historicity of Jesus ?

All content tagged with this topic across every database — articles, Mike Winger ideas, and verse entries on one screen.

...more

Introduction of the skeptical objection: Paul didn't know much about Jesus

Skeptics Wrongly Claim Apostle Paul Didn’t Know Jesus

Matt Dillahunty's claim: Paul only gives us death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus

Skeptics Wrongly Claim Apostle Paul Didn’t Know Jesus

1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 — Paul identifies the Jews who killed Jesus as the same people persecuting the early church

Skeptics Wrongly Claim Apostle Paul Didn’t Know Jesus

1 Timothy 6:13 — Paul references Jesus's testimony before Pontius Pilate

Skeptics Wrongly Claim Apostle Paul Didn’t Know Jesus

Introduction: Mike Winger introduces the topic of Jesus mythicism and its growing online influence

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Scholarly consensus: Jesus mythicism is not a live discussion in academic New Testament studies or history

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Bart Ehrman's statement: mythicist view has no foothold among modern critical scholars

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Maurice Casey (agnostic) concludes mythicist arguments are completely spurious, put forward by incompetent and unqualified people

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Joseph Hoffmann (agnostic, Harvard/Oxford) calls mythicists the greatest threat to calm academic study of religion next to fundamentalism

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Analogy: Entertaining Jesus mythicism is like scientists debating Flat Earth, or historians entertaining Holocaust denial

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Non-Christian sources for Jesus: Josephus, Tacitus, and Lucian of Samosata all mention Jesus

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Tacitus places Jesus's execution under Tiberius Caesar while Pontius Pilate was procurator; both Tacitus and Lucian are hostile to Christianity

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Paul as historical witness: he knew Jesus's brother James, persecuted the church, and lived in the same region and time as Jesus

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Argument: Paul's conversion is inexplicable if Jesus were fictional — he was in Jerusalem at the same time as the crucifixion

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

The Gospels (especially Mark and John) contain eyewitness testimony, serving as evidence for a historical Jesus

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

The rapid genesis and spread of the Christian movement is hard to explain if Jesus were fictional and not within living memory

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Josephus mentions Jesus twice: Antiquities 18.63 (disputed) and Antiquities 20.200 (virtually undisputed)

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

The Testimonium Flavianum (Antiquities 18.63) was interpolated by a Christian, but most scholars think an authentic Josephus reference to Jesus underlies it

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Louis Feldman (leading Josephus scholar, Jewish, non-Christian) believed Josephus mentioned Jesus in both passages, estimated 3-to-1 or 5-to-1 ratio of scholars who agree

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Tacitus spells "Christos" correctly even while initially writing "Chrestus" — the full passage explicitly identifies Christ as executed under Pontius Pilate under Tiberius

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Richard Carrier's claim that all extra-biblical sources simply copy Gospel accounts is refuted by Tacitus's late date and hostile stance

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

The dying and rising gods parallel argument fails because Paul and non-Christian sources still have to be explained independently of the Gospels

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Analogy: Parallel details in the B-29 Empire State Building crash (1945) and 9/11 do not mean 9/11 was copied — you need a causal connection

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Historians are unpersuaded by pagan parallels because the parallels are not actually that similar; Asclepius is the closest pre-Jesus parallel and only heals/occasionally raises dead

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Apollonius of Tyana, the closest post-Jesus parallel, did not believe in resurrection and has only one account of an after-death appearance — in a dream to one disciple

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Mythicists must composite multiple figures (Dionysus, Horus, Asclepius, Apollonius, Hercules) to approximate Jesus — historians reject this method

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Analogy: Compositing Lincoln, JFK, and fictional David Palmer to "prove" Obama is a myth illustrates the fallacy of the mythicist composite method

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Richard Carrier's claim that Paul only describes a Jesus in outer space, never on earth

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Romans 1:3 refutes the "outer space Jesus" claim — Paul explicitly places Jesus as a historical descendant of David born in the flesh

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Some mythicists argue "James the brother of the Lord" means a fellow believer, not a biological brother of Jesus

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Refutation: Paul and Jesus use "brothers" for all believers, but Matthew names four brothers of Jesus including James — confirmed by Josephus

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

John 7 records Jesus's brothers not believing in him during his ministry, then Acts records them as believers after resurrection — this disbelief/conversion arc supports biological relationship

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Multiple independent attestation from Paul, Matthew, John (special L), and Josephus — the strongest form of historical evidence — confirms Jesus's brothers including James

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Lack of contemporary accounts of Jesus is explained by low literacy rates (~10%), oral transmission culture, and early Christian expectation of imminent return

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Roman historians didn't mention Jesus more because he wasn't significant to Roman history — they didn't even mention Pontius Pilate, known only from Philo, Josephus, and NT sources

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Argument from silence illustrated: Josephus omits his own capture by Romans from his autobiography; Grant's memoirs never mention the Emancipation Proclamation

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Objection that scholars affirm historicity only because they signed faith statements is refuted by citing atheist/agnostic scholars who agree

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Suggestion to mythicists: attend the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting and ask scholars directly whether Jesus existed

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Virtual scholarly consensus on historical facts about Jesus: lived in Palestine, believed special relationship with God, performed astonishing deeds, taught in parables, criticized Jewish leaders, crucified under Pilate

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

The consensus extends well beyond a minimal "one man named Jesus died by crucifixion" — substantial historical data about Jesus is agreed upon

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Bart Ehrman is in a small minority who deny Jesus was known as a miracle worker during his lifetime; most scholars disagree

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Audience question: "Consensus holds Jesus existed but was not the Christ of the Gospels" — Licona: that is not a consensus position

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Suetonius's reference to "Chrestus" in Life of Claudius possibly refers to Jesus — but Suetonius is chronologically challenged if it does

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Audience Q on mimesis: pagan parallels fail for the same reasons, plus early Christians were Torah-observant Jews who would not borrow from pagan myths

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Only a handful of bona fide scholars deny Jesus's existence — Carrier said there were seven including himself, none widely respected in their disciplines

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Red flags for mythicists: fringe scholarly support + primarily internet bloggers = gullibility warning; comparable to moon landing denialism and Holocaust denial

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims

Pastoral observation: many Jesus mythicists are atheists/agnostics who find it convenient to deny Jesus existed rather than grapple with who he claimed to be

Real Historian Responds to ＂Jesus Was a Myth＂ Claims