Talk:Jesus myth theory

Richard Carrier quote in the lede of this article
Most RationalWikia editors have a low opinion of Richard Carrier's scholarship as do most of the scholars in his field. Look at the posts at: Talk:Evidence for the historical existence of Jesus Christ.

So why is Richard Carrier prominently quoted in the lede of the article? It doesn't make sense. LinuxLover (talk) 04:47, 7 December 2021 (UTC)


 * I'd also like to point out that Carrier citations are more prevalent in this article than they are in "Evidence for the historical existence of Jesus". His work comprises about 25% of all the citations. There's also a fair bit of Lataster, who is only slightly more respected than Carrier (that is to say, not much).
 * To be fair, as Carrier seems to be the go-to person nowadays for Jesus mythicism, it's somewhat more understandable considering that's the entire purview of the article. That being said, just because we have an article on a fringe viewpoint (such as Kennedy assassination of 9/11 conspiracy theories) doesn't mean we should endorse them in defiance of the evidence.
 * I haven't read the entire article yet, but I've already seen a problematic trend from what I have read. Friedman (talk) 14:35, 7 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I've also noticed that there's a very large section listings 28 rebuttals to Bart Ehrman's book "Did Jesus Exist?" in the Further Reading section, Ehrman being a very notable critic of Carrier and the quality of his scholarship. No other author receives such a dubious honor. As well, under the Further Reading section titled Logical Arguments, four of the five listed sources are Carrier. Friedman (talk) 14:53, 7 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Agree with removal. Leaving aside the blathery, filibustery nature of the quote, in an article about a debate, the lead quote shouldn't be one that asserts on one side or the other. - Immigrant laborer (talk) 16:24, 7 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Extract the text from the large bubble in the third panel here? - Immigrant laborer (talk) 16:32, 7 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Lol, one of my favorite Bible stories. Friedman (talk) 00:02, 8 December 2021 (UTC)

Citizendium
Minor point, but can we agree to scrap the citation for Citizendium? I mean... it's Citizendium. Friedman (talk) 19:30, 8 December 2021 (UTC)

Criticism of Ehrman
Can I just point out that this article, which, I assume, is supposed to take an objective view of the issue, has an entire reference section for rebuttals of Bart Ehrman's (one of the leading historical Jesus supporters) book? It's literally titled "Responses to Bart Ehrman's Did Jesus Exist?" and there are 28 works listed there. No other author, historicist or mythicist, gets this dubious distinction. For those of you who are unaware, Ehrman and Carrier aren't the best of friends. They had a long-running war of blog posts, which is included in the article. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about, when I say that the articles are propped up by Carrier. Not just that he's overrepresented as a source, but the blatant influence seen in the article. Friedman (talk) 19:42, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Give interested parties time to study the article. I myself have not read it all yet, Jesus science can be tricky. Don't try to hurry the process.Ariel31459 (talk) 19:53, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorry about that. And lol to "Jesus science." Friedman (talk) 19:54, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree that this article needs a major editing/daughtering out of material.--BruceGrubb (talk) 22:46, 8 December 2021 (UTC)

Citation doesn't say what article says it does
Article says that Paul claims all of his knowledge comes from visions and revelations, not human sources.

The citation is Galatians 1:11-12.

I believe someone has gotten their timeline confused.

If you were raised fundamentalist Christian and then became an atheist later, you might think or have been taught that the gospels came before Paul's letters since that is how they are laid out in the Bible. This is wrong. Paul wrote about 20 years before even the earliest gospel.

So in Galatians 1:11, Paul says his "gospel" came from no man and it came from direct revelation. This is not the same thing as what the article claims, and I think someone confused the word "gospel" with "story of Jesus" because of the 4 gospels in the NT. But those hadn't been written yet so Paul wasn't talking about that. He literally just means the "good news" he is sharing with the Galatians came from no man but from direct revelation. He's talking about how he preached to them gentiles don't need to follow Mosaic law, particularly circumcision. He is saying that that "good news" (the literal translation of "gospel") came from no man, it came from direct revelation. The rest of his knowledge about Jesus, and whether it came from divine revelation, human beings, a swamp monster, a talking tree, or a giant meteor, is ambiguous based on this verse. It could have come from divine revelation, could have come from a crazy dude on drugs talking to him, could have came from anywhere. This verse says nothing about the rest of his knowledge.

