Search Results for: silence of paul

19. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 19

* The Pauline Epistles – Part Two . COVERED IN THIS POST: “Words of the Lord”: from earth or heaven? Why doesn’t Paul quote Jesus more extensively? The epistles exclude an historical Jesus Paul’s conversion chronology Paul’s crash course on Jesus from Cephas and James How much interpolation in Paul? Surveying the counterarguments Ehrman answering … Continue reading “19. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 19”

18. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.18

* The Pauline Epistles – Part One . COVERED IN THIS POST: Born of woman, born under the Law: authentic to Paul? Jesus ministering to the Jews a “missing equation”: Paul’s Christ = the Gospel Jesus Romans 1:3 – “of David’s seed kata sarka“ “brother(s) of the Lord”: a preliminary look “the twelve” Paul’s “Lord’s … Continue reading “18. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.18”

Debating the Place of the Ignatian Letters in Christian Origins: Doherty & Parvus

I and many other readers have been interested in Roger Parvus’s alternative explanations for some aspects of Earl Doherty’s arguments. Roger has posted a detailed comment on Earl’s Part 12 Response to Bart Ehrman but I am repeating it here as a post in its own right. Where Earl argues that the incipient docetism addressed … Continue reading “Debating the Place of the Ignatian Letters in Christian Origins: Doherty & Parvus”

16. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 16

* Epistle to the Hebrews (Part Two) . COVERED IN THIS POST: Telling us that Jesus was never on earth First smoking gun: Hebrews 8:4 – a denial that Jesus had been on earth Platonic parallels between heaven and earth Christ could not be a priest in the same sphere as the earthly priests no … Continue reading “16. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt. 16”

13. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.13

Three Voices on the Historical Jesus – No. 3: 1 Clement (with Addendum on the Epistle of Barnabas) Issue of the authenticity of 1 Clement Does 1 Clement know any Gospels? Christ speaking out of scripture Clement knows of the Passion through Isaiah 53 Christ’s sacrificial ‘blood’ and ‘flesh’ belong in the mythical dimension Prophecy … Continue reading “13. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.13”

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”

7. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Telling the Gospels Like It Is

* Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.7 Telling the Gospels Like It Is . COVERED IN THIS POST: Should “faith documents” be treated as legitimate historical sources? Are the Gospels independently based on oral tradition? Matthew and Luke’s story is Mark’s story Hearing about Nazareth and Jesus Should we trust … Continue reading “7. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Telling the Gospels Like It Is”

6. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Jewish Sources

* Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.6 What Did Jews Have to Say? . COVERED IN THIS POST: Philo of Alexandria Josephus the Testimonium: entirely interpolation or an authentic residue? is an authentic residue “neutral”? is the Testimonium intrusive or a digression? silence of Christian commentators on Testimonium before Eusebius … Continue reading “6. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Jewish Sources”

5. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: A Roman Trio

* Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Pt.5 A Roman Trio COVERED IN THIS POST: Pliny the Younger – Letter to Trajan Information taken from Christians Is “Christ” a man or only a god? “Christo quasi deo” – “as” or “as if”? Ancient quotes have no “quasi” Suetonius – Life of … Continue reading “5. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: A Roman Trio”

Putting James the Brother of the Lord to a Bayesian Test

I saw none of the other apostles, except James the brother of the Lord. — Galatians 1:19 On this verse some hang their strongest assurance that Jesus himself was an historical figure. Paul says he met James, the brother of the Lord (assumed to be Jesus), so that is absolute proof that Jesus existed. That … Continue reading “Putting James the Brother of the Lord to a Bayesian Test”

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

* Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 4 . In this post Doherty covers Ehrman’s arguments dealing with: Probability in history and the burden of proof Ideal evidence historians want against what they actually have Ehrman downplays the problems with the (lack of) evidence Unsuccessful comparison with Pontius Pilate Absence … Continue reading “4. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Chapter 2 continued”

3. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Chapters 1-2

* Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism – Part 3 . In this post Doherty covers Ehrman’s arguments dealing with: the argument from silence and the positive case for mythicism why is Paul so silent on the historical Jesus? Paul’s “words of the Lord” Problematic Gospels and their basis in scripture Dependence … Continue reading “3. Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against Mythicism: Chapters 1-2”

Carrier’s “Proving History”, Chapter 3(a) — Review

I have been studying the first half of Richard Carrier’s chapter 3, “Introducing Bayes’s Theorem”, in his recent book Proving History: Bayes’s Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus. I mean studying. I want to be sure I fully understand the argument before tackling the second half of the chapter, headed Mechanics of Bayes’s … Continue reading “Carrier’s “Proving History”, Chapter 3(a) — Review”

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”