View source for Christ myth theory

{{short description|Fringe theory claiming that Jesus did not exist}}
{{pp-protected|small=yes}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Christ myth|The Christ Myth}}
{{for-multi|mythology and Christianity|Christian mythology|and|Jesus in comparative mythology}}
{{for-multi|the scholarly study of Jesus in history|Historicity of Jesus|and|Historical Jesus}}
{{Very long|date=May 2025}}
{{use mdy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox
| above            = Christ myth theory
| abovestyle       = background-color: #FAEBD7
| subheader        = 
| image1           = [[File:Joachim Patinir - The Baptism of Christ - Google Art Project 2.jpg|200px]]
| caption1         = The Christ myth theory rejects the mainstream consensus that Jesus was a historical person who was baptised and later executed. (''The Baptism of Christ'' by [[Joachim Patinir]], painted 1510–1520)
| headerstyle      = background-color: #FAEBD7
| label2           = Description
| data2            = 
| label3           = Early proponents
| data3            = {{plainlist|
*[[Thomas Paine]] (1737–1809)
*[[Charles-François Dupuis]] (1742–1809)
*[[Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney|Constantin-François Volney]] (1757–1820)
*[[Richard Carlile]] (1790–1843)
*[[Bruno Bauer]] (1809–1882)
*[[Edwin Johnson (historian)|Edwin Johnson]] (1842–1901)
*[[Radical criticism|Dutch Radical School]] (1880–1950)
*[[Albert Kalthoff]] (1850–1906)
*[[William Benjamin Smith]] (1850–1934)
*[[J. M. Robertson|John Mackinnon Robertson]] (1856–1933)
*[[Thomas Whittaker (metaphysician)|Thomas Whittaker]] (1856–1935)
*[[Arthur Drews]] (1865–1935)
*[[Paul-Louis Couchoud]] (1879–1959)}}
| label4           = Later proponents
| data4            = {{plainlist|
*[[Alvin Boyd Kuhn]] (1880–1963)
*[[George Albert Wells]] (1926–2017)
*[[Tom Harpur]] (1929–2017)
*[[Michael Martin (philosopher)|Michael Martin]] (1932–2015)}}
| label5           = Living proponents
| data5            = {{plainlist|
* [[Earl Doherty]] (b. 1941)
*[[Thomas L. Brodie]] (b. 1943)
*[[Robert M. Price]] (b. 1954)
*[[Richard Carrier]] (b. 1969)}}
| label6           = Key texts
| label7           = Subjects
| data7            = [[Historical Jesus]], [[historical reliability of the Gospels]], [[historicity of Jesus]]
| below            = 
}}
{{Jesus}}
The '''Christ myth theory''', also known as the '''Jesus myth theory''', '''Jesus mythicism''', or the '''Jesus ahistoricity theory''',{{sfn|Lataster|2015a|ps=none}}{{efn-la|name="Gullotta2017"}} is the fringe{{efn-la|name="fringe"}} view that the story of [[Jesus]] is a work of [[mythology]] with no [[historical]] substance.{{efn-la|name="Bromiley1982"}} Alternatively, in terms given by [[Bart Ehrman]] paraphrasing [[Earl Doherty]], it is the view that "the [[historical Jesus]] did not exist. Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the [[Origins of Christianity|founding of Christianity]]."{{efn-la|name="Ehrman_def"}} 

The mainstream scholarly consensus, developed in the [[Quest for the historical Jesus|three quests for the historical Jesus]], holds that there was a historical Jesus of Nazareth who lived in first-century AD [[Roman Judea]],<ref name=Ehrman256>"He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees, based on certain and clear evidence." B. Ehrman, 2011 ''Forged : writing in the name of God'' {{ISBN|978-0-06-207863-6}}. p. 256-257</ref>{{sfn|Herzog|2005|pp=1–6}}{{sfn|Powell|1998|pp=168–173}} but his [[Baptism of Jesus|baptism]] and [[Crucifixion of Jesus|crucifixion]] are the only facts of his life about which a broad consensus exists.{{efn-la|name="basic facts"}} Beyond that, mainstream scholars have no consensus about the [[historicity]] of other major aspects of the [[gospel]] stories, nor the extent to which they and the [[Pauline epistles]] may have replaced the historical Jesus with a supernatural [[Christology|Christ of faith]].{{efn-la|name="no_consensus"}}

Proponents of Mythicism, in contrast, argue that a historical Jesus never existed, and that the gospels historicized a mythological character.{{efn-la|name="Ehrman_def"}}{{efn-la|name="views-broadly"}}{{efn-la|name="views_obscured"}} This view can be traced back to the [[Age of Enlightenment]], when history began to be critically analyzed;{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=568}} it was revived in the 1970s. Most mythicists employ a threefold argument:{{sfnm|Van Voorst|2000|1p=9|Price|2009|2loc=Chapter 1}} they question the reliability of the Pauline epistles and the gospels to establish Jesus's historicity; they argue that information is lacking on Jesus in secular sources from the first and early second centuries; and they argue that early Christianity had [[Religious syncretism|syncretistic]] and mythological origins as reflected in both the Pauline epistles and the gospels, with Jesus being a [[deity]] who was concretized in the gospels.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=34}}{{efn-la|name="Eddy2007_p202"}}{{efn-la|name="Carrier.2014.53"}}

The non-historicity of Jesus has never garnered significant support among scholars.{{sfn|Weaver|1999|pp=71 "The denial of Jesus' historicity has never convinced any large number of people, in or out of technical circles, nor did it in the first part of the century."}}<ref group=web name="LH.traction"/>{{sfn|Casey|2010|p=33}}{{sfn|Wells|2007|p=446 "by around 1920 nearly all scholars had come to regard the case against Jesus's historicity as totally discredited"}} Mythicism is rejected by virtually all mainstream scholars of antiquity,{{sfn|Van Voorst|2003|pp=660}}{{sfn|Burridge|Gould|2004|p=34}}<ref group=web name="Ehrman Blog"/>{{efn-la|name="criticism"}} and has been considered a [[fringe theory]] for more than two centuries.{{efn-la|name="fringe"}}{{sfn|Van Voorst|2003|pp=658, 660 "debate on the existence of Jesus has been in the fringes of scholarship...for more than two centuries.", "Among New Testament scholars and historians, the theory of Jesus' nonexistence remains effectively dead as a scholarly question."}}{{sfn|Weaver|1999|pp=71 "The denial of Jesus' historicity has never convinced any large number of people, in or out of technical circles, nor did it in the first part of the century."}} Mythicism is criticized on numerous grounds such as for commonly being advocated by non-experts or poor scholarship, being ideologically driven, its reliance on [[arguments from silence]], lacking positive evidence, the dismissal or distortion of sources, questionable or outdated methodologies, either no explanation or wild explanations of origins of Christian belief and early churches, and outdated comparisons with mythology.{{efn-la|name="criticism"}} While rejected by mainstream scholarship, with the rise of the Internet the Christ myth theory has attracted more attention in popular culture,<ref name="Ehrman.2015.Debate"/>{{sfn|Gullotta|2017|p=313-314, 346}} and some of its proponents are associated with [[atheist]] activism.{{sfn|Casey|2014|pp=41, 243-245}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pp=336-338 "It is no accident that virtually all mythicists (in fact, all of them, to my knowledge) are either atheists or agnostics. The ones I know anything about are quite virulently, even militantly, atheist."}}

{{TOC limit|3}}

== Traditional and modern approaches on Jesus ==
{{Main|Christology|History of Christianity|Jesus in Christianity|Origins of Christianity}}

Mainstream scholarship asserts that there was a historical Jesus.{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|p=248}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2011|p=285}} However, scholars differ about the accuracy of the biblical accounts about Jesus, with only two events supported by nearly-universal scholarly consensus: [[Baptism of Jesus|Jesus' baptism]], and [[Crucifixion of Jesus|his crucifixion]].{{sfn|Dunn|2003|p=339}}{{sfn|Herzog|2005|pp=1–6}}{{sfn|Powell|1998|pp=168–173}}{{efn-la|name="basic facts"}} The mainstream scholarly view is that the Pauline epistles and the gospels describe the "Christ of faith", presenting a religious narrative which replaced the historical Jesus who did live in first-century [[Roman Judea]].{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=13}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}{{sfn|Stanton|2002|pp=143ff}}{{sfn|Vermes|2001|loc=ch.8}}{{efn-la|name="Christ_of_faith"}} [[Martin Kähler]] made the famous distinction between the "Jesus of history" and the "Christ of faith", arguing that faith is more important than exact historical knowledge.{{sfn|Dunn|2005|p=76}}{{sfn|Reed|2018|p=5, note 19}} According to Ehrman, Jesus was a first-century Judean Jew, who was not like the Jesus preached and proclaimed today,{{efn-la|{{harvnb|Ehrman|2012|pp=13, 334–335}}: "The Jesus proclaimed by preachers and theologians today had no existence. That particular Jesus is (or those particular Jesuses are) a myth. But there was a historical Jesus, who was very much a man of his time."}} and that the most widely held view by critical scholars is that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=298}} who was subsequently deified.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012}}

