Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
I was following up PZ Myers’ interest in a particular claim by Tim O’Neill in a larger criticism of Jesus mythicists — ….. in particular his rebuttal to the “argument from silence”, which claims that Jesus should have been mentioned in many historical sources if he had existed, but he isn’t, so he didn’t. Most … Continue reading “Miscellaneous point — Mount Vesuvius and the argument from silence”
A few weeks ago I was asked to comment on Tim O’Neill’s post, Jesus Mythicism 3: “No Contemporary References to Jesus”. I think that was the one. So I caught up with it on my return from Thailand last night so I can respond at last. (If there is another one I was asked to respond … Continue reading “On the “No Contemporary References to Jesus” Controversy”
I have reset the spreadsheet in my previous post to ensure the stats are fully visible. Meanwhile I was thinking of doing the same sort of analysis on Tim O’Neill’s recent post but the tone of that one does not even rise to the level of double digits and it is Tim once again exercising … Continue reading “Online debates”
James McGrath has posted that it is time to return to the Jesus mythicism question. He writes: It’s time to return once again to the subject of Jesus mythicism, the stance that denies the overwhelming consensus of professional historians and scholars that there most likely was indeed a historical Jesus of Nazareth. Translated, that means … Continue reading “The never-ending “brother of the lord” proof for the historical existence of Jesus”
This is an exploratory essay, not much more than a diary of disorganized thoughts on my recent experience with an atheist discussion forum. After much delay I finally enrolled as a member of the Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) Forums to contribute to a discussion on the historicity of Jesus. I had been encouraged by … Continue reading “Discovering Why “Even Atheists” Deplore Jesus Mythicism. (Or, Thoughts on “Cult Atheism”)”
[Updated 12 hours after original posting] I’d like to place here some balance or corrective to Tim O’Neill’s criticism of Catherine Nixey’s The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World. James McGrath has lent his support to O’Neill’s attack on Nixey’s book by expressing disdain for both atheists and their “gullible” audiences: When … Continue reading “Christians, Book-Burning, Temple Destruction and some balance on Nixey’s popular polemic”
America’s alt-right news site, Breitbart, has lumped anyone questioning the existence of Jesus in with those seeking to destroy Western civilization by finding excuses to eradicate the celebration of Christmas from our cultural landscape. The author is Catholic theologian Thomas D. Walker PhD (follow the link to his homepage). Walker begins as follows: Anti-Christmas grinches … Continue reading “Breitbart’s War on Jesus “Mythicism””
Jonathan Bernier noted in a recent post “the special pleading involved in rejecting a consensus position adopted by virtually every New Testament scholar (that Jesus existed) while accepting without reflection a consensus position [on the dates of the gospels] adopted by most but hardly all such scholars. If we are all mistaken on something so … Continue reading “Shooting Blanks at Mythicism – & Why That’s the Necessary Point”
Until some major new finds turn up at new digs I am convinced that there is no archaeological evidence for the existence of Nazareth at the time of Jesus. I have been slowly reading the first six chapters of René Salm’s new book, NazarethGate: Quack Archeology, Holy Hoaxes, and the Invented Town of Jesus, stopping to … Continue reading “NazarethGate”
Raphael Lataster article that recently appeared in The Washington Post as well as The Conversation opened with these words: Did a man called Jesus of Nazareth walk the earth? Discussions over whether the figure known as the “Historical Jesus” actually existed primarily reflect disagreements among atheists. Believers, who uphold the implausible and more easily-dismissed “Christ … Continue reading “Why Believers Ought Not To Get Involved in the Christ Myth Question”
–o0o– All posts in this series are archived in the O’Neill-Fitzgerald Debate –o0o– I have been neglecting to include David Fitzgerald’s (DF) own responses to some of Tim O’Neill’s (TO) diatribes against Nailed. Let’s make amends here. After all, TO did post a reply last year to DF’s response, so it’s only reasonable to see … Continue reading “O’Neill-Fitzgerald “Christ Myth” Debate, #8.5: Who did make it into the historical record?”
–o0o– All posts in this series are archived in the O’Neill-Fitzgerald Debate. –o0o– What a careful, honest or even just competent treatment of the subject would do would be to deal with all relevant positions throughout the analysis . . . . . Tim O’Neill (TO) leads readers to think that David Fitzgerald (DF) argues … Continue reading “O’Neill-Fitzgerald “Christ Myth” Debate, #7: Generalities on the lack of corroborating evidence”
R. Joseph Hoffmann on his blog The New Oxonian has been complaining about “the language and style” of “mythticists” — those he, Hoffmann, calls “disease carrying mosquitoes” and “buggers” — saying that they, the “mythticists”, lower the tone of the debate. In support of this assertion he has Tim O’Neill along calling mythicists’ arguments “conspiracist … Continue reading “What R. Joseph Hoffmann Does Not Want (Anyone) To Believe About Me”
That sensational title was supposed to grab your attention. However, my remark was “not intended to be a factual statement.” Frankly, most of the things I believe in (or, rather, theories I subscribe to) are fairly ordinary. I thought it was P.J. O’Rourke who once said that thinking outside the box was overrated — “There’s … Continue reading “Some Crazy Stuff I Believe In ‘Cause I’m an Ex-Fundie”