{"id":16318,"date":"2013-08-03T11:26:39","date_gmt":"2013-08-03T15:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=16318"},"modified":"2013-08-03T11:26:39","modified_gmt":"2013-08-03T15:26:39","slug":"mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html","title":{"rendered":"Mythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My recent use of the term \u201cparallelomania\u201d<\/a> (popularized by Samuel Sandmel<\/a>) has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. It\u2019s All Random\u2026Mostly<\/a> expressed dislike for the term.\u00a0Ian then responded<\/a>, writing:<\/p>\n

I have some sympathy for just using the term \u2018parallelomania\u2019 as a term of skepticism. To say, yes it is fine to find parallels, but as long as you\u2019ve only shown the parallels, you\u2019re only relying on a kind of probabilistic innuendo to make your point: you have neither analysed the false positives nor the false negatives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the way our brains process data and patterns, see also some astronomy images shared by Phil Plait<\/a>.<\/p>\n

John Loftus<\/a> highlighted a couple of mythicist publications, including Robert Price\u2019s ebook, The Historical Bejeezus<\/a>\"\"<\/em>. And Pete Enns<\/a> mentioned a book about prophecy, fulfillment, and the stories about Jesus\u2019 birth.<\/p>\n

What do others think? Surely\u00a0some<\/em> claims about parallels deserve the label \u201cparallelomania,\u201d don\u2019t you think? If you haven\u2019t read Sandmel\u2019s article<\/a>, have a read of it and see what you think.<\/p>\n

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

My recent use of the term \u201cparallelomania\u201d (popularized by Samuel Sandmel) has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. It\u2019s All Random\u2026Mostly expressed dislike for the term.\u00a0Ian then responded, writing: I have some sympathy for just using the term \u2018parallelomania\u2019 as a term of skepticism. To say, yes it is fine to find parallels, but as […]<\/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":[3012,3014,4643,4652,4660,4779,5677,7845,7853,8528,8709,10736,12543],"class_list":["post-16318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mythicism","tag-elijah","tag-elisha","tag-historians","tag-historical-jesus","tag-history","tag-horus","tag-jesus","tag-myth","tag-mythicism","tag-osiris","tag-parallelomania","tag-samuel-sandmel","tag-thomas-brodie"],"yoast_head":"\nMythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My recent use of the term "parallelomania" (popularized by Samuel Sandmel) has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. It's All Random...Mostly\" \/>\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\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My recent use of the term "parallelomania" (popularized by Samuel Sandmel) has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. It's All Random...Mostly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.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=\"2013-08-03T15:26:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00DKA5CSM\" \/>\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\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html\",\"name\":\"Mythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-03T15:26:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-03T15:26:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"My recent use of the term \\\"parallelomania\\\" (popularized by Samuel Sandmel) has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. It's All Random...Mostly\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere\"}]},{\"@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":"Mythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere","description":"My recent use of the term \"parallelomania\" (popularized by Samuel Sandmel) has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. It's All Random...Mostly","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\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere","og_description":"My recent use of the term \"parallelomania\" (popularized by Samuel Sandmel) has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. It's All Random...Mostly","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2013-08-03T15:26:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00DKA5CSM"}],"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\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html","name":"Mythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-03T15:26:39+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-03T15:26:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"My recent use of the term \"parallelomania\" (popularized by Samuel Sandmel) has sparked some discussion in the blogosphere. It's All Random...Mostly","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/08\/mythicism-and-parallelomania-around-the-blogosphere.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mythicism and Parallelomania around the Blogosphere"}]},{"@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\/16318","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=16318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}