The [[origins of Christianity|origins]] and rapid rise of Christianity, as well as the historical Jesus and the [[historicity of Jesus]], are a matter of longstanding debate in theological and historical research. While Christianity may have started with an early nucleus of followers of Jesus,{{sfn|Dunn|2003|pp=174ff}} within a few years after the presumed death of Jesus in {{circa|AD 33}}, at the time [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] started preaching, a number of "Jesus-movements" seem to have existed, which propagated divergent interpretations of Jesus' teachings.{{sfn|Mack|1995|ps=none}}{{sfn|King|2008|p=70}}{{sfn|Behr|2013|pp=5–6}} A central question is how these communities developed and what their original convictions were,{{sfn|Mack|1995|ps=none}}{{sfn|King|2011|ps=none}} as a wide range of beliefs and ideas can be found in [[early Christianity]], including [[adoptionism]] and [[docetism]],{{refn|group=web|name="Ehrman.2015"}} and also [[gnosticism|Gnostic traditions]] which used Christian imagery,{{sfn|Pagels|1979|pp=1, 196}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2003|pp=125, 225}} which were all deemed [[Heresy in Christianity|heretical]] by [[proto-orthodox Christianity]].{{sfn|Ehrman|2003|ps=none}}{{sfn|Green|2008|p=239}}

=== Quest for the historical Jesus ===
{{Main|Historical criticism|Quest for the historical Jesus|Textual criticism}}

A [[Quest for the historical Jesus#First quest|first quest]] for the historical Jesus took place in the 19th century when hundreds of biographies about Jesus were proposed.{{sfn|Powell|1998|pp=13-15 "During the period following the Enlightenment, scholars embarked on what came to be known as "the quest for the historical Jesus." They went beyond the production of Gospel harmonies to write biographies, called Lives of Jesus....Hundreds of these Lives of Jesus were produced, mainly during the nineteenth century"}} German theologian [[David Strauss]] (1808–1874) pioneered the search for the "historical Jesus" by rejecting all [[supernatural]] events as [[mythical]] elaborations. His 1835 work, ''Life of Jesus'',<ref>{{cite book|last=Strauss|first=David Friedrich|author-link=David Strauss|title=Das leben Jesu: Kritisch bearbeitet|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_vn4sAAAAYAAJ|year=1835|publisher=C.F. Osiander}}</ref> was one of the first and most influential systematic analyses of the life story of Jesus, aiming to base it on unbiased historical research.<ref name=AlanP13>''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'' by [[Mark Allan Powell]], Westminster John Knox Press, 1998 {{ISBN|0664257038}} pages 13–15</ref><ref name=BenQ9>''The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth''. by Ben Witherington III, InterVarsity Press, 1997 (second expanded edition), {{ISBN|0830815449}} pp. 9–13</ref> The ''[[History of religions school|Religionsgeschichtliche Schule]]'', starting in the 1890s, used the methodologies of [[Historical criticism|higher criticism]],<ref group=web name="EB_RS">Duignan, Brian (2016), [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Religionsgeschichtliche-Schule ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule''], Encyclopedia Britannica</ref> a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text".<ref name="Handbook, 78">{{cite book|last=Soulen|first=Richard N.|title=Handbook of biblical criticism|year=2001|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|location=Louisville, Ky.|isbn=978-0-664-22314-4|edition=3rd ed., rev. and expanded.|author2=Soulen, R. Kendall|page=78}}</ref> It compared Christianity to other religions, regarding it as one religion among others and rejecting its claims to absolute truth, and demonstrating that it shares characteristics with other religions.<ref group=web name="EB_RS"/> It argued that Christianity was not simply the continuation of the Old Testament, but syncretistic, and was rooted in and influenced by [[Hellenistic Judaism]] ([[Philo]]) and Hellenistic religions like the mystery cults and [[Gnosticism]].<ref group=web name="Rudolph1987"/> [[Martin Kähler]] questioned the usefulness of the search for the historical Jesus, making the famous distinction between the "Jesus of history" and the "Christ of faith", arguing that faith is more important than exact historical knowledge.{{sfn|Dunn|2005|p=76}}{{sfn|Reed|2018|p=5, note 19}} [[Rudolf Bultmann]] (1884–1976), who was related to the ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'',<ref group=web name="Rudolph1987">Kurt Rudolph (1987), [https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/religionsgeschichtliche-schule ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule''], Encyclopedia of Religion</ref> emphasized theology, and in 1926 argued that historical Jesus research was both futile and unnecessary; however, Bultmann slightly modified that position in a later book.<ref name=Edwin1170>Edwin Broadhead "Implicit Christology and the Historical Jesus" in the ''Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus'' edited by Tom Holmen and Stanley E. Porter, Brill 2010 {{ISBN|9004163727}} pp. 1170–1172</ref><ref name=Zahl23/> The first quest ended with [[Albert Schweitzer]]'s 1906 critical review of the history of the search for Jesus' life in ''[[The Quest of the Historical Jesus|The Quest of the Historical Jesus—From Reimarus to Wrede]]''. The first quest was challenged in the 19th and early 20th centuries by authors who denied the historicity of Jesus, notably Bauer and Drews.

The [[Quest for the historical Jesus#Second quest|second quest]] started in 1953, in a departure from Bultmann.<ref name=Edwin1170/><ref name=Zahl23>''The First Christian'' by Paul F. M. Zahl, Eerdmans 2003 {{ISBN|0802821103}} pp. 23–25</ref> Several criteria, the [[criterion of dissimilarity]] and the [[criterion of embarrassment]], were introduced to analyze and evaluate New Testament narratives. This second quest declined in the 1970s<ref name=BenQ9/>{{sfn|Arnal|2005|pp=41–43}} due to the diminishing influence of Bultmann,<ref name=BenQ9/> and coinciding with the first publications of [[George Albert Wells]], which marks the onset of the revival of Christ myth theories. According to Paul Zahl, while the second quest made significant contributions at the time, its results are now mostly forgotten, although not disproven.<ref name=Zahl12>''The First Christian: Universal Truth in the Teachings of Jesus'' by Paul F. M. Zahl, Eerdmans 2003 {{ISBN|0802821103}} p. 12</ref>

The [[Quest for the historical Jesus#Third quest|third quest]] started in the 1980s and introduced new criteria.<ref name=criteria100>''Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research'' by Stanley E. Porter, Bloomsbury 2004 {{ISBN|0567043606}} pp. 100–120</ref><ref name=whois35 /> Primary among these are<ref name=whois35 >''Who Is Jesus?'' by Thomas P. Rausch (Jul 1, 2003) {{ISBN|0814650783}} pages 35–40</ref><ref name=JPM126>[[John P. Meier]] "Criteria: How do we decide what comes from Jesus?" in ''The Historical Jesus in Recent Research'' by James D. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight, Eisenbrauns 2006 {{ISBN|1575061007}} pages 126–142</ref> the criterion of historical plausibility,<ref name=criteria100 /> the criterion of rejection and execution,<ref name=criteria100 /> and the criterion of congruence (also called cumulative circumstantial evidence), a special case of the older criterion of coherence.<ref name=PetrP>Petr Pokorny "Jesus Research as Feedback" ''Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus'' by Tom Holmen and Stanley E. Porter, Brill 2010 {{ISBN|9004163727}} pp. 338–339</ref> The third quest is interdisciplinary and global,<ref name=ChiltonJacob>''Soundings in the Religion of Jesus: Perspectives and Methods in Jewish and Christian Scholarship'' by [[Bruce Chilton]] Anthony Le Donne and [[Jacob Neusner]] 2012 {{ISBN|0800698010}} page 132</ref> carried out by scholars from multiple disciplines<ref name=ChiltonJacob/> and incorporating the results of archeological research.<ref name=Charlesworth11 >"Jesus Research and Archaeology: A New Perspective" by James H. Charlesworth in ''Jesus and archaeology'' edited by James H. Charlesworth 2006 {{ISBN|0-8028-4880-X}} pp. 11–15</ref> The third quest primarily yielded new insights into Jesus' Palestinian and Jewish context rather than the person of Jesus himself.{{sfn|Hagner|2011|p=1063}}{{sfn|Evans|2004|p=163}}{{sfn|Bernier|2016|pp=2–3}} It also has made clear that all material on Jesus has been handed down by the emerging Church, raising questions about the criterion of dissimilarity, and the suitability of ascribing material solely to Jesus rather than the emerging Church.{{sfn|Bernier|2016|p=4}}

=== Historical existence of Jesus ===
{{Main|Historical Jesus|Historicity of Jesus|Sources for the historicity of Jesus}}

To establish the existence of a person without any assumptions, one source from one author (either a supporter or opponent) is needed; for Jesus there are at least 12 independent sources from five authors in the first century from supporters and 2 independent sources from two authors from non-supporters.{{sfn|Dark|2023|p=150-151}} Since historical sources on other named individuals from first century Galilee were written by either supporters or enemies, these sources on Jesus cannot be dismissed.{{sfn|Dark|2023|p=150-151}} Bart Ehrman estimates that there are about 30 surviving "independent sources that know there was a man Jesus" written by 25 authors, including 16 in the [[New Testament]].<ref name="Gospel Evidence that Jesus Existed">{{cite web |last1=Ehrman |first1=Bart |title=Gospel Evidence that Jesus Existed |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/gospel-evidence-that-jesus-existed/ |website=Ehrman Blog |date=October 28, 2016}}</ref> With at least 14 sources by supporters and non-supporters, within a century of the crucifixion, there is much more evidence available for Jesus than for any other notable person from first-century Galilee.{{sfn|Dark|2023|p=151-152}}

