The Jesus Myth Theory assumes that the Gospels were written about a fictional Jesus of Nazareth and were based upon other mythical gods/heroes. `
Since the Gospels were written within the lifetime of people who were alive when the events in the stories are set, it must have been well know that they were fictional myths. If it is so obvious to the Mythicists that the Gospels are fictional, then the original audience must have known what was going on.
Yet at some point in church history, the church assumed that Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure and the Gospels were accurate.
The problem for the Jesus Myth Theory is that there is no clear point of transition from the mythical to the historical interpretation.
It would be tempting to look to Constantine, as he is blamed for most things. And yet church fathers before Nicea seemed to consider Jesus to be historical. Even Origen, known for his allegorical interpretations, believed that the Gospels were based on historical events.
The failure to pinpoint when the church began to see Jesus as historical is a major problem for the Jesus Myth Theory.
Love your book Unmasking the Pagan Christ! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on, what should be, a non-issue.
I do have a question. Have you interacted with Maurice Casey’s book on this subject? He’s very good on many points of historical interest, but not very good in others (attacks conservative Christian with equal vigour).
Much thanks and blessings!
No I have not, but I would like to.
Yeah this has definitely been a major issue. They usually just allude to them doing so “early on.” The only attempts I’ve seen is that by Carrier, who tries to pinpoint it between Paul and the Gospel of Matthew at least, but others are far less concrete (Price disavowing the authenticity of all Christian literature early on, just says it happened at some point between the 1st and 2nd centuries).
A major issue for mythicists is that there is not a single ancient source that attests to a mythical Jesus either, just their complete misunderstanding of Trypho is all they have. So, they can’t even create a framework for when the mythical became historical.
Like, the mythicist theory isn’t absurd, mythical figures did get historicized quite consistently (just see Philo of Byblos’ Phoenician History), but in this case they have no actual evidence to support their case.