Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

By deciding that ... Paul believed Jesus to be a celestial figure in a realm where one could be “ born of a woman, born under the Law ,” “ of the seed of David according to the flesh ,” crucified, buried, and everything else that fits more naturally in the mundane terrestrial realm, Carrier has mad...

Some good questions here. Some replies: (1) There appears to be an over-emphasis in some questions on the idea that a proposed understanding of the ancient person's belief is going to have to be shown to be in some way necessary or pre-determined. On the other hand, the idea that anybody's beliefs, ...

MrMacSon wrote:

Peter Kirby wrote: Rejecting a part of it is not to vindicate the views of these critics.

'it"? Rejecting a part of mythicism (Doherty's), or rejecting a part of Doherty's propositions?

The latter... and both, I don't see a big difference in the meaning or truth value of those statements.

But, yes, the path starts with ideas, speculation, and hypotheses; as Doherty, and Carrier, have done. It's not Doherty's fault that so many people became focused on his ideas. It is, indeed, his success. In some ways, his theory is a victim of its own success, because a lot of people are not consi...

If Jesus was imagined as both killed and buried in the nether realm, what would the imagined purpose be, to your mind, of him being made to look like a human (Romans 8.3-4; Philippians 2.5-11; Hebrews 2.14-18)? If his identity was to be a secret (1 Corinthians 2.6-9), is he simply supposed to look ...

This is the original article: http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2015/08/mcg398026.shtml I've read it, and I can't imagine that Carrier's reply is anything close to being a measured response. Misconstrue? One of the big "examples" is how McGrath criticizes criteria one-by-one, instead of...

Do you think there might be some way to leverage the Ascension of Isaiah in this direction? Ben, up to now, I must admit that I have been relatively disinterested in the Ascension of Isaiah. My main involvement has been absorbing a little bit of what others have been saying there and a particularly...

So, where would these things take place, if not in Judea and under Pilate? The candidate that comes to my mind is ‘under the earth': that Jesus descended under the earth and was crucified and buried by the demons there. Perhaps the reader has their own ideas or comments on the subject. Is there som...

(originally blogged) For a while, I’ve been putting off writing this. However, instead of trying to make the perfect post, I’ve decided to make the minimal post necessary to explain the idea. The idea of making the perfect, long post is tantamount to attempting to control the outcome of the conversa...

By deciding that ... Paul believed Jesus to be a celestial figure in a realm where one could be “ born of a woman, born under the Law ,” “ of the seed of David according to the flesh ,” crucified, buried, and everything else that fits more naturally in the mundane terrestrial realm, Carrier has mad...