Posted: Jan 05, 2023 1:21 pm
archibald wrote:We'll never know, but all things considered, it's more likely he existed than not, imo. Mythicism, on close examination, seems a stretch. Carrier is unconvincing. Don't even mention that fool Doherty.
I find both the scholars you mention to be persuasive.
I don't understand how it's a stretch that a mythos chock-a-block with made up heroes couldn't have one more as the Final Boss.
I'm open to there having been some street preacher whose words or deeds could have contributed to the fan fiction churned out in the early days of the christian cult explosion. What exactly that contribution might be is unclear, as there are few confirmed facts that even HJers agree on.
For starters, the extant epistles clearly (including in Koine Greek) refer to a religious man who had been alive in Judea, but who died (was killed it seems), apparently quite recently to the time of writing.
It doesn't seem abundantly clear to me. No reminisces among these people about having seen, heard, or met Jesus during his career.
"Remember when he fed that big crowd? I was amazed!"
"What really freaked me out was when he withered that fig tree. Boy was that farmer angry!"
"We nearly got lynched when we drowned all those pigs."