Mythologizing Jesus

Our culture is well-populated with superheroes: Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and more. Superheroes are not a modern invention; in fact, they are prehistoric. The gods and goddesses of the Greeks, for example, walked on water, flew, visited the land of the dead, and lived forever. Ancient Christians told similar stories about Jesus, their primary superhero—he possessed incredible powers of healing, walked on water, rose from the dead, and more. Dennis R. MacDonald shows how the stories told in the Gospels parallel many in Greek and Roman epics with the aim of compelling their readers into life-changing decisions to follow Jesus. MacDonald doesn’t call into question the existence of Jesus but rather asks readers to examine the biblical stories about him through a new, mythological lens.

Is Jesus mythological? And is he a mere product of his cultural milieu? Through narratological and social-scientific analysis of the gospel account, Barber systematically demonstrates that there are two opposing patterns structuring the gospel. The first is the pattern of this world, which is the combat myth, with a typical sequence of motifs having mythological meanings. It is lived out by everyone else in the accounts except Jesus, because this pattern of the world is the pattern of myth-culture, which is the pattern of the old Adam and sin nature. The pattern of Jesus is the pattern intended for Adam to walk in, and is the unique pattern of the new Adam, Jesus Christ. Jesus’s pattern inverts the sequence and subverts the significance of each and every motif and episode of the myth-culture’s pattern. Barber shows that Jesus’s “failure” to conform to this world’s mythological pattern establishes that he is not mythological, and not a product of his culture. As the apostle Peter states, “. . . we did not follow cleverly devised tales [myths] when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Pet 1:16).

Profiles Jesus Christ as the human face of God, taking into the account the multiple ways his life has been viewed and retold, and dramatizing the transformation from a man to a myth.

This volume explains the inadequacy of the sources and methods used to establish Jesus’ historicity, and how agnosticism can reasonably be upgraded to theorising about ahistoricity when reconsidering Christian origins.

The earliest Christians believed Jesus was an ancient celestial being who put on a bodysuit of flesh, died at the hands of dark forces, and then rose from the dead and ascended back into the heavens. But the writing we have today from that first generation of Christians never says where they thought he landed, where he lived, or where he died. The idea that Jesus toured Galilee and visited Jerusalem arose only a lifetime later, in unsourced legends written in a foreign land and language. Many sources repeat those legends, but none corroborate them. Why? What exactly was the original belief about Jesus, and how did this belief change over time? In Jesus from Outer Space, noted philosopher and historian Richard Carrier summarizes for a popular audience the scholarly research on these and related questions, revealing in turn how modern attempts to conceal, misrepresent, or avoid the actual evidence calls into question the entire field of Jesus studies--and present-day beliefs about how Christianity began.

A comprehensive, two-volume reassessment of the quests for the historical Jesus that details their origins and underlying presuppositions as well as their ongoing influence on today's biblical and theological scholarship. Jesus' life and teaching is important to every question we ask about what we believe and why we believe it. And yet there has never been common agreement about his identity, intentions, or teachings—even among first-century historians and scholars. Throughout history, different religious and philosophical traditions have attempted to claim Jesus and paint him in the cultural narratives of their heritage, creating a labyrinth of conflicting ideas. From the evolution of orthodoxy and quests before Albert Schweitzer's famous "Old Quest," to today's ongoing questions about criteria, methods, and sources, A History of the Quests for the Historical Jesus not only chronicles the developments but lays the groundwork for the way forward. The late Colin Brown brings his scholarly prowess in both theology and biblical studies to bear on the subject, assessing not only the historical and exegetical nuts and bolts of the debate about Jesus of Nazareth but also its philosophical, sociological, and theological underpinnings. Instead of seeking a bedrock of "facts," Brown stresses the role of hermeneutics in formulating questions and seeking answers. Colin Brown was almost finished with the manuscript at the time of his passing in 2019. Brought to its final form by Craig A. Evans, this book promises to become the definitive history and assessment of the quests for the historical Jesus. Volume One covers the period from the beginnings of Christianity to the end of World War II. Volume Two (sold separately) covers the period from the post-War era through contemporary debates.

Was Jesus the founder of Christianity or a teacher of Judaism? When 19th-century German religious reformer Abraham Geiger argued the latter, he began a debate that continues to this day. Here Susannah Heschel traces the genesis of Geiger's contention and examines the reaction to it within Christian theology. 3 photos.

Some subjects are terribly complicated like Gravity, Dark Matter, Wormholes and the whole idea of Quantum Physics. Recently, though, these difficult subjects have taken a back seat to the search for the historical Jesus, especially, after Dan Brown's book, The Da Vinci Code. Yet, it should be pointed out that the search to identify Jesus of Nazareth is not as difficult as liberals have led to believe. One problem is that liberals refuse to debate in the traditional manner of denying or affirming a proposition that can be proven true or false based on the evidence. Liberals insist on presenting hypotheses dressed in a postmodern worldview that allows subjective imagination to be valued as highly as historical facts. They present opinions without labeling them as such, responding that, "My views are as authoritative as yours!" They do this while discounting and distorting concrete historical facts, without which, conservative scholars are left shadow-boxing avoidance and silence. ROBERT FULLER is an ordained minister having received his BA degree in the Biblical Field from Abilene Christian University and a M. Ed from the University of North Texas. Mr. Fuller's goal in this book is to reduce the highly technical material surrounding the Jesus-debates into a more easily understood vocabulary that avid readers without degrees can comprehend. This subject is extremely interesting and important to the laity and those who have no idea about what is going on in this cultural conflict. I believe this book accomplishes its goal by unveiling the "slight-of-hand" illusions of scholars who present personal opinions in the guise of scholarship. Read this book and find out that some liberal scholars have stacked their bunk higher that a two-story building!