Search Results for: couchoud

How Can We Know If the Jesus Narratives Are Memories Or Inventions? (Revised)

Anthony Le Donne has written a book that I find is both chock-full of many fascinating nuggets in the Gospel narratives and riddled with startling revelations (if only discerned between the lines) about the foundations of “Gospel Narrative Origins” studies, The Historiographical Jesus: Memory, Typology, and the Son of David. (This post does not address … Continue reading “How Can We Know If the Jesus Narratives Are Memories Or Inventions? (Revised)”

Why the Gospels Are Historical Fiction

. A recent book by Jacob Licht, Storytelling in the Bible (Jerusalem, 1978), proposes that the “historical aspect” and the “storytelling” aspect of biblical narrative be thought of as entirely discrete functions that can be neatly peeled apart for inspection — apparently, like the different colored strands of electrical wiring. This facile separation of the … Continue reading “Why the Gospels Are Historical Fiction”

Making of a Mythicist, Act 2, Scene 2 (The Verdict Falls)

Edited with additional notes on compatibility with other models of gospel origins 3 hours after the original posting. Previous posts in this series The Making of a Mythicist, Act 1, Scene 1 (Thomas Brodie’s Odyssey) Making of a Mythicist, Act 1, Scene 2 Making of a Mythicist, Act 2, Scene 1 (Brodie’s Odyssey) Continuing . … Continue reading “Making of a Mythicist, Act 2, Scene 2 (The Verdict Falls)”

Is the Christ Myth a Threat to the Christian Faith? (If not, what is?)

Updated with an added final paragraph 40 minutes after posting You’ve got to be kidding! Of course not. Not even the fact/theory of evolution and advances in biological science can undermine any of the “religions of the book”. John Loftus of Debunking Christianity made it clear that one of the worst things he could take … Continue reading “Is the Christ Myth a Threat to the Christian Faith? (If not, what is?)”

Vridar Blog 2012

WordPress have collated and forwarded me these stats for the past year: 450,000 views in 2012. This was up from 280,000 in 2011. The shift began with posts on Paul-Louis Couchoud and responses to James McGrath’s vacuous efforts to “review” Earl Doherty’s Jesus: Neither God Nor Man, but a new plateau was established with posts … Continue reading “Vridar Blog 2012”

Mythicism and Positive Christianity

Though several New Testament scholars have attempted to accuse mythicism of being invalid on the grounds that it is supposedly driven by an agenda hostile to religion generally and Christianity in particular, there is abundant evidence to demonstrate that this is an ignorant accusation. If I recall correctly Dr Robert M. Price has made no … Continue reading “Mythicism and Positive Christianity”

How Might Marcionite Questions Affect Mythicism? (Bob Price in “Is This Not the Carpenter?”)

This post concludes my treatment of chapter 6 of ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’, “Does the Christ Myth Theory Require an Early Date for the Pauline Epistles?” by Robert M. Price. Price concludes his article with a discussion of the place Marcion might have had in the history of gospel origins. Specifically, what if Marcion … Continue reading “How Might Marcionite Questions Affect Mythicism? (Bob Price in “Is This Not the Carpenter?”)”

Early Christ Myth Theorists on Paul’s and the Gospels’ Jesus: ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’ ch. 6 continued.

When starting this post I had hoped it would complete my discussion of Robert M. Price’s chapter, “Does the Christ Myth Theory Require an Early Date for the Pauline Epistles?” in ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’. This was meant to address Price’s reasons for thinking that the gospel narratives of Jesus — or any stories … Continue reading “Early Christ Myth Theorists on Paul’s and the Gospels’ Jesus: ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’ ch. 6 continued.”

Does “Mythicism” Need an Early Paul? — ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’ ch. 6

Robert M. Price argues that it makes little difference to the case for Jesus being nothing more than a mythical construct if Paul’s letters are judged to be early or late, or even if written before the gospels. This is the theme of his chapter “Does the Christ Myth Theory Require an Early Date for … Continue reading “Does “Mythicism” Need an Early Paul? — ‘Is This Not the Carpenter?’ ch. 6″

Christ among the Messiahs — Part 7

Continuing from Part 6 . . . . The preceding posts have outlined Matthew Novenson’s argument that Paul’s concept of Christ (as expressed throughout his epistles) was entirely consistent with “the formal conventions of ancient Jewish Messiah language” that we would expect in any messianic literature of his era. There are a few passages, however, … Continue reading “Christ among the Messiahs — Part 7”

Larry Hurtado’s Wearying (and Irresponsible?) Encore

Larry Hurtado’s initial response to my post did not offer any expectation that he might engage with the larger argument I made. I was surprised to find him refer to it as a post about him (personally) and mystified as to how he could interpret my reference to “some scholars” engaging in insult and ridicule … Continue reading “Larry Hurtado’s Wearying (and Irresponsible?) Encore”

1950s Scholarship on the Historicity of Jesus – Vardis Fisher’s summary

American novelist Vardis Fisher (it’s not coincidental that the name of this blog is a partial acronym of this name, and an “autobiographical” character in one of his novels) included at the back of his novel Jesus Came Again: A Parable, a discussion of the scholarly views of his day on the historicity of Jesus. … Continue reading “1950s Scholarship on the Historicity of Jesus – Vardis Fisher’s summary”

2. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Chapter 1

This second post addresses the opening pages of Ehrman’s first chapter. It continues from the last words of the first installment. Here Doherty examines Ehrman’s appeal to Schweitzer and the problems faced by both Schweitzer and Ehrman The logical improbability of Ehrman’s reconstruction of an historical Jesus Ehrman’s appeal to pre-Gospel sources and his failure … Continue reading “2. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Chapter 1”

Bart Ehrman’s Huffing and Posting Against Mythicism

Dr Bart Ehrman has written for the Huffington Post a quite a curious article attacking mythicism and advertising his new book which promises more of the same. It is a curious article because it leaves a reader who knows anything about mythicist arguments and historical Jesus scholarship with the impression that Ehrman knows very little … Continue reading “Bart Ehrman’s Huffing and Posting Against Mythicism”