{"id":1127,"date":"2010-07-12T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-12T14:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/07\/jesus-probably-existed-the-argument-from-mythicism\/"},"modified":"2010-07-12T14:24:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-12T14:24:00","slug":"jesus-probably-existed-the-argument-from-mythicism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/07\/jesus-probably-existed-the-argument-from-mythicism.html","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Probably Existed: The Argument From Mythicism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Although I don\u2019t think this accurately describes the situation, for the sake of argument, let\u2019s\u00a0assume for the moment\u00a0that the evidence for the existence of Jesus, or the criteria for evaluating the evidence, is such that the question of Jesus\u2019 existence cannot be answered one way or the other. The evidence is precisely balanced: he could well have existed, he may well have been invented. The question simply cannot be settled \u2013 his existence is possible and plausible, but neither probable nor improbable.<\/p>\n

If that were the situation, how might we get out of this impasse? I\u2019d like to suggest that mythicism itself may offer the solution. Over the course of more than a century, various mythicist scenarios have been put forward in order to make the case that Jesus was a figure invented from scratch, rather than a person around whom myths and legends arose and developed. I think that all historians and scholars with expertise in relevant fields who have\u00a0examined the scenarios and arguments put forward by mythicists\u00a0would agree that not one of them makes sense in the historical context and time frame in question, not one of them fails to engage in special pleading or unwarranted speculation, not one of them, in short, is plausible, and certainly not more plausible or historically and contextually fitting than mainstream historical conclusions which accept the existence of Jesus, however shrouded in myth he may have become.<\/p>\n

In other words, even if we were to grant that the evidence is inconclusive,\u00a0would the very fact that mainstream historiography can offer a plausible scenario that accounts for the rise of Christianity, while mythicism cannot, itself push the balance of probability in favor of Jesus having existed? <\/p>\n

For those who think that the evidence itself favors Jesus\u2019 existence, this may seem like a pointless thought experiment. But perhaps for those who are sitting on the fence, this post may have some relevance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although I don\u2019t think this accurately describes the situation, for the sake of argument, let\u2019s\u00a0assume for the moment\u00a0that the evidence for the existence of Jesus, or the criteria for evaluating the evidence, is such that the question of Jesus\u2019 existence cannot be answered one way or the other. The evidence is precisely balanced: he could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nJesus Probably Existed: The Argument From Mythicism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Although I don't think this accurately describes the situation, for the sake of argument, let's assume for the moment that the evidence for the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/07\/jesus-probably-existed-the-argument-from-mythicism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jesus Probably Existed: The Argument From Mythicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Although I don't think this accurately describes the situation, for the sake of argument, let's assume for the moment that the evidence for the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/07\/jesus-probably-existed-the-argument-from-mythicism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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