{"id":163,"date":"2011-05-23T11:03:32","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T15:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=162"},"modified":"2011-05-23T11:03:32","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T15:03:32","slug":"blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html","title":{"rendered":"Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Regular readers of Exploring Our Matrix know that <a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/mythicism-round-up.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">one of the topics I have been blogging about for some time is <em>mythicism<\/em><\/a> \u2013 the viewpoint that Jesus is more likely to be a purely fictional figure invented more-or-less from scratch based on earlier mythical figures and texts, than to be a historical figure around whom myths and legends subsequently developed. It is not a viewpoint that historians and scholars find persuasive, and since the agreement of experts often fails to mitigate the spread of ill-founded ideas on the internet, I\u2019ve devoted a fair amount of time to explaining why almost no one who knows anything about how historical scholarship works, or takes the time to be well informed about ancient Judaism and\/or the New Testament, finds the claims of mythicists to represent scholarship of any sort, much less <em>persuasive<\/em> scholarship.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial\" src=\"http:\/\/ws.assoc-amazon.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=0968925928&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"73\" height=\"110\">On this blog in its old location, I recently posted <a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/beginning-blogging-earl-dohertys-book.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">a round-up of my earlier blogging on this subject<\/a>, which I thought it would be useful to <a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/beginning-blogging-earl-dohertys-book.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">link to<\/a>. I had also begun blogging through Earl Doherty\u2019s tome, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0968925928\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399349&amp;creativeASIN=0968925928\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Jesus: Neither God Nor Man \u2013 The Case for a Mythical Jesus<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important;margin: 0px !important\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0968925928&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399349\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><\/em>, and so I likewise thought that a round-up of links to my previous blog posts about that book should be posted here before proceeding further.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/beginning-blogging-earl-dohertys-book.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Beginning Blogging Earl Doherty\u2019s Book, <em>Jesus: Neither God Nor Man<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/introduction-to-earl-dohertys-jesus.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Introduction to Earl Doherty\u2019s Book <em>Jesus: Neither God Nor Man<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/chapter-1-of-earl-doherty-jesus-neither.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chapter 1<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/chapter-2-of-earl-dohertys-jesus.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chapter 2<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/blogging-through-dohertys-book.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Interlude<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/if-your-claims-are-unpersuasive-is-it.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">If Your Claims Are Unpersuasive, Is It My Fault?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/chapter-3-of-earl-dohertys-jesus.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chapter 3<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/chapter-4-of-earl-dohertys-jesus.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chapter 4<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/chapter-5-of-earl-dohertys-jesus.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chapter 5<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/dealing-appropriately-with.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dealing Appropriately with Pseudoscholarship<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/overview-of-part-one-of-earl-dohertys.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Overview of Part 1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Very shortly I will pick up where I left off. with part two.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regular readers of Exploring Our Matrix know that one of the topics I have been blogging about for some time is mythicism \u2013 the viewpoint that Jesus is more likely to be a purely fictional figure invented more-or-less from scratch based on earlier mythical figures and texts, than to be a historical figure around whom [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[1312,1456,2921,4005,4646,4660,4861,5677,7853,7856,8200,9719],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mythicism","tag-book-review","tag-bunk","tag-earl-doherty","tag-god","tag-historical","tag-history","tag-humanity","tag-jesus","tag-mythicism","tag-mythicists","tag-nonsense","tag-pseudoscholarship"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Regular readers of Exploring Our Matrix know that one of the topics I have been blogging about for some time is mythicism - the viewpoint that Jesus is\" \/>\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\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Regular readers of Exploring Our Matrix know that one of the topics I have been blogging about for some time is mythicism - the viewpoint that Jesus is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-23T15:03:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ws.assoc-amazon.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=0968925928&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html\",\"name\":\"Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-23T15:03:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-23T15:03:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"Regular readers of Exploring Our Matrix know that one of the topics I have been blogging about for some time is mythicism - the viewpoint that Jesus is\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far","description":"Regular readers of Exploring Our Matrix know that one of the topics I have been blogging about for some time is mythicism - the viewpoint that Jesus is","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far","og_description":"Regular readers of Exploring Our Matrix know that one of the topics I have been blogging about for some time is mythicism - the viewpoint that Jesus is","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2011-05-23T15:03:32+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/ws.assoc-amazon.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=0968925928&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html","name":"Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-23T15:03:32+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-23T15:03:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"Regular readers of Exploring Our Matrix know that one of the topics I have been blogging about for some time is mythicism - the viewpoint that Jesus is","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/05\/blogging-about-jesus-mythicism-the-story-so-far.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blogging about Jesus Mythicism: The story so far"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}