Search Results for: baptism jesus historic

Scholarly Consensus in Biblical Studies — Does It Mean Anything?

It might surprise some people to know that, even several years after Darwin and Wallace made public their independent discoveries and insights regarding natural selection, the vast majority of Lamarckians were not persuaded. Similarly, some die-hard Steady-State proponents never embraced the Big Bang. Fred Hoyle was promoting variations of his Steady State theory, publishing papers … Continue reading “Scholarly Consensus in Biblical Studies — Does It Mean Anything?”

Bart Ehrman vs. Earl Doherty. Part 29 of Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism

* Bart Ehrman vs. Earl Doherty . COVERED IN THIS POST: Using previous scholarship with a different end result Ehrman’s numerous misreadings and misrepresentations of my text Platonic (and other) ancient views of the universe What was the interpretation of the cultic myths: allegorical or literal, heavenly or earthly? among the philosophers? among the devotees … Continue reading “Bart Ehrman vs. Earl Doherty. Part 29 of Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism”

26. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 26

* Mythicist Inventions: Part One – Creating the Mythical Christ from the Pagan Mystery Cults . COVERED IN THIS POST: Jesus as a dying and rising god Common creations of the religious mind The demise of James Frazer’s The Golden Bough The case for borrowing lies in syncretism Jewish and Greek forms of resurrection Paul … Continue reading “26. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 26”

25. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism — Part 25

* Is Jesus Based on Pagan Precedents? . COVERED IN THIS POST: A cult of parallels Comparing Apollonius of Tyana Kersey Graves as punching bag Compare John Remsburg Evaluating a range of different parallels Birth of Mithras Water into wine by Dionysos Horus the shepherd-king Isis and Horus, Mother and Child Do Christian fathers give … Continue reading “25. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism — Part 25”

24. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 24

* Mythicist Claim Three: The Gospels Are Interpretive Paraphrases of the OT . COVERED IN THIS POST: The Gospels constructed out of scriptural midrash Jesus’ passion modelled on a traditional Jewish story The Gospel of the Old Testament according to Robert Price The Gospel Jesus as a new Moses A Jesus miracle modelled on Elijah … Continue reading “24. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 24”

23. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 23

* Part II: The Mythicists’ Claims – One: A Problematic Record . .COVERED IN THIS POST: Admitting to problematic Gospels Gospel authors unknown Fallacious analogies: Obama’s birth certificate The Hitler diaries Clinton’s presidency George Washington Discrepancies and contradictions in the Gospels Radically different pictures of Jesus How much of the Gospels is fictional? Form criticism … Continue reading “23. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 23”

22. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 22

* A Crucified Messiah COVERED IN THIS POST: Jesus and David Koresh Was a crucified criminal believed to be the messiah? Ehrman’s “story” of a resurrection A story missing in Q and the epistles The actual picture in the epistles Did Jews invent a crucified messiah? Did Jews anticipate a suffering messiah? The sources and … Continue reading “22. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 22”

Is the Gospel of Mark Creatively Emulating Philo’s Life of Moses?

Did the Jewish philosopher Philo influence the story-line and character-portrayals that we read in the Gospel of Mark? I cannot yet commit myself to believing he did but I am keen to follow up the question since encountering it in Reimagining Christian Origins: A Colloquium Honoring Burton L. Mack. (Mack, of course, is famous for … Continue reading “Is the Gospel of Mark Creatively Emulating Philo’s Life of Moses?”

17. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.17

* Jesus Tradition in the Acts of the Apostles . COVERED IN THIS POST: Ehrman accepts Acts as reliable history Acts as a second century product Judas treated as an historical figure More Aramaic tradition? Quoting Paul quoting Jesus The speeches in Acts Adoptionism: Jesus becomes God’s son Tracing the sequence of ideas about Jesus … Continue reading “17. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.17”

15. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 15

* The Epistle to the Hebrews (Part One) . God speaking through a Son in a new reading of scripture Hebrews’ Son a heavenly entity like the Logos Hebrews 101: a sacrifice in a heavenly sanctuary an event of revelation at the start of the sect no words of Jesus on earth to be found … Continue reading “15. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 15”

12. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 12. Three Voices . . . Ignatius

* Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 12 Three Voices on the Historical Jesus – No. 2: Ignatius of Antioch . COVERED IN THIS POST: Are the Ignatian letters forgeries? What does “truly” mean for Ignatius: anti-docetism? historical fact? Ignatius knows no Gospels, even in 110 CE or later implications … Continue reading “12. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 12. Three Voices . . . Ignatius”

Who Wrote That? Verbal Affinities Between the Lukan Prologue and Acts

Recently, Robert Bumbalough asked, “. . . What of the style and grammar of the Lukan prologue vs. that of the Lukan infancy narrative vs. subsequent sections? Is there evidence [that] portions stem from the same pen?” This question reminded me of a personal, informal study I undertook a short while back, comparing the word selection … Continue reading “Who Wrote That? Verbal Affinities Between the Lukan Prologue and Acts”

The Facts of the Matter: Carrier 9, Ehrman 1 (my review, part 2)

Let’s sit down and look at the score sheet. Richard Carrier kicked 11 “errors of fact” at the net of Bart Ehrman’s book Did Jesus Exist? Carrier says he could have kicked many more but that it was getting dark and the referee told him he had limited time. Since beginning to write this post … Continue reading “The Facts of the Matter: Carrier 9, Ehrman 1 (my review, part 2)”

Ehrman says Doherty’s argument is “intriguing and worthy of reflection”

The pity is that Bart Ehrman did not know (or perhaps he did!) the argument he was thus evaluating — his own, in fact — just happened also to be the same one Earl Doherty covered in Jesus: Neither God Nor Man. For some reason psychologists no doubt can explain, when Ehrman read the same points … Continue reading “Ehrman says Doherty’s argument is “intriguing and worthy of reflection””