I remember once being told by an English teacher in high school as I was struggling to write a haiku that I had no imagination. Ironically, out of rebellion I got the highest mark for that haiku.
Generally I say that imagination is good but some (not all) mythicists abuse the imagination. What do I mean by that?
Instead of relying on historical or textual evidence, some mythicists over rely on their imagination. Let me give you an example.
A mythicist may claim that Paul never mentioned the historical Jesus. A historian points to a passage in Paul’s letter that seems to point toward knowledge of Jesus. The mythicist responds by suggesting that we could imagine how that might be a later interpolation.
Now the science of textual criticism is very helpful in determining what passages and verses were likely later additions. But they don’t need textual criticism, they have imagination.
Another example. We know that there likely was a Christian addition to the Testamonium Flavian of Josephus. Most scholars agree on this, even if some disagree on the extent.
What about what Josephus says about John the Baptist and James the brother of Jesus? Although there is no evidence that these were later additions, we can use our imagination to see how they could be.
So basically if you can imagine that there is a chance Jesus never existed, he probably didn’t.
A Jesus Myth Haiku
Did Jesus exist?
Or is he just like Horus?
We follow the truth.
