{"id":8193,"date":"2012-06-24T22:38:08","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T02:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=8193"},"modified":"2012-06-24T22:38:08","modified_gmt":"2012-06-25T02:38:08","slug":"quote-of-the-day-r-joseph-hoffmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/06\/quote-of-the-day-r-joseph-hoffmann.html","title":{"rendered":"Quote of the Day (R. Joseph Hoffmann)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Mythicism is not so much a\u00a0conspiracy\u00a0theory as a mass of cobbled \u00a0improbabilities that can only be compared to explaining the existence of a discovery by postulating that the scientist credited with\u00a0 formulating it was really created by a mad scientist who invented the first and a \u00a0third who created the one who created him.\u00a0 This is comparatively easy to do when all you have is the theory and an opinion about it. \u00a0After a dozen mad scientists have been postulated, however, you must ask where reality lies. \u00a0For mythicists, it seems, it doesn\u2019t really exist anywhere. It certainly doesn\u2019t exist anywhere near where the evidence points, and to think otherwise sullies your credentials as a skeptic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 R. Joseph Hoffmann, \u201c\u201cBorn of a Woman\u201d: Paul\u2019s Perfect Victim and the Historical Jesus\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

I think that later in the piece Hoffmann reads far too much of later Jewish polemic against Christians into Galatians 4:4. But that doesn\u2019t affect his points about mythicism. Click through to take a look for yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mythicism is not so much a\u00a0conspiracy\u00a0theory as a mass of cobbled \u00a0improbabilities that can only be compared to explaining the existence of a discovery by postulating that the scientist credited with\u00a0 formulating it was really created by a mad scientist who invented the first and a \u00a0third who created the one who created him.\u00a0 This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,64],"tags":[5689,7853,9867],"class_list":["post-8193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galatians-bible","category-mythicism","tag-jesus-process","tag-mythicism","tag-r-joseph-hoffmann"],"yoast_head":"\nQuote of the Day (R. 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