{"id":33081,"date":"2016-01-31T09:58:43","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T14:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=33081"},"modified":"2016-01-31T09:58:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T14:58:43","slug":"mythicist-defenders-of-christian-orthodoxy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/01\/mythicist-defenders-of-christian-orthodoxy.html","title":{"rendered":"Mythicist Defenders of Christian Orthodoxy"},"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>It never ceases to amaze me, when I talk to Jesus mythicists online, how eagerly they <em>embrace and defend Christian orthodoxy<\/em>. They do\u00a0not accept that Christian orthodoxy is\u00a0<em>true<\/em>, of course. But they accept that it gets the facts right \u2013 an odd stance for such so-called\u00a0skeptics to accept uncritically, never mind do battle about.\u00a0But they do indeed fight in defense of the claims of historic Christian (and often specifically Roman Catholic) orthodoxy, insisting that Jesus was God in our earliest sources, and that James the brother of Jesus was not in fact Jesus\u2019 biological brother.<\/p>\n<p>This is a perfect example, I think, of a phenomenon I have talked about before: switching sides in a debate, but not changing one\u2019s mindset at a more fundamental (pun intended) level.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-32263\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/files\/2015\/11\/If-someone-moves-from-fundamentalist-religion-to-fundamentalist-atheism-1024x576.png\" alt=\"If someone moves from fundamentalist religion to fundamentalist atheism\" width=\"496\" height=\"279\"><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It never ceases to amaze me, when I talk to Jesus mythicists online, how eagerly they embrace and defend Christian orthodoxy. They do\u00a0not accept that Christian orthodoxy is\u00a0true, of course. But they accept that it gets the facts right \u2013 an odd stance for such so-called\u00a0skeptics to accept uncritically, never mind do battle about.\u00a0But they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":32263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[1406,1646,4005,5521,5677,7075,7853,7856,8509,8942,13414],"class_list":["post-33081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mythicism","tag-brother","tag-catholic","tag-god","tag-james","tag-jesus","tag-mary","tag-mythicism","tag-mythicists","tag-orthodoxy","tag-perpetual","tag-virginity"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mythicist Defenders of Christian Orthodoxy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It never ceases to amaze me, when I talk to Jesus mythicists online, how eagerly they embrace and defend Christian orthodoxy. They do\u00a0not accept that\" \/>\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\/2016\/01\/mythicist-defenders-of-christian-orthodoxy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mythicist Defenders of Christian Orthodoxy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It never ceases to amaze me, when I talk to Jesus mythicists online, how eagerly they embrace and defend Christian orthodoxy. They do\u00a0not accept that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2016\/01\/mythicist-defenders-of-christian-orthodoxy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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