These critical methods have led to a [[demythologization]] of Jesus. The mainstream scholarly view is that the Pauline epistles and the gospels describe the "Christ of faith", presenting a religious narrative that replaced the historical Jesus who lived in first-century [[Roman Judea]],{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=13}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}{{sfn|Stanton|2002|pp=143ff}}{{sfn|Vermes|2001|loc=ch.8}}{{efn-la|name="Christ_of_faith"}} but that a historical Jesus did exist. New Testament scholar [[Bart D. Ehrman]] states that Jesus "certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees".{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|p=248}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2011|p=285}}

Following the criteria of authenticity-approach, scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the biblical accounts of Jesus,{{sfn|Powell|2013|p=168}} but the baptism and the crucifixion are two events in the life of Jesus that are subject to "almost universal assent".{{efn-la|name="Jesus.Biography"}} According to historian [[Alanna Nobbs]],
{{blockquote|While historical and theological debates remain about the actions and significance of this figure, his fame as a teacher, and his crucifixion under the Roman prefect [[Pontius Pilate]], may be described as historically certain.<ref>[[Alanna Nobbs]] and Edwin Judge ap. {{cite web |last=Dickson |first=John|author-link=John Dickson (author)|title=Best of 2012: The irreligious assault on the historicity of Jesus |url=https://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/12/24/3660194.htm |website=ABC Religion and Ethics|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|access-date=2 May 2018|date=24 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331083006/https://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/12/24/3660194.htm |archive-date=March 31, 2016 }}</ref>}}

Historical portraits of Jesus have often differed from each other and from the image portrayed in the gospel accounts.{{sfn|Ehrman|2011|p=285}}{{sfn|Theissen|Winter|2002|p=5}}{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|ps=none}}{{efn-la|According to Lataster, a Christ mythicist, "the only thing New Testament scholars seem to agree on is Jesus' historical existence".{{refn|group=web|name="Lataster2014"}}}} The primary portraits of Jesus resulting from the third quest are: apocalyptic prophet; charismatic healer; cynic philosopher; Jewish Messiah; and prophet of social change.<ref name=Cradel124>''The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament'' by Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-8054-4365-3}} pp. 124–125</ref><ref name=CambHist23>''The Cambridge History of Christianity'', Volume 1 by Margaret M. Mitchell and Frances M. Young, Cambridge University Press 2006 {{ISBN|0521812399}} page 23</ref> According to Ehrman, the most widely held view is that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=298}} who was subsequently deified.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012}}

According to New Testament scholar [[James Dunn (theologian)|James Dunn]], it is not possible "to construct (from the available data) a Jesus who will be the real Jesus".{{efn-la|name="no_reconstruction"}} According to [[Philip R. Davies]], a [[Biblical minimalism|biblical minimalist]], "what is being affirmed as the Jesus of history is a cipher, not a rounded personality".<ref group=web name="Davies2012"/> According to Ehrman, "the real problem with Jesus" is not the mythicist stance that he is "a myth invented by Christians", but that he was "far ''too'' historical", that is, a first-century Judean Jew, who was not like the Jesus preached and proclaimed today.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pp=13, 334–335}} According to Ehrman, "Jesus was a first-century Jew, and when we try to make him into a twenty-first century American we distort everything he was and everything he stood for."{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=335}}

=== Demise of authenticity and call for memory studies ===
{{See also|Historical Jesus#Criticism|l1=Criticism of Historical Jesus research|Historiography#Memory studies|l2=Memory studies}}

Since the late 2000s, concern has grown about the usefulness of the criteria of authenticity.{{sfn|Keith|Le Donne|2012}}{{sfn|Licona|2016}}{{sfn|Bernier|2016|p=1}}<ref group=web>April DeConinck (2007), [http://aprildeconick.com/forbiddengospels/2007/04/fourth-quest-for-historical-jesus.html ''The Fourth Quest for the Historical Jesus?'']</ref> According to Chris Keith, the criteria are literary tools, indebted to [[form criticism]], not [[Historiography|historiographic]] tools.{{sfn|Keith|Le Donne|2012|loc=chapter 1}} They were meant to discern pre-gospel traditions, not to identify historical facts,{{sfn|Keith|Le Donne|2012|loc=chapter 1}} but have "substituted the pre-literary tradition with that of the historical Jesus".{{sfn|Van Eck|2015}} According to Anthony Le Donne, the usage of such criteria is a form of "positivist historiography".<ref>Thinkapologtics.com, [https://chab123.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/book-review-jesus-criteria-and-the-demise-of-authenticity-chris-keith-and-anthony-le-donne/ ''Book Review: Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity, by Chris Keith and Anthony Le Donne'']</ref>

Keith, Le Donne, and others{{efn-la|Crook (2013; Foster 2012, 2013; Keith 2011; 2012a, 2012b; Rodríguez 2012, 2013); Le Donne (2011; 2012a; 2012b); Schröter (1996; 2012; 2013){{sfn|Van Eck|2015}}}} argue for a "social memory" approach, which states that memories are shaped by the needs of the present and that instead of searching for a historical Jesus, scholarship should investigate how the memories of Jesus were shaped, and how they were reshaped "with the aim of cohesion and the self-understanding (identity) of groups".{{sfn|Van Eck|2015}} [[James D. G. Dunn]]'s 2003 study, ''Jesus Remembered'', prompted the "increased ... interest in memory theory and eyewitness testimony".<ref group=web name="Simpson">Benjamin I. Simpson, review of [https://voice.dts.edu/review/historiographical-jesus-le-donne/ ''The Historiographical Jesus. Memory, Typology, and the Son of David'']</ref> Dunn argues that "[t]he only realistic objective for any 'quest of the historical Jesus' is Jesus ''remembered''."{{sfn|Dunn|2003|p=882}} Dunn argues that Christianity started with the impact Jesus himself had on his followers, who passed on and shaped their memories of him in an [[Oral gospel traditions|oral gospel tradition]]. According to Dunn, to understand who Jesus was, and what his impact was, scholars have to look at "the broad picture, focusing on the characteristic motifs and emphases of the Jesus tradition, rather than making findings overly dependent on individual items of the tradition".{{sfn|Dunn|2003|p=882}}

Le Donne elaborated on Dunn's thesis, basing "his historiography squarely on Dunn's thesis that the historical Jesus is the memory of Jesus recalled by the earliest disciples".<ref group=web name="Simpson"/> According to Le Donne, memories are refactored, and not an exact recalling of the past.<ref group=web name="Simpson"/> He argues that the remembrance of events is facilitated by relating it to a common story or "type", which shapes the way the memories are retained and narrated. He therefore means that the Jesus tradition is not a theological invention of the early Church, but is shaped and refracted by the restraints that the type puts on the narrated memories, due to the mold of the "type".<ref group=web name="Simpson"/>

According to Chris Keith, an alternative to the search for a historical Jesus "posits a historical Jesus who is ultimately unattainable but can be hypothesized on the basis of the interpretations of the early Christians, and as part of a larger process of accounting for how and why early Christians came to view Jesus in the ways that they did". According to Keith, "these two models are methodologically and epistemologically incompatible", calling into question the methods and aim of the first model.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1177/0142064X16637777|title = The Narratives of the Gospels and the Historical Jesus: Current Debates, Prior Debates and the Goal of Historical Jesus Research| journal=Journal for the Study of the New Testament| volume=38| issue=4| pages=426–455|year = 2016|last1 = Keith|first1 = Chris|s2cid = 148040373|url = https://research.stmarys.ac.uk/3459/3/Keith-Narratives-of-the-Gospels-Historical-Jesus.pdf}}</ref>

=== Views of Christ myth theorists ===
Mythicists variously argue that the accounts of Jesus are completely or mostly of a mythical nature, questioning the mainstream [[paradigm]] of a historical Jesus in the beginning of the first century who was subsequently deified. Most mythicists note that Christianity developed within [[Hellenistic Judaism]], which was influenced by [[Hellenization#Hellenistic period|Hellenism]], and that early Christianity and the accounts of Jesus are to be understood in this context. Yet, where contemporary New Testament scholarship has introduced several criteria to evaluate the historicity of New Testament passages and sayings, most Christ myth proponents have relied on [[Comparative mythology|comparisons]] of Christian [[mytheme]]s with contemporary religious traditions, emphasizing the mythological nature of the Bible accounts.{{sfn|Casey|2014}}{{efn-la|A notable exception is Robert Price, who has used those same criteria to dissect the Jesus to the "vanishing point".{{sfn|Price|2003}}}}

The most radical mythicists hold, in terms given by Price, the "Jesus [[atheism]]" viewpoint, that is, there never was a historical Jesus, only a mythological character, and the mytheme of his incarnation, death, and exaltation. They hold that this character developed out of a [[Religious syncretism|syncretistic fusion]] of Jewish, Hellenistic and Middle Eastern religious thought; was put forward by Paul; and historicised in the gospels, which are also syncretistic. Notable 'Jesus atheists' are [[Paul-Louis Couchoud]], [[Earl Doherty]],{{efn-la|name="Ehrman_def"}} [[Thomas L. Brodie]], and [[Richard Carrier]].{{efn-la|name="Carrier.OHJ"}}{{efn-la|name="Doherty.2009.mythical.figure"}}

