Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Here I discuss ancient historians that are cited by M. David Litwa as part of his attempt to demonstrate that our canonical gospels conformed to a popular type of historical writing that included “fantastical elements”. (I will discuss Litwa’s comments on these ancient authors in a future post and refer readers back to this post.) … Continue reading “The Relationship between Myth and History among Ancient Authors”
The third part of Raphael Lataster’s Questioning the Historicity of Jesus is where he presents his case for mythicism, and since his case is essentially a review of Richard Carrier’s arguments in On the Historicity of Jesus, this post is a review of a review. Lataster has is differences from Carrier and several times points … Continue reading “Review part 9: Questioning the Historicity of Jesus / Lataster (Case for Mythicism – the Evidence)”
Until now I have been working from a digital version of Raphael Lataster’s Questioning the Historicity of Jesus: Why a Philosophical Analysis Elucidates the Historical Discourse, that was supplied to me by Brill for these review posts. I have since been forwarded by Brill a physical copy of the book after I informed them that … Continue reading “Review part 8: Questioning the Historicity of Jesus / Lataster (Case for Mythicism)”
Where to begin?! One of the things that makes mythicism seem particularly implausible to me is precisely the claim that Christians just think there was a historical Jesus because they are biased in favor of his existence. The historical Jesus, a figure who (among other things) was mistaken about the imminent arrival of the kingdom … Continue reading “James McGrath’s “particular” difficulty with “mythicism””
Some of us may be interested in a somewhat objective attempt to measure the tone of the discussion on the question of Mythicist-Agnosticism as raised on the Religion Prof’s blogsite: Current Debate Jesus Agnosticism/Mythicism – Raphael Lataster and James McGrath The measure is from a text analysis program, the LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count). … Continue reading “The Tone of a Mythicist-Agnostic Debate”
The Bible and Interpretation website has published an article by Raphael Lataster discussing his book (published by Brill) Questioning the Historicity of Jesus: Why a Philosophical Analysis Elucidates the Historical Discourse. Some excerpts: Now, within five years of each other, there are two comprehensive academic monographs arguing the other way. Those wanting to know why … Continue reading “Current Debate Jesus Agnosticism/Mythicism – Raphael Lataster and James McGrath”
H/T Patricia Churchland: In the The Washington Post Christof Koch writes Five Myths About Consciousness Myth No. 1 — Humans have a unique brain. You probably know the latest understanding on that one. Myth No. 2 — Science will never understand consciousness. Never say never. Myth No. 3 — Dreams contain hidden clues about our … Continue reading “Five Myths About Consciousness”
Questioning the historical existence of Jesus attracts something other than mere curiosity or intellectual debate among many biblical scholars and some of the public who don’t even have any personal interest in religion. I can understand people with a personal faith in Jesus either simply ignoring the question with disdain or amusement or responding with … Continue reading “Understanding the Hostility to the Christ Myth Theory”
A commenter suggested I post what I would consider an appropriate lede for a Wikipedia mythicism article. Here it is: A Christ mythicist is one who believes the literal truth of the myth of Jesus Christ as set out in the epistles and gospels of the New Testament, or who believes that those myths, even … Continue reading “Definition of a Christ Mythicist”
Again waylaid by life experiences so surfacing here another post begun way back. The first post in this series is Addressing James McGrath’s Arguments Against Mythicism — 1 This time we are addressing McGrath, James F. 2011. “Mythicism and Paul’s Claims to Supernatural Revelation.” Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath (blog). October 18, … Continue reading “Mythicism and Paul’s Claims to Supernatural Revelation (Engaging with McGrath — 2)”
I’m travelling again so am pulling out the occasional post I’ve had in store for such times. If circumstances do not permit some of my planned posts I’ll post another one of these. McGrath would appeal to the variables shaping “cultural memory” and theological tendentiousness and the tradition of Jewish authors rewriting “Old Testament” scriptures; … Continue reading “Addressing James McGrath’s Arguments Against Mythicism — 1”
My routine was interrupted this week with the arrival of a new book in the mail, Jésus-Christ, Sublime Figure de Papier by Nanine Charbonnel. Nanine Charbonnel is an emeritus professor of philosophy who describes herself as a specialist in hermeneutics. The publisher of her new book has given prominence to the fact that it contains … Continue reading “New French Mythicist Book”
One blogger is looking for old communist-era publications explaining Jesus as a mythical figure. I have had a similar interest in the sorts of things that were said about Jesus and Christian origins in the Soviet Union. I know Engels wrote something and that Drews impressed Lenin enough for him to propagate his views throughout … Continue reading “Looking for Communist Christ Mythicist Publications”
Many of you took special notice of my post (Another Name to Add to the Who’s Who Page of Mythicists and Mythicist Agnostics) about Narve Strand and his response to Bart Ehrman’s arguments for the historicity of Jesus. Narve Strand has since uploaded a new version of that article, partly as a result of the … Continue reading “Update to “Another Name to Add to the Who’s Who Page of Mythicists and Mythicist Agnostics””