I've tried searching his epistles and I can't find anything to support this assertion. I think someone confused the word "gospel" with "what Jesus did and said" because they thought the gospels in the New Testament were around when Paul was writing. Gospel in his time just meant "good news".

That statement needs removed, or needs better supported. -- 20:49, 8 April 2022‎ User:CecilHarvey
 * Paul wrote at least six letters (Pauline epistles) in the 50s of the 1st century CE proclaiming and commenting on the GOSPEL of Κυρίος (Lord) 	Ἰησοῦς (Jesus) 	Χριστός (Christ). As an Apostle, Paul had a personal relationship with this god, writing, "[It pleased First-god] to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the gentiles" and "I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ."
 * Vridar."The letters of Paul that are understood to have been written some twenty to ten years before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE speak about the crucifixion of Jesus as a simple fact. There is never any elaboration of when or where it happened (unless one treats 1 Thess 2:13-16 as genuine). The message of death and resurrection of the son of God by itself is sufficient to lead to conversion."
 * The Pauline epistles are the earliest extant Manuscripts that attests to the practice of "Christians" proclaiming the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek term "gospel" was a mundane word and was used by other writers for topics unrelated to Christianity.
 * --Dbz (talk) 13:57, 10 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Biblehub shows the many ways Galatians 1:12 is translated:
 * New International Version: I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
 * New Living Translation: I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.
 * Berean Study Bible: I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
 * The other translations of Galatians 1:12 effectively say the same thing. The citation doesn't need to removed or be better supported as anyone who reads both Galatians 1:11 and Galatians 1:12 can see the reference is properly cited.--BruceGrubb (talk) 20:32, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Right, it's not a translation issue. But the article is taking that statement to be much broader than what it is.

Let's look at those translations. What exactly is the "message" referring to in the NLT? What exactly is "it" in the NIV and berean translations?

Suppose I tell you that this money I have in my pocket came not from any work I did, but came directly from my father. That's only me talking about the money I have in my pocket, not all the money I have. The money in my bank account may have come from me winning the lottery.

Paul indeed is quite insistent that the gospel he had preached to the Galatians, which is that they do not need to follow Mosaic Law (particularly circumcision) came directly from revelation from Jesus. But he's not saying all of his knowledge came directly from revelation, only that gospel referred to in Galatians. I think people are equating the word "gospel" with "story about Jesus" because of the gospels in the NT. Paul is leaving the rest of his sources of knowledge ambiguous. Could have been revelation, could have been some crazy dude on the sidewalk, could have been anything. He even claims that he persecuted Christians prior to said revelation ( Gal 1:13-16). He might be lying about that for all we know. But he certainly couldn't be simultaneously claiming complete ignorance of this new religious movement prior to his revelation while also claiming he persecuted them prior to his revelation. He had to have obtained some knowledge about what this new religion was in order to persecute them, and he places this strictly before his revelation of Jesus. In fact if anything, this is pretty close to a confirmation that Paul is claiming to have obtained some level of information that wasn't obtained from some revelation or vision.

I can't find anything in Paul that supports a statement as broad as what this article is saying. "Jesus came down out of heaven and told me we don't need to circumcise gentiles" is not the same as "Jesus came down out of heaven and told me every single I know about how to worship him and what we should do" &mdash; Unsigned, by: CecilHarvey / talk / contribs
 * The gospel of Paul is:
 * Jesus died
 * Jesus was buried
 * Jesus was resurrected
 * All the rest is not. It is commentary, proclamations (of additional revelations), interpretations (of scripture), theology, politics, preaching, etc. --Dbz (talk) 12:57, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
 * So you're saying that when Paul says "gospel" in Galatians it is equivalent to "gospel" in 1 Corinthians 15:2-3? In other words, we should treat all usages of the word "gospel" by Paul to be equivalent?

Romans 1:16 implies that "the gospel" is that both Jew and gentile can be saved. Galatians 1:6 has Paul referring to other gospels Romans 2:16 has Paul saying his gospel included God judging people, that's not in 1 Cor 15:2-3 Romans 15:16 it's the gospel of God. Is that different from Paul's gospel? 1 Corinthians 9:14. Now Paul says you can earn a living by the gospel. Sounds like here he's using "gospel" to mean preaching. 1 thessalonians 1:5. "Our gospel" wait, plural? I thought Paul's gospel was his alone, no other people have it? Who are these other people that have the same gospel as Paul? Right after Galatians 1:11-12, Paul claims he persecuted Christians before his vision. Now he might have lied about that, but clearly he is saying that he had some knowledge of the Jesus followers and what they did and believed prior to his vision. He certainly couldn't be persecuting them while simultaneously having no idea what they believe in or who they are.