Some authors argue for the Jesus [[agnosticism]] viewpoint. That is, whether there was a historical Jesus is unknowable and if he did exist, close to nothing can be known about him.{{sfn|Price|2000|p=17}} Notable 'Jesus agnosticists' are Robert Price and [[Thomas L. Thompson]].{{sfn|Thompson|2007}}{{sfn|Thompson|2012}} According to Thompson, the question of the historicity of Jesus also is not relevant for the understanding of the meaning and function of the Biblical texts in their own times.{{sfn|Thompson|2007}}{{sfn|Thompson|2012}}

Wells in his early works and [[Alvar Ellegård]] have argued that "the first Christians had in mind Jesus who had lived as a historical figure, just not of the recent past."{{sfn|Price|2009|p=65}} Ellegård identified this figure with the Essene [[Teacher of Righteousness]],<ref name=Ellegard>Ellegård, Alvar; Albrektson, Bertil; Bilde, Per; Klinge, Matti; Olsson, Birger; and Torstendahl, Rolf. [http://www.sciecom.org/ojs/index.php/scandia/article/viewFile/1078/863 "Theologians as historians"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100803175534/http://www.sciecom.org/ojs/index.php/scandia/article/viewFile/1078/863 |date=2010-08-03 }}, ''Scandia'', 2008.</ref> de facto proposing a historical Jesus.{{sfn|Price|2011|pp=387–388}} Wells, in his later writings, came to view the gospel stories of Jesus as containing elements of a historical figure "traceable to the activity of a Galilean preacher of the early first century,"{{sfn|Wells|2013|p=16}} preserved in the Q-source, who was added to Paul's mythical Jesus in the gospels, arguing for "two originally quite independent streams of tradition", which were fused in the gospels,{{sfn|Wells|1999|p=103}}{{efn-la|name="Wells2009_two_characters"}} leaving open the question regarding Paul's Christ "as to whether such a person had in fact existed and lived the obscure life that Paul supposed of him." According to Wells, "There is no means of deciding this issue."{{sfn|Wells|2013|p=19}}

== Overview of main mythicist arguments ==

According to New Testament scholar [[Robert E. Van Voorst|Robert Van Voorst]], most Christ mythicists follow a threefold argument first set forward by German historian [[Bruno Bauer]] in the 1800s: they question the reliability of the Pauline epistles and the Gospels to postulate a historically existing Jesus; they note the lack of information on Jesus in non-Christian sources from the first and early second century; and they argue that early Christianity had syncretistic and mythological origins.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=8–9}} More specifically:
* <!-- PAUL --> '''Paul's epistles lack detailed biographical information'''—most mythicists agree that the Pauline epistles are older than the gospels, and note that aside from a few passages which may have been [[Christian interpolation|interpolations]], there is a complete absence of any detailed biographical information such as might be expected if Jesus had been a contemporary of Paul,{{sfn|Lataster|2016|p=191}} nor do they cite any sayings from Jesus, the so-called argument from silence.{{sfn|Wells|1982|p=22}}{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pp=202–203}}{{efn-la|name="argument.from.silence"}} Some mythicists have argued that the Pauline epistles are from a later date than usually assumed, and therefore not a reliable source on the life of Jesus.{{sfn|Detering|1995|p=11}}{{sfn|Price|2011|pages=354ff|ps=&nbsp;[reproduced 2012{{sfn|Thompson|Verenna|2012|loc=§. "Does the Christ Myth Theory Require an Early Date for the Pauline Epistles?" by [[Robert M. Price]]}}] }}<ref>Price, Robert M. (2012). "Ch. 2: By Posthumous Post §. The historical Paul". ''The Amazing Colossal Apostle: The Search for the Historical Paul''. Signature Books. {{ISBN|978-1-56085-216-2}} and ASIN B00IB3YSMO.</ref>
* <!-- GOSPELS --> '''The gospels are not historical records, but a fictitious historical narrative'''—mythicists argue that although the gospels seem to present a historical framework, they are not historical records, but [[Theology|theological]] writings,{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=13}}{{sfn|Thompson|2007|p=3}} myth or legendary fiction resembling the [[Rank–Raglan mythotype|Hero archetype]].{{sfn|Price|2003|p=21}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pp=137–138}} They impose "a fictitious historical narrative" on a "mythical cosmic savior figure",{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=163}}{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}} weaving together various pseudo-historical Jesus traditions,{{sfn|Doherty|1995d}}{{sfn|Price|2000|p=86}} though there may have been a real historical person, of whom close to nothing can be known.{{sfn|Wells|2012|pp=15–16}}{{request quotation|date=February 2022}}<!--inaccessible source. Wells expressly believed Jesus was a first-century preacher at this time-->
* <!-- NO INDEPENDENT EYEWITNESS --> '''There are no independent eyewitness accounts'''—No independent eyewitness accounts survive, in spite of the fact that many authors were writing at that time.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=69, n.120}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=163}} Early second-century Roman accounts contain very little evidence{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=9}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=32}} and may depend on Christian sources.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=13}}{{sfn|Carrier|2015|p=418}}
* <!-- SYNCRETISTIC AND MYTHOLOGICAL --> '''Jesus was a mythological being, who was concretized in the Gospels'''—early Christianity was widely diverse and [[religious syncretism|syncretistic]], sharing common philosophical and religious ideas with other religions of the time.{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}} It arose in the Greco-Roman world of the first and second centuries AD, synthesizing Greek [[Stoicism]] and [[Neoplatonism]] with Jewish [[Old Testament]] writings{{sfn|Price|2003|pp=31, 41–42, n. 14}}{{sfn|Price|2005|p=534}}{{sfn|Thompson|2012}} and the [[Exegesis|exegetical]] methods of [[Philo]],{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=9}}{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}}{{sfn|Lataster|2014a|p=19}} creating the mythological figure of Jesus. Paul refers to Jesus as an exalted being, and is probably writing about either a mythical{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}} or supernatural [[Non-physical entity|entity]],{{efn-la|name="mix.Wells.1999.1999.2009"}}<!--how important is it to include Wells' later works here? Rejection of Paul's "Christ of faith" is not 'mythicism'--> a celestial deity{{efn-la|name="Carrier.2014.53"}} named Jesus.{{sfn|Couchoud|1939|p=33}}{{sfn|Price|2003|pp=351–355}}{{sfn|Price|2009|p=64}}{{refn|group=web|name="Carrier.Zechariah.6"}} This deity is derived from [[Anthropomorphism|personified aspects of God]], notably the personification of Wisdom, or "a savior figure patterned after similar figures within ancient [[Greco-Roman mysteries|mystery religions]],"{{efn-la|name="Eddy2007_p202"}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=34}}{{efn-la|name="Price2003_p350"}} which were often (but not always) a [[dying-and-rising god]].{{sfn|Bromiley|1982|p=1034}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=30}}{{sfn|Price|2000|pp=86, 88, 91}} While Paul may also contain proto-Gnostic ideas,{{sfn|Price|2010|p=103, n. 5}}{{sfn|Price|2002}} some mythicists have argued that Paul may refer to a historical person who may have lived in a dim past, long before the beginnings of the [[Common Era]].{{sfn|Price|2009|p=65}}{{sfn|Price|2011|pp=387–388}}{{sfn|Doherty|2012}}

==Mainstream and mythicist views on the arguments ==

===Lack of detailed biographical information in Pauline epistles===

====Dating and attribution====

=====Mainstream view=====
The mainstream view is that the seven undisputed Pauline epistles considered by scholarly consensus to be [[Authorship of the Pauline epistles|genuine epistles]] are generally dated to circa 48–62&nbsp;AD and are the earliest surviving Christian texts that include information about Jesus.{{sfn|Tuckett|2001|ps=none}}{{efn-la|name="Johnson.2010.241"}} Most scholars view the Pauline letters as essential elements in the study of the historical Jesus,{{sfn|Tuckett|2001|ps=none}}<ref name=JRDunn143>''Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making'' by James D. G. Dunn (2003) {{ISBN|0802839312}} p. 143</ref><ref name=McK38>''Jesus Christ in History and Scripture'' by Edgar V. McKnight 1999 {{ISBN|0865546770}} p. 38</ref><ref name=Furnish43>Victor Furnish in ''Paul and Jesus'' edited by Alexander J. M. Wedderburn 2004 (Academic Paperback) {{ISBN|0567083969}} pp. 43–44</ref> and the development of early Christianity.{{sfn|Mack|1995|ps=none}}

=====Mythicist view=====
Mythicists agree on the importance of the Pauline epistles, some agreeing with this early dating, and taking the Pauline epistles as their point of departure from mainstream scholarship.{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}} They argue that those letters point solely into the direction of a celestial or mythical being, or contain no definitive information on a historical Jesus. Some mythicists, though, have questioned the early dating of the epistles, raising the possibility that they represent a later, more developed strand of early Christian thought.

