makes since I last responded to his Nazareth assertions. Most of his October post is a rehash of what I demonstrated was erroneous in … Continue reading “Tim O’Neill Misreads (Again) the Evidence on Nazareth”


Much More Fully Informed History for Atheists — A Scholarly Introduction to the Two Jesus Parallels

In mid-March this year James McGrath alerted readers to a new post by Tim O’Neill of History for Atheists, Jesus Mythicism 4: Jesus as an Amalgam of Many Figures, commending it for its take down of “amalgam Jesus” theorists for supposedly uncritically and emotionally concocting excuses to disbelieve in a historical Jesus. O’Neill inferred in … Continue reading “Much More Fully Informed History for Atheists — A Scholarly Introduction to the Two Jesus Parallels”


Remembering

Vridar’s first post on a Hermann Detering work was in February 2007: Little Apocalypse and the Bar Kochba Revolt The next “mention” of Hermann Detering was subtle. It was hidden as a link in the last sentence — But that leads us to a new set of questions about dates and identities that will have to be addressed … Continue reading “Remembering”


Final (#3) post responding to O’Neill’s Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet

Three posts will be enough. The first one responding to Tim O’Neill’s Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet on his History for Atheists site is Examining the Evidence for Jesus as an Apocalyptic Prophet The second is Response #2 to History for Atheists’ “JESUS THE APOCALYPTIC PROPHET” In the first post we presented a case that there is no evidence to … Continue reading “Final (#3) post responding to O’Neill’s Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet


Mythicist Papers: Resources for the Study of Christian Origins – Update

This blog is now entering ‘sleep’ mode… — that’s the heading for René Salm’s final post at least for a while. René explains his decision to retire from posting and publishing his research into Christian origins. Fortunately his blog with its many resources will remain online for some time yet. I think René’s strongest contribution to … Continue reading “Mythicist Papers: Resources for the Study of Christian Origins – Update”


Response #2 to the Non Sequitur program: “Not even the gospels say Jesus was famous outside Galilee”

For the previous response and a link to the Non Sequitur video see Response #1 to the Non Sequitur program with Tim O’Neill: MOTIVES. At about the 49th minute of the Non Sequitur program Tim O’Neill makes the following claim: Even if you look at what the gospels say about Jesus — and these are … Continue reading “Response #2 to the Non Sequitur program: “Not even the gospels say Jesus was famous outside Galilee””


On mythicism, creationism and the wrath of ancient kings

Someone asked me who among atheists were critical of Jesus mythicism when I posted Atheist Hostility to Jesus Mythicism … making sense of it and a number have questioned my own view of why they do, or at least have offered alternative viewpoints. All fair enough. Meanwhile, someone on Facebook chided me for not having read … Continue reading “On mythicism, creationism and the wrath of ancient kings”