Mythicism Miscellanies

Here are a few posts relevant to mythicism from around the blogosphere.

From Tom Verenna, two posts on “Defining Mythicism,” one of which addresses the appeal to Galatians 1 as though Paul’s words there give a clear indication one way or the other about Jesus’ historicity, while the other post emphasizes that an all-or-nothing approach to the figure of Jesus as depicted in ancient sources is unhelpful.

Also related to this subject, Neil Godfrey has a post in which he writes that “For Paul there is one central focus of his faith and that is Christ crucified” and emphasizes that this negates the need for an elaborate and detailed mythological system. Of course, those who accept mainstream scholarship will know that something similar has been said for a very long time in relation to Paul as most scholars understand him. On the one hand, the crucifixion of the person believed to be the Davidic Anointed One cried out for explanation. On the other hand, the belief that he had been raised from the dead (and not merely returned to mortal life) meant that the end of the ages had arrived. Is it any wonder that Paul’s theology focused most of its attention on those moments and only rarely turned its focus elsewhere?

Godfrey’s post emphasizes the present experiential nature of Paul’s religion, and that too helps account for Paul’s focus being on what it is, and not on other things – whether details of a celestial myth, or details of an earthly life.