Theologian [[Willem Christiaan van Manen]] of the Dutch school of [[radical criticism]] noted various anachronisms in the Pauline epistles. Van Manen claimed that they could not have been written in their final form earlier than the second century. He also noted that the [[Marcionism|Marcionite school]] was the first to publish the epistles, and that [[Marcion]] ({{circa|85|160}}) used them as justification for his gnostic and docetic views that Jesus' incarnation was not in a physical body. Van Manen also studied Marcion's version of [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] in contrast to the canonical version and argued that the canonical version was a later revision that de-emphasized the Gnostic aspects.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Detering|first1=Hermann|date=1996|title=The Dutch Radical Approach to the Pauline Epistles|url=https://depts.drew.edu/jhc/detering.html|journal=Journal of Higher Criticism|volume=3|issue=2|pages=163–193|access-date=September 2, 2016}}</ref>

Price also argues for a later dating of the epistles, and sees them as a compilation of fragments (possibly with a Gnostic core),<ref>{{cite book|title=The Amazing Colossal Apostle|last1=Price|first1=Robert M.|date=2012|publisher=Signature Books|isbn=978-1-56085-216-2|location=Salt Lake City|page=viii}}</ref> contending that Marcion was responsible for much of the Pauline corpus or even wrote the letters himself. Price criticizes other Christ myth theorists for holding the mid-first-century dating of the epistles for their own apologetical reasons.{{sfn|Price|2011|pages=353ff|ps=&nbsp;[reproduced 2012{{sfn|Thompson|Verenna|2012|loc=§. "Does the Christ Myth Theory Require an Early Date for the Pauline Epistles?" by [[Robert M. Price]]}}] }}{{efn-la|Price argues that passages such as [[s:Bible (American Standard)/Galatians#1:18–20|Galatians 1:18–20]], [[s:Bible (American Standard)/Galatians#4:4|Galatians 4:4]] and [[s:Bible (American Standard)/1 Corinthians#15:3–11|1 Corinthians 15:3–11]] are late Catholic interpolations and that [[s:Bible (American Standard)/1 Thessalonians#2:14|1 Thessalonians 2:14–16]] was unlikely to have been written by a Jew.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Price |first1=Richard M. |title=The Amazing Colossal Apostle |date=2012 |publisher=Signature Books |location=Salt Lake City |isbn=978-1-56085-216-2 |pages=360–361, 415, 426, 491}}</ref>}}

====Lack of biographical information====

=====Mainstream view=====
According to [[Gregory A. Boyd]] and Paul Rhodes Eddy modern biblical scholarship notes that "Paul has relatively little to say on the biographical information of Jesus" compared to the Gospels. However, Paul was "a recent contemporary" of Jesus.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=202}}{{sfn|Stout|2011|p=64}} and he alludes to some aspects of Jesus' life in the letters.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=209-228}} [[Pauline epistles|Paul's letters]] state that he knew eyewitnesses of Jesus including his close disciples and Jesus' brother James going as far back as 36 CE.{{efn-la|name="Ehrman_1"}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Craig |title=Mythicism and the Public Jesus of History. |journal=Christian Research Journal |date=2016 |volume=39 |issue=5}}</ref> Paul viewed Jesus as being a descendant of David, having an upbringing in the Jewish Law, gathering disciples, involved in the Last Supper, being betrayed, being executed, and resurrecting.<ref>''Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey'' by Craig L. Blomberg 2009 {{ISBN|0805444823}} pp. 441-442</ref>{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=209-228}} The early references by Paul about the life of Jesus support that Jesus existed and that Paul had a general interest in his life.<ref>{{cite book|author=Edward Adams|title=The Blackwell Companion to Jesus|editor=Delbert Burkett|year= 2010|isbn=978-1405193627|pages=94–98|publisher=Wiley }}</ref> According to Christopher Tuckett, "[e]ven if we had no other sources, we could still infer some things about Jesus from Paul's letters" such that he was a Jew with siblings, and that he was a preacher who was executed.{{sfn|Tuckett|2001|pp=121–137, esp. 125}}{{efn-la|name="Jesus.Biography"}}

=====Mythicist view=====
Robert Price says that Paul does not refer to Jesus' earthly life, also not when that life might have provided convenient examples and justifications for Paul's teachings. Instead, revelation seems to have been a prominent source for Paul's knowledge about Jesus.{{sfn|Price|2003}}

===The Gospels are not historical records===
{{Main|The Gospels}}

==== Mainstream view ====
Among contemporary scholars, there is consensus that the gospels are a type of [[ancient biography]],<ref>Stanton, G. H. (2004). ''Jesus and Gospel''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 192.</ref><ref>Burridge, R. A. (2006). Gospels. In J. W. Rogerson & Judith M. Lieu (Eds) ''The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 437</ref><ref>Talbert, C. H. (1977). ''What is a Gospel? The Genre of the Canonical Gospels''. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.</ref><ref>Wills, L. M. (1997). ''The Quest of the Historical Gospel: Mark, John and the Origins of the Gospel Genre''. London: Routledge. p. 10.</ref><ref>Burridge, R. A. (2004). ''What are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography''. rev. updated edn. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans.</ref> a genre which was concerned with providing examples for readers to emulate while preserving and promoting the subject's reputation and memory, as well as including [[propaganda]] and ''[[kerygma]]'' (preaching) in their works.{{sfn|Dunn|2005|p=174}}{{efn-la|Michael Vines notes that the gospel of Mark may have aspects similar to a Jewish novel,<ref>{{cite book |last=Vines |first=M. E. |year=2002 |title=The Problem of the Markan Genre: The Gospel of Mark and the Jewish Novel |location=Atlanta |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |pages=161–162 |isbn=978-1-5898-3030-1}}</ref> while some scholars have argued that the Gospels are symbolical representations of the Torah, which were written in response to the Roman occupation and the suppression of Jewish religiosity.<ref>Peter J. Tomson (2001), ''If This be from Heaven... Jesus and the New Testament Authors in Their Relationship to Judaism'', Bloomsbury</ref><ref>Dan Lioy (2007), ''Jesus as Torah in John 1–12'', Wipf and Stock Publishers</ref>}} Biblical scholarship regards the gospels to be the literary manifestation of oral traditions that originated during the life of a historical Jesus, who according to Dunn had a profound impact on his followers.{{sfn|Dunn|2003|pp=883–884}}

There are archeological finds that corroborate aspects of the time of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels, such as context from Nazareth, the High Priest Caiaphas' ossuary, numerous synagogue buildings, and Jehohanan, a crucified victim who had a Jewish burial after execution.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Craig A. |title=Jesus and his World: The Archaeological Evidence |date=2013 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=9780664239329 |edition=Paperback}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Evans |first1=Craig |title=The Archaeological Evidence for Jesus |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/archaeological-evidence-for-jesus_b_1370995 |website=HuffPost |language=en |date=26 March 2012}}</ref> Written sources and excavations on Nazareth correlate with Jesus' existence, Joseph and Jesus' occupation as craftworkers, presence of literacy, existence of synagogues, Gospel accounts relating to Nazareth, and other Roman period sources on Nazareth.{{sfn|Dark|2023|pp=160, 162}}

Oral traditions in the gospels precede the surviving gospels by decades, going back to the time of Jesus and the time of Paul's persecution of the early Christian Jews, prior to his conversion.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pp=83–85}}{{efn-la|Paul's conversion occurred two years after the crucifixion of Jesus.{{sfn|Byrskog|2011|p=2189}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=144}}}} Most available sources are collections of early oral traditions about Jesus and the historical value of traditions are not necessarily correlated with the later dates of composition of writings since even later sources can contain early tradition material.{{sfn|Tuckett|2001|p=122}} Theissen and Merz state that these traditions can be dated back well before the composition of the synoptic gospels, that such traditions show local familiarity of the region, and that such traditions were explicitly called "memory", indicating biographical elements that included historical references such as notable people from his era.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=100-104}} According to [[Maurice Casey]], some of the sources, such as parts of the Gospel of Mark, are translations of early [[Aramaic]] sources which indicate proximity with eyewitness testimony.{{sfn|Casey|2010|p=63-64 "It also provides evidence that Mark is an unrevised literal translation of an Aramaic source, and this at a point where there is every reason to believe that the story is literally true. This means that our oldest source is sometimes perfectly accurate, because parts of it were originally written by people who were in close touch with the events of the historic ministry. This is only one short step away from eyewitness testimony".}}

==== Mythicist view ====
Mythicists argue that in the gospels "a fictitious historical narrative" was imposed on the "mythical cosmic savior figure" created by Paul.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=163}} According to Robert Price, the gospels "smack of fictional composition",{{refn|group=web|name="Price2009"}} arguing that they are a type of legendary fiction{{sfn|Price|2003|p=21}} and that the story of Jesus portrayed in the gospels fits the [[Rank-Raglan mythotype|mythic hero archetype]].{{sfn|Price|2003|p=21}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pp=137–138}} The mythic hero archetype, present in many cultures, often has a miraculous conception or virgin births heralded by wise men and marked by a star, is tempted by or fights evil forces, dies on a hill, appears after death and then ascends to heaven.{{sfn|Price|2011|p=425}} According to Earl Doherty, the gospels are "essentially allegory and fiction".{{sfn|Doherty|2009|pp=vii–viii}}

