Christian faith evolved from a Jesus myth to an historical Jesus. New Testament scholarship needs to uncover that original evolution and rewrite the history of Western religion.
The results of your scholarship deserve the widest possible
dissemination,
and I hope against hope that your book will serve as a catalyst for
opening
some minds and putting truth in the spotlight. Long live rational
thought!"
(Bill, Reader Feedback 15)
"An excellent site. Easily the best example of independent scholarship
on the Web." (Ian, Reader Feedback 16)
June 25, 2008
Supplementary Article No. 16
Josephus On the Rocks
(an extensive revision and
expansion of my previous article and book chapter on Josephus,
including an examination of the
infamous physical description of Jesus by Robert Eisler)
March 24, 2008
Reader
Feedback No. 28
(including another run at
Romans 1:3
with an Index now at head of file)
December 25, 2007
Supplementary Article No. 15
"Born
of Woman"?
Reexamining Galatians
4:4
A
Comment
on Richard Carrier's book review on the Secular Web of
The Jesus Puzzle: Did
Christianity
Begin With a Mythical Christ?
including a link to that review
THE
JESUS PUZZLE: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ?
Fifth Printing Edition now on sale,
published
by Age of Reason Publications: How
to Purchase
AVAILABLE IN GERMAN
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Jesus-Puzzle - Basiert das Christentum auf einer Legende? Angelika
Lenz Verlag, Neustadt, Germany
Now available in Korean from
Hanrimwon Publishing House, Soeul, Korea
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look at our associate website, which addresses broader issues of
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Age of Reason
| The Jesus Puzzle in a Nutshell |
and
All the essentials of the Jesus Puzzle in ONE
easy-to-read
article!
Written for the Journal of Higher Criticism, Fall 1997
The Jesus Puzzle: Pieces in a
Puzzle
of Christian Origins
| MAIN ARTICLES: The Jesus Puzzle |
Presenting the basic case for the non-existence of an historical Jesus and a different origin of Christianity.
| SUPPLEMENTARY ARTICLES: Adding Pieces to the Jesus Puzzle |
Further studies on a wide range of topics concerning the historical Jesus and the Jesus myth. Each one adopts the viewpoint that problem questions or documents are best solved when approached from the position that there was no historical Jesus. At the same time, these articles will help provide a greater insight into the origins of Christianity, the object of its worship and the source of its ideas.
| THE SOUND
OF SILENCE:
200 Missing References to the Gospel Jesus in the New Testament Epistles |
| Responses to Critiques of the Mythicist Case |
| BOOK REVIEWS & Article Reviews |
Reviews of Historical Jesus Books & Historical Jesus Articles:
The Case for the Jesus
Myth:
Reviews of books which question the existence of
an
historical Jesus
Introduction (including links to individual books)
The Jesus Mysteries: (Timothy
Freke and Peter Gandy)
Published in England, 1999
The Christ Conspiracy:
(Acharya
S)
Published in USA, 1999
Jesus—One Hundred Years Before
Christ: (Alvar Ellegard)
Published in England, 1999
With response by the author and reply by Earl Doherty
Deconstructing Jesus:
(Robert
M. Price)
Published in USA, 2000
The Jesus the Jews Never Knew:
(Frank R. Zindler)
Published in USA, 2003
The Incredible Shrinking Son of
Man: (Robert M. Price)
Published in USA, 2003
The Pagan Christ:
(Tom Harpur)
Published in Canada, 2004
A Magdalene Triptych: a
three-part review of
- The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
- The Da Vinci Fraud (Robert
M. Price)
- The Secret Magdalene (an
historical novel by Ki Longfellow)
The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-four
Formative Texts: (Robert M. Price)
Published in USA, 2006
Special Review: Vardis
Fisher's "The Testament of Man"
Reviews and commentary on the eleven-novel series
of historical fiction by American author Vardis Fisher, tracing the
development
of western society's religious and social ideas from the dawn of human
intelligence two million years ago to the Christian Middle Ages.
| QUESTIONS &COMMENTS |
| THE JESUS PUZZLE:
A Novel About the Greatest Question of our Time |
My argument for the non-existence of an historical Jesus has been embodied in a contemporary novel about the state of secularism vs. fundamentalism at the end of the 20th century, and is now posted complete on the site. Direct access is provided to its individual components. Note that the novel files themselves (pdf) require the Adobe Acrobat Reader (a link is provided from the Introductory file to the Adobe site to download the Reader).
| RECOMMENDED LINKS |
If you enjoy stimulating forays into bold territory in the
field of
New Testament scholarship, try this site by the Institute of Higher
Critical
Studies. The Institute also
publishes
The Journal of Higher Criticism. |
|
Early Christian Writings * * * A Compelling Exercise in Radical Criticism * * * |
Jesus Puzzle graphic designed by Richard Young