Paul clearly indicates he had some knowledge of the Jesus cult prior to his revelation, and he clearly does not have some consistent use of the word "gospel". There is no basis to justify equating the term "gospel" as used in Galatians 1 with the term "gospel" as used in 1 Corinthians 15. The word didn't have a standardized meaning until the end of the 2nd century. All we can tell is the Paul is claiming what he is preaching to the Galatians came from no man but directly from visions. We can't conclude that about all of his knowledge, like this article claims.

If you're just going to assert with evidence that "gospel" in Galatians 1 and "gospel" in 1 Corinthians 15 means the exact same thing, then everyone should just dismiss it without evidence.
 * "This explains why Paul takes little notice of Jesus ' life on earth ( the death on the Cross and the resurrection excepted ) . He only knew the heavenly Jesus of the vision ; the earthly Jesus he had not known; and the account of Him" ... "Hibbert Journal: A Quarterly of Religion" (1903)--BruceGrubb (talk) 21:06, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Per 1 Corinthians:
 * [15:1] Γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀδελφοί τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν ὃ καὶ παρελάβετε ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἑστήκατε [2] δι᾽ οὗ καὶ σῴζεσθε τίνι λόγῳ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν εἰ κατέχετε ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ εἰκῇ ἐπιστεύσατε [3] παρέδωκα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν πρώτοις ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν κατὰ τὰς γραφάς
 * [15:1] Gnorízo dé ymín adelfoí tó evangélion ó evingelisámin ymín ó kaí parelávete en ó kaí estíkate [2] di᾽ oú kaí sózesthe tíni lógo evingelisámin ymín ei katéchete ektós ei mí eikí epistéfsate [3] parédoka gár ymín en prótois ó kaí parélavon óti Christós apéthanen ypér tón amartión imón katá tás grafás

[15:1] …brethren the "good news (i.e. gospel about Jesus)" I testify (evangelize) to you…

The Greek word "gospel" is just an everyday common word that is context dependent. If Paul also told everyone the gospel of his regular bowel movements it would not be surprising. But the gospel of dietary fiber is not the same as the gospel of Jesus.

References by Paul to his gospel of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection are identifiable by Paul's use of: --Dbz (talk) 12:28, 28 April 2022 (UTC) && 14:44, 3 May 2022 (UTC)
 * tó evangélion ó evingelisámin
 * tó evangélion tó evangelisthén

Pseudohistory?
The rationalwiki article on the historical evidence for Jesus makes it fairly clear that the evidence is weak. The Testimonium Flavianum was long considered an interpolation in toto, and the fact is that Origen and other Fathers of the Church before Eusebius did not speak of any reference to Jesus in Josephus. The Tacitus reference mentions chrestianos, not christianos, as shown through UV, and yet refers to Christos and not Chrestos. Pilate is also called a procurator when he was, in fact, a prefect. It is misleading to speak of a “consensus” in this case. The historians dealing with the New Testament are overwhelmingly Christian, a fact that will bias them a priori towards historicity regardless of how “liberal” they are. Secular scholars are still overwhelmingly employed by religiously-affiliated institutions, who will fire them for expressing mythicist opinions, as happened with Thomas Brodie. The fact that mythicism is dismissed without even analysing the evidence, while ridiculous and far more implausible than even the most outlandish mythicist theory pseudo-scholarship such as N. T. Wright’s arguments for the resurrection is at the very least clear indication of the pathological nature of much of “biblical scholarship”. Many bible scholars even speak of alleged “naturalistic biases”! (LOLZ) It is, plainly, a forced and manufactured consensus, no more credible than a consensus of North Korean historians on the glorious leadership of Kim Il Sung or the geocentric or creationist “consensus” imposed by the Catholic Church based on no evidence whatsoever.2A02:2F0F:B00C:CC00:1413:23D1:C8C5:C18F (talk) 19:03, 9 June 2023 (UTC)