According to Wells in his later writings, a historical Jesus existed, whose teachings were preserved in the [[Q source]].{{sfn|Wells|1999}} Wells said the gospels weave together two Jesus narratives, namely the Galilean preacher of the Q document, and Paul's mythical Jesus.{{sfn|Wells|1999}} Doherty disagrees with Wells regarding the teacher of the Q-document, arguing that he was an allegorical character who [[Wisdom (personification)|personified Wisdom]] and came to be regarded as the founder of the Q-community.{{sfn|Doherty|1995d}}{{sfn|Doherty|1997}} According to Doherty, Q's Jesus and Paul's Christ were combined in the [[Gospel of Mark]] by a predominantly Gentile community.{{sfn|Doherty|1995d}}

====Mainstream criticism====
Ehrman notes that the gospels are based on oral sources, which played a decisive role in attracting new converts.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=261}} Christian theologians have cited the mythic hero archetype as a defense of Christian teaching while completely affirming a historical Jesus.<ref name="Ramshaw">''What Is Christianity? An Introduction to the Christian Religion'', by Gail Ramshaw, Fortress Press, 2013. pp. 52–54</ref><ref name="Benson">''God and Caesar: Troeltsch's Social Teaching as Legitimation'', by Constance L. Benson, Transaction Publishers. p. 55</ref> Secular academics Kendrick and McFarland have also pointed out that the teachings of Jesus marked "a radical departure from all the conventions by which heroes had been defined".<ref>''The Heroic Ideal: Western Archetypes from the Greeks to the Present'', by M. Gregory Kendrick, McFarland, 2010. p. 43</ref>

===No independent eyewitness accounts===

====Lack of surviving historic records====

=====Mythicist view=====
Myth proponents claim there is significance in the lack of surviving historic records about Jesus of Nazareth from any non-Jewish author until the second century,{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=47}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WgROZMp4zDMC&pg=PA165 165]}}{{efn-la|name="Pagan.witnesses"}} adding that Jesus left no writings or other archaeological evidence.<ref>Gerald O'Collins, ''Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus''. 2009, pp. 1–3 {{ISBN|0-19-955787-X}}</ref> They note that Jewish philosopher [[Philo of Alexandria]] did not mention Jesus when he wrote about the cruelty of Pontius Pilate around 40&nbsp;AD.<ref>Peder Borgen, ''Philo of Alexandria''. 1997, p. 14 {{ISBN|9004103880}}</ref>

=====Mainstream criticism=====
Bart Ehrman estimates that there are about 30 surviving independent sources written by 25 authors who attest to Jesus.<ref name="Gospel Evidence that Jesus Existed"/> According to archeologist Ken Dark, for Jesus there are ''at least'' 14 independent sources from seven authors who were supporters and non-supporters within a century of the crucifixion.{{sfn|Dark|2023|p=150-151}} Since historical sources on other named individuals from first century Galilee were written by either supporters or enemies, these sources on Jesus cannot be dismissed.{{sfn|Dark|2023|p=150-151}} With at least 14 sources by supporters and non-supporters there is much more evidence available for Jesus than for any other notable person from first-century Galilee.{{sfn|Dark|2023|p=151-152}}

[[Pauline epistles|Paul's letters]] are the earliest surviving sources on Jesus.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pp=144–146}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Craig |title=Mythicism and the Public Jesus of History. |journal=Christian Research Journal |date=2016 |volume=39 |issue=5}}</ref> Paul states he personally knew eyewitnesses of Jesus such as his closest disciples and even his brother James since the mid 30s CE.{{efn-la|name="Ehrman_1"}} Paul's reference to James as Jesus' brother in particular is distinctive.{{sfn|Gullotta|2017|p=334-336}} Additionally, there are other independent sources (Mark, John, Paul, Josephus) affirming that Jesus had brothers.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=151}}

Theissen and Merz observe that even if ancient sources were to be silent on any individual, they would not impact their historicity since there are numerous instances of people whose existence is never doubted and yet were not mentioned by contemporary authors. For instance, Paul is not mentioned by Josephus or non-Christian sources; John the Baptist is not mentioned by Paul, Philo, or rabbinic writings; [[Hillel the Elder|Rabbi Hillel]] is not mentioned by Josephus - despite him being a Pharisee; [[Simon bar Kokhba|Bar Kochba]], a leader of the Jewish revolt against the Romans is not mentioned by [[Cassius Dio|Dio Cassius]] in his account of the revolt.{{sfn|Theissen|Merz|1998|p=93}} Nonetheless, even non-Christian sources do exist and they do corroborate key details of the life of Jesus that are also found in New Testament sources.<ref name="BAS">{{cite web |last1=Mykytiuk |first1=Lawrence |title=Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible |url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/did-jesus-exist/ |website=Biblical Archaeology Society |language=en |date=January 2015}}</ref>

According to [[Classicist|Classical]] historian [[Michael Grant (author)|Michael Grant]], that when the New Testament is analyzed with the same criteria used by historians on ancient writings that contain historical material, Jesus's existence cannot be denied any more than secular figures whose existence is never questioned.{{sfn|Grant|1977|p=199-200 "But above all, if we apply to the New Testament, as we should, the same sort of criteria as we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned."}}

Mainstream biblical scholars point out that much of the writings of antiquity have been lost<ref>{{cite book|last=Allan|first=William|title=Classical Literature: A Very Short Introduction|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199665457|page=15}}</ref> and that there was little written about any Jew or Christian in this period.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=44}}<ref>Timothy Barnes ''Pagan Perceptions of Christianity" in Early Christianity: Origins and Evolution to AD 600''. 1991, p. 232 {{ISBN|0687114446}}</ref> Ehrman points out that there is no known archaeological or textual evidence for the existence of most people in the ancient world, even famous people like Pontius Pilate, whom the myth theorists agree to have existed.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=44}} [[Robert Hutchinson (author)|Robert Hutchinson]] notes that this is also true of Josephus, despite the fact that he was "a personal favorite of the Roman Emperor [[Vespasian]]".<ref name="Hutchinson2015_p9">{{Cite book|title = Searching for Jesus|last = Hutchinson|first = Robert|publisher = Nelson Books|year = 2015|isbn = 978-0-7180-1830-6|location = Nashville|page = 9}}</ref> Hutchinson quotes Ehrman, who notes that Josephus is never mentioned in first-century Greek or Roman sources, despite being "a personal friend of the emperor".<ref name="Hutchinson2015_p9"/>

====Josephus and Tacitus====
{{Main|Josephus on Jesus|Tacitus on Jesus}}

There are three non-Christian sources that are typically used to study and establish the historicity of Jesus, namely two mentions in Josephus, and one mention in the [[ancient Rome|Roman]] source [[Tacitus]].<ref name="Camber121">''The Cambridge Companion to Jesus'' by Markus N. A. Bockmuehl 2001 {{ISBN|0521796784}} pp. 121–125</ref><ref name="ChiltonEvans1998">{{cite book |author1=Bruce David Chilton |author2=Craig Alan Evans |title=Studying the Historical Jesus: Evaluations of the State of Current Research |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AJM9grxOjjMC |year=1998 |publisher=Brill |pages= 460–470 |isbn=978-90-04-11142-4}}</ref><ref name= Blomberg431 >''Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey'' by Craig L. Blomberg 2009 {{ISBN|0-8054-4482-3}} pp. 431–436</ref>{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=39–53}}{{sfn|Crossan|1995|p=145}}

=====Mainstream view=====
From these two independent sources alone (Josephus and Tacitus), we can adduce certain facts about Jesus: that he existed, his personal name was Jesus, he was called a messiah, he had a brother named James, he won over Jews and gentiles, Jewish leaders had unfavorable opinions of him, Pontius Pilate decided his execution, he was executed by crucifixion, was executed during Pilate's governorship.<ref name="BAS" /> 

Josephus was a Jewish historian and commander in Galille who trained 100,000 men in the region, stationed in Sepphoris for a time, which was 3 miles away from Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus; and so he dwelled with inhabitants who would have known Jesus and knew participants in the trials of Jesus and his borther James such as the Sanhedrin and Ananus II.<ref>{{cite book |author=T C Schmidt |date=2025 |title=Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780191957697 |page=9,145-147,149-151,188}}</ref>Josephus' ''Antiquities of the Jews'', written around 93–94&nbsp;AD, includes two references to the biblical Jesus in Books [[s:The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XVIII#Chapter 3|18]] and [[s:The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XX#Chapter 9|20]]. The general scholarly view is that while the longer passage in Book 18, known as the ''Testimonium Flavianum'', is most likely not authentic in its entirety, it originally consisted of an authentic nucleus, which was then subject to Christian interpolation or forgery.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schreckenberg|first=Heinz|title=Jewish Traditions in Early Christian Literature|year=1992|isbn=978-90-232-2653-6|author2=Kurt Schubert|publisher=Van Gorcum }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kostenberger|first=Andreas J.|title=The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8054-4365-3|author2=L. Scott Kellum |author3=Charles L. Quarles |publisher=B&H Publishing }}</ref> According to Josephus scholar [[Louis H. Feldman]], "few have doubted the genuineness" of Josephus' reference to Jesus in [[s:The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XX#Chapter 9|Antiquities 20, 9, 1]] ("the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James") and it is only disputed by a small number of scholars.<ref name=JospehusM662>''The new complete works of Josephus'' by Flavius Josephus, William Whiston, Paul L. Maier {{ISBN|0-8254-2924-2}} pp. 662–663</ref><ref>''Josephus XX'' by [[Louis H. Feldman]] 1965, {{ISBN|0674995023}} p. 496</ref>{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=83}}<ref>Flavius Josephus; Maier, Paul L. (December 1995). ''Josephus, the essential works: a condensation of Jewish antiquities and The Jewish war'' {{ISBN|978-0-8254-3260-6}} pp. 284–285</ref>

