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Jesus Mythicism 8: Jesus, History and Miracles

Jesus Mythicism 8: Jesus, History and Miracles

There is a common line of argument among the more naïve believers in Jesus Mythicism that goes “the stories of Jesus are full of miracles and other non-historical elements. So if any of them are not historical, why not all of them?” This all-or-nothing thinking is based on the idea that if any part of these accounts can be concluded to be not historical, this means the rest of them are as well: “it’s all made up”. But even in…

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Richard Dawkins Teaches the Children

Richard Dawkins Teaches the Children

In his latest book, Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide (Random House, 2019), Richard Dawkins sets out to give older children and teens an introduction to reasons to doubt religion. Unfortunately he manages to perpetuate a series of historical myths in the process and the book is characteristic of prominent New Atheists’ careless attitude toward history. Most atheists come to that position more or less on their own. For me, being raised by a scientist in a family of scientists and…

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History for Atheists on MythVision

History for Atheists on MythVision

Derek Lambert, the enthusiastic and open-minded host of the MythVision podcast and video channel, was kind enough to have me on as a guest. Derek is someone who has been both a Christian and then a Jesus Mythicist, but is now exploring ideas about the historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity with a broad range of guests. It was a pleasure to speak with him and explore the problems with Jesus Mythicism in a fairly long and wide ranging…

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Jesus Mythicism 7: Josephus, Jesus and the ‘Testimonium Flavianum’

Jesus Mythicism 7: Josephus, Jesus and the ‘Testimonium Flavianum’

Mythicists like to claim that the issue of the authenticity of Josephus’ account of Jesus – the so-called “Testimonium Flavianum” – is settled. They insist that the passage is a wholesale forgery, inserted by Christians. But while a scholarly case can be made for this position, one can also be made for the partial authenticity of the passage. Unless new evidence appears, the question remains moot. Of all the source material pertinent to the question of the historicity of Jesus,…

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History for Atheists on Answers in Reason

History for Atheists on Answers in Reason

It is always nice to be invited to speak to other atheists and to highlight the work I do here on History for Atheists. This week I had the pleasure of talking to Davidian from Answers in Reason in a live discussion which was mainly about the historical Jesus but also on how history is analysed, the nature of ancient source material and the problem of atheist bad history and anti-theist tribalism. We did not get to cover many other…

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Jesus Mythicism 4: Jesus as an Amalgam of Many Figures

Jesus Mythicism 4: Jesus as an Amalgam of Many Figures

When discussing the historicity of Jesus and debating the claims of Jesus Mythicists I often come across people who take the view that there may be at least some historical basis for Jesus, but there was no single historical person. They claim he was an amalgam of many different figures from the time, not one man. These people rarely back this idea up with evidence-based argument, but when they do, it does not stand up to critical scrutiny. The “Amalgam…

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Richard Carrier is Displeased, Again

Richard Carrier is Displeased, Again

Two years ago I wrote a detailed critique of Richard Carrier’s argument that Josephus does not refer to Jesus of Nazareth in Antiquities XX.200. Strangely, the normally hair-triggered Carrier has been slow to respond to my analysis. This did not go unnoticed by his fans, who repeatedly asked him why he had not replied to my criticisms. But now that he has finally done so, we can see the reason for his reluctance – the results are confused, inaccurate and…

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Jesus Mythicism 3: “No Contemporary References to Jesus”

Jesus Mythicism 3: “No Contemporary References to Jesus”

One of the more common arguments among online supporters of the Jesus Myth thesis is an argument from silence: “There are no contemporary references to Jesus, therefore he did not exist”. Unfortunately this naïve argument is based on an ignorance of the nature of ancient source material and of how an argument from silence is sustained. As a result, while it may initially seem to have some rhetorical force, it is not an argument that would be accepted by historians….

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Jesus Mythicism 2: “James, the Brother of the Lord”

Jesus Mythicism 2: “James, the Brother of the Lord”

It makes sense that the sect which survived Jesus’ execution would be more likely to leave an early historical trace than Jesus himself, given his relative obscurity in his lifetime. Seeing that this sect seems to have been led initially by his brother James, it also makes sense that we would get early historical references to James. This is why two references to Jesus’ brother, one contemporary and one by a non-Christian historian, represent a crucial flaw in the claim…

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Jesus Mythicism 1: The Tacitus Reference to Jesus

Jesus Mythicism 1: The Tacitus Reference to Jesus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was one of the most reliable of all Roman historians and many first century figures are known to us solely through his mention of them. This means his passing reference to Jesus in Annals XV.44 remains an fly in the ointment of the Jesus Myth hypothesis. Despite Tacitus’ reliability and the scholarly agreement that the reference is genuine, Mythicist ideologues have several ways by which they try to dismiss this reference; all of them characteristically weak. The…

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