The crucifixion of Jesus is essential to the story of the historical Jesus. Most historians would say it is one of the few things that we know with absolute certainty. But R.G. Price disagrees in his Case Against Historical Christ.
Jesus’ crucifixion on Passover defies historical believability, yet makes perfect sense metaphorically
Most people(other than Muslims) take for granted that Jesus was crucified. But did it really happen? Robert Price suggests that the crucifixion is a metaphor and not history.
The foundation for Price’s argument is that the crucifixion of Jesus doesn’t make sense with what we know about Jewish rules about trials. The trial as described in the Gospels seem to break all the rules.
There is one major problem with Price’s argument. All of the rules that Price relies on comes from the Mishnah. The Mishnah was written down in 200 AD! Yes, it claims to reflect earlier traditions, but scholars have made it clear that we cannot be sure how accurately they represent first century ideas.
The most the Mishnah can tell us is what Jews believed in 200 AD. It cannot be used to say that an event that took place 170 years earlier didn’t happen.
What about the crucifixion as metaphor?
Price is correct that the New Testament does focus on the Passover connection with the death of Jesus. We are meant to see Jesus as the Passover lamb. There is definitely symbolism going on.
But that has nothing to say about the historicity of the event. Symbolic meanings are still applied to historical events. It is completely believable that Jesus, knowing that going to Jerusalem would end in his death, that he timed it for Passover, so that he would be seen as the ultimate Passover lamb.
Beginning in the 19, in the aftermath of the second quest for the historical Jesus, interest in the Christ myth theory was revived by George Albert Wells, whose ideas were elaborated by Earl Doherty. With the rise of the internet in the 19, their ideas gained popular interest, giving way to a multitude of publications and websites aimed at a popular audience, most notably Richard Carrier, often taking a polemical stance toward Christianity. Their ideas are supported by Robert Price, an academic theologian, while somewhat different stances on the mythological origins are offered by Thomas L. Thompson and Thomas L. Brodie, both also accomplished scholars in theology. published in the 19 and 19, was a predecessor for contemporary mythicists. According to Couchoud, Christianity started not with a biography of Jesus but “a collective mystical experience, sustaining a divine history mystically revealed”.