[[Roman historiography|Roman historian]] Tacitus referred to "Christus" and his execution by Pontius Pilate in his ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' (written {{circa|AD 116}}), [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 15#44|book 15, chapter 44]].<ref name="P.E. Easterling, E. J p. 892">[[P. E. Easterling]], [[E. J. Kenney]] (general editors), ''The Cambridge History of Latin Literature'', p. 892 (Cambridge University Press, 1982, reprinted 1996). {{ISBN|0-521-21043-7}}</ref>{{efn-la|Tacitus: "...&nbsp;a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus."<ref>Translation from Latin by [[Alfred John Church|A. J. Church]] and W. J. Brodribb, 1876</ref>}} The very negative tone of Tacitus' comments on Christians makes most experts believe that the passage is extremely unlikely to have been forged by a Christian scribe.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=39–53}}{{request quotation|date=January 2022}} The Tacitus reference is now widely accepted as an independent confirmation of Jesus' crucifixion,{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=127}} although some scholars question the [[Tacitus on Christ#Authenticity and historical value|historical value of the passage]] on various grounds.{{sfn|Martin|1993|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wWkC4dTmK0AC&q=tacitus&pg=PA50 50–51]}}{{sfn|Weaver|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1CZbuFBdAMUC&pg=PA53 53, 57]}}

=====Mythicist view=====
Myth proponents note that the ''[[Testimonium Flavianum]]'' is likely a forgery by Christian apologist [[Eusebius]] in the 4th century or by others.{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WgROZMp4zDMC&pg=PA197 197 n. 103]}}{{efn-la|No one seemed to notice this passage until the 4th century, not even [[Origen]] who quotes Josephus extensively in his works,{{sfn|Louth|1990}} thus leading mythicists to think that the ''Testimonium Flavianum'' is a forgery of the 4th century, perhaps written by Eusebius{{sfn|McGiffert|2007}} in order to provide an outside Jewish authority for the life of Jesus.{{sfn|Olson|1999}}{{sfn|Wallace-Hadrill|2011}}}} Richard Carrier further argues that the original text of Antiquities 20 referred to a brother of the high priest [[Jesus son of Damneus]], named James, and not to the Jesus of Christianity.{{sfn|Carrier|2012}} Carrier further argues that the words "the one called Christ" likely resulted from the accidental insertion of a marginal note added by some unknown reader.{{sfn|Carrier|2012}}

Christ myth theory supporters such as Carrier note that sources such as Tacitus and others, which were written decades after the supposed events, include no independent traditions that relate to Jesus, and hence can provide no confirmation of historical facts about him.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=13}}{{sfn|Carrier|2015|p=418}}

====Other sources====

=====Mainstream view=====
In ''Jesus Outside the New Testament'' (2000), Van Voorst considers references to Jesus in classical writings, Jewish writings, hypothetical sources of the canonical Gospels, and extant Christian writings outside the New Testament. He concludes that non-Christian sources provide "a small but certain corroboration of certain New Testament historical traditions on the family background, time of life, ministry, and death of Jesus", as well as "evidence of the content of Christian preaching that is independent of the New Testament", while extra-biblical Christian sources give access to "some important information about the earliest traditions on Jesus". However, New Testament sources remain central for "both the main lines and the details about Jesus' life and teaching".{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=217}}

===Jesus was a mythical being===
{{See also|Origins of Christianity|Gnosticism}}

====Syncretism and diversity====

=====Mainstream view=====
Most historians agree that Jesus or his followers established a new [[Jewish religious movements|Jewish sect]] that attracted both Jewish and gentile converts. Out of this Jewish sect developed Early Christianity, which was very diverse, with proto-orthodoxy and "[[Heresy|heretical]]" views like Gnosticism alongside each other.{{sfn|Pagels|1979}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2003|ps=none}} According to New Testament scholar [[Bart D. Ehrman]], a number of early Christianities existed in the first century AD, from which developed various Christian traditions and denominations, including [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodoxy]].{{sfn|Ehrman|2005}} According to [[theologian]] [[James Dunn (theologian)|James D. G. Dunn]], four types of early Christianity can be discerned: Jewish Christianity, [[Greek Orthodox Church|Hellenistic Christianity]], [[Apocalypticism|Apocalyptic Christianity]], and [[History of the Catholic Church|early Catholicism]].{{sfn|Dunn|2006|pp=253–255}}

=====Mythicist view=====
In ''Christ and the Caesars'' (1877), philosopher [[Bruno Bauer]] suggested that Christianity was a [[Religious syncretism|synthesis]] of the [[Stoicism]] of [[Seneca the Younger]], Greek [[Neoplatonism]], and the Jewish theology of Philo as developed by pro-Roman Jews such as [[Josephus]]. This new religion was in need of a founder and created its Christ.<ref>Moggach, Douglas. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mEQd5VP1lBIC&pg=PA184 ''The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer'']. Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 184. *Also see Engels, Frederick. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1882/05/bauer.htm "Bruno Bauer and Early Christianity"], ''Der Sozialdemokrat'', May 1882.</ref>{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=9}} In a review of Bauer's work, Robert Price notes that Bauer's basic stance regarding the Stoic tone and the fictional nature of the gospels are still repeated in contemporary scholarship.{{refn|group=web|name="Price2009"}}

Doherty notes that, with the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]], the [[Ancient Greece|Greek culture]] and [[Ancient Greek|language]] spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean world, influencing the already existing cultures there.{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}} The Roman conquest of this area added to the cultural diversity, but also to a sense of alienation and pessimism.{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}} A rich diversity of religious and philosophical ideas was available and [[Judaism]] was held in high regard by non-Jews for its monotheistic ideas and its high moral standards.{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}} Yet [[monotheism]] was also offered by Greek philosophy, especially [[Platonism]], with its high God and the intermediary [[Logos]].{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}} According to Doherty, "Out of this rich soil of ideas arose Christianity, a product of both Jewish and Greek philosophy",{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}} echoing Bruno Bauer, who argued that Christianity was a synthesis of Stoicism, Greek Neoplatonism, and Jewish thought.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=9}}

Robert Price notes that Christianity started among Hellenized Jews, who mixed allegorical interpretations of Jewish traditions with Jewish Gnostic, Zoroastrian, and mystery cult elements.{{sfn|Price|2010|p=103, n.5}}{{sfn|Price|2002}}<ref group=lower-alpha name="mix.Price.2010.103.Price.2002"/> Some myth proponents note that some stories in the [[New Testament]] reinforce [[Bible prophecy|Old Testament prophecies]]{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=97}} and repeat stories about figures such as [[Elijah]], [[Elisha]],<ref name="brodie2012"/> [[Moses]] and [[Joshua]] in order to appeal to Jewish converts.{{sfn|Price|2011|p=381}} Price notes that almost all the gospel stories have parallels in the Old Testament and other traditions, concluding that the gospels are not independent sources for a historical Jesus, but "legend and myth, fiction and redaction".{{sfn|Price|2003|p=347}}

According to Doherty, the rapid growth of early Christian communities and the great variety of ideas cannot be explained by a single missionary effort, but points to parallel developments that arose at various places and competed for support. Paul's arguments against rival apostles also point to this diversity.{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}} Doherty further notes that [[Yeshua]] (Jesus) is a generic name, meaning "Yahweh saves" and refers to the concept of divine salvation, which could apply to any kind of saving entity or Wisdom.{{sfn|Doherty|1995c|ps=none}}

====Paul's Jesus is a deity====

=====Mainstream view=====
{{See also|Resurrection of Jesus}}
[[File:Uncial 0220 Rom-4.23-5.3.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A third-century fragment of Paul's [[letter to the Romans]]]]
According to mainstream scholarship, Jesus was an eschatological preacher or teacher, who was believed by his followers to be exalted after his death.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} The Pauline letters incorporate creeds, or confessions of faith, that predate Paul, and give essential information on the faith of the early Jerusalem community around James, 'the brother of Jesus'.<ref name=Kruse41 >''Paul's Letter to the Romans'' by Colin G. Kruse (2012) {{ISBN|0802837433}} pp. 41–42.</ref><ref name=BAune>''The Blackwell Companion to The New Testament'' edited by David E. Aune 2010 {{ISBN|1405108258}} p. 424.</ref><ref name=RMartin57 >''Worship in the Early Church'' by Ralph P. Martin 1975 {{ISBN|0802816134}} pp. 57–58</ref>{{sfn|Mack|1995|ps=none}} These pre-Pauline creeds date to within a few years of Jesus' death and developed within the Christian community in Jerusalem.<ref name=Leith12 >''Creeds of the Churches, Third Edition'' by John H. Leith (1982) {{ISBN|0804205264}} p. 12.</ref> The [[First Epistle to the Corinthians]] contains one of the earliest [[Creed#Christian creeds|Christian creed]]s<ref>{{cite book |last= Cullmann|first= Oscar|date= 1949|title= The Earliest Christian Confessions|translator= J. K. S. Reid|location= London|publisher= Lutterworth|author-link= Oscar Cullmann}}</ref> expressing belief in the risen Jesus, namely {{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|15:3–41}}:{{sfn|Neufeld|1964|p=47}}{{sfn|Taylor|2014|p=374}}
{{blockquote|For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,{{efn-la|name="died for"|The ''kerygma'' from 1:Cor.15:3–5 refers to two mythologies: the Greek myth of the noble dead, to which the Maccabean notion of martyrdom and dying for ones people is related; and the Jewish myth of the persecuted sage or [[Righteousness|righteous]] man, c.q. the "story of the child of [[Wisdom (personification)|wisdom]]".{{sfn|Mack|1995|pp=86–87}}{{sfn|Finlan|2004|p=4}} The notion of 'dying for' refers to this martyrdom and persecution.{{sfn|Mack|1997|p=88}} James F. McGrath refers to {{bibleverse|4|Maccabees|6}}, "which presents a martyr praying 'Be merciful to your people, and let our punishment suffice for them. Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs' ({{bibleverse|4|Maccabees|6:28-29}}). Clearly there were ideas that existed in the Judaism of the time that helped make sense of the death of the righteous in terms of atonement."<ref group=web name="McGrath.2007">James F. McGrath (2007), [https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionprof/2007/12/whats-wrong-with-penal-substitution.html ''What's Wrong With Penal Substitution?'']</ref> See also Herald Gandi (2018), [https://www.tms.edu/blog/resurrection-according-to-scriptures/ ''The Resurrection: "According to the Scriptures"?''], referring to {{bibleverse|Isaiah|53}}, among others:{{blockquote|Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed ... Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.}}}} and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,{{efn-la|name="third day"|See [http://ourrabbijesus.com/articles/resurrection-on-the-third-day/ ''Why was Resurrection on "the Third Day"? Two Insights''] for explanations on the phrase "third day". According to Pinchas Lapide, "third day" may refer to {{bibleverse|Hosea|6:1–2}}:{{poemquote|Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.}}See also {{bibleverse|2 Kings|20:8}}: "Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?{{'"}} According to Sheehan, Paul's reference to Jesus having risen "on the third day ... simply expresses the belief that Jesus was rescued from the fate of utter absence from God (death) and was admitted to the saving presence of God (the eschatological future)".{{sfn|Sheehan|1986|p=112}}}} and that he [[Resurrection of Jesus#Biblical accounts|appeared]] to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.<ref>oremus Bible Browser, [http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Corinthians+15:3%E2%80%9315:41&version=nrsv 1 Corinthians ''15:3–15:41'']</ref>}}

James Dunn states that in [[s:Bible (American Standard)/1 Corinthians#15:3|1 Corinthians 15:3]] Paul "recites the foundational belief", namely "that Christ died". According to Dunn, "Paul was told about a Jesus who had died two years earlier or so."<ref>''Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making'', Volume 1 by James D. G. Dunn (2003) {{ISBN|0802839312}} pp. 142–143.</ref> [[s:Bible (American Standard)/1 Corinthians#15:11|1 Corinthians 15:11]] also refers to others before Paul who preached the creed.<ref name=RMartin57/>

According to New Testament scholar [[Larry Hurtado]], Jesus' death was interpreted as a redemptive death "for our sins" in accordance with God's plan as contained in the Jewish scriptures.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=185}}{{efn-la|name="died for"}} The significance lay in "the theme of divine necessity and fulfillment of the scriptures," rather than the later Pauline emphasis on "Jesus' death as a sacrifice or an expiation for our sins."{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=186}} For the early Jewish Christians, "the idea that Messiah's death was a necessary redemptive event functioned more as an apologetic explanation for Jesus' crucifixion",{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=186}} "proving that Jesus' death was no surprise to God."{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=187}}{{efn-la|Hurtado cites Green, ''The Death of Jesus'', p.323.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=187, n.55}}}} According to [[Krister Stendahl]], the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role, and salvation by faith, is not the individual conscience of human sinners, and their doubts about being chosen by God or not, but the problem of the inclusion of gentile (Greek) Torah observers into God's covenant.{{sfn|Stendahl|1963}}{{sfn|Dunn|1982|p=n.49}}{{sfn|Finlan|2004|p=2}}{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=130–131}}<ref group=web name="Westerholm.2015">Stephen Westerholm (2015), [http://www.directionjournal.org/44/1/new-perspective-on-paul-in-review.html ''The New Perspective on Paul in Review''], Direction, Spring 2015 · Vol. 44 No. 1 · pp. 4–15</ref><!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{efn-la|Dunn quotes Stendahl: "Cf Stendahl, ''Paul among Jews and Gentiles, passim—e.g'' "... a doctrine of faith was hammered out by Paul for the very specific and limited purpose of defending the rights of Gentile converts to be full and genuine heirs to the promise of God to Israel"(p.2)"{{sfn|Dunn|1982|p=n.49}}<br><br>Stephen Westerholm: "For Paul, the question that "justification by faith" was intended to answer was, "On what terms can Gentiles gain entrance to the people of God?" Bent on denying any suggestion that Gentiles must become Jews and keep the Jewish law, he answered, 'By faith—and not by works of ''the (Jewish) law''.'"<ref group=web name="Westerholm.2015"/> Westerholm refers to: [[Krister Stendahl]], ''The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West'', Harvard Theological Review 56 (1963), 199–215; reprinted in Stendahl, ''Paul Among Jews and Gentiles and Other Essays'' (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976), 78–96.<br><br>Westerholm quotes Sanders: "Sanders noted that "the salvation of the Gentiles is essential to Paul's preaching; and with it falls the law; for, as Paul says simply, Gentiles cannot live by the law (Gal. 2.14)" (496). On a similar note, Sanders suggested that the only Jewish "boasting" to which Paul objected was that which exulted over the divine privileges granted to Israel and failed to acknowledge that God, in Christ, had opened the door of salvation to Gentiles."}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** -->

Secular scholars often explain the appearances of Jesus as [[Vision theory of Jesus' appearances|visionary experiences]], in which the presence of Jesus was felt.{{sfn|De Conick|2006|p=6}}{{sfn|Koester|2000|pp=64–65}}{{sfn|Vermes|2008b|p=141}}{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=73}}{{sfn|Leman2015|pp=168–169}}{{sfn|Kubitza|2016}} According to Ehrman, the visions of Jesus and the subsequent belief in Jesus' resurrection radically changed the perceptions of his early followers, concluding from his absence that he must have been exalted to heaven, by God himself, exalting him to an unprecedented status and authority.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|pp=109–110}} According to Hurtado, the resurrection experiences were [[religious experience]]s that "seem to have included visions of (and/or ascents to) God's heaven, in which the glorified Christ was seen in an exalted position",{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|pp=72–73}} and that may have occurred mostly during corporate worship.{{sfn|Hurtado|2005|p=73}} Johan Leman contends that the communal meals provided a context in which participants entered a state of mind in which the presence of Jesus was felt.{{sfn|Leman2015|pp=168–169}} Conservative Christian scholars object against this theory, but instead argue in favor of a real, bodily resurrection.<ref>[[Dale Allison]], ''Resurrecting Jesus'', page 269, 324-325 (2005)</ref><ref>[[Craig L. Blomberg]] (1987), The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, p.253</ref><ref>[[Mike Licona]], ''The Resurrection of Jesus'', Page 484 (2010)</ref><ref>Wright, N. T. Resurrection of the Son of God. Spck Publishing, 2003. 690-691.</ref><ref>[[N.T. Wright]], ''Simply Christian'', p.96-97 (2009)</ref> According to Wright, Paul "believed he had seen the risen Jesus in person, and [...] his understanding of who this Jesus was included the firm belief that he possessed a transformed but still physical body."<ref>Wright, N. T. Resurrection of the Son of God. Spck Publishing, 2003. p.398.</ref>

The Pauline creeds contain elements of a Christ myth and its cultus,{{sfn|Mack|1988|p=98}} such as the Christ hymn of [[Philippians 2]]:6–11,{{efn-la|name="Ph2:6-11"}} which portrays Jesus as an incarnated and subsequently exalted heavenly being.{{sfn|Price|2003|pp=351–355}}{{efn-la|The New Testament writings contain both an exaltation and an incarnation Christology, that is, the view that Jesus became Christ when he was resurrected and taken up to Heaven, and the view that Jesus was a heavenly being who was incarnated on earth.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|loc=ch.7}} According to Ehrman, the synoptic Gospels reflect exaltation Christologies, which present different views on the exaltation, from the resurrection to the moment of his baptism, and still earlier to his conception; whereas Paul and the Gospel of John reflect incarnation theologies.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014|loc=ch.7}}}} Scholars view these as indications that the incarnation and exaltation of Jesus was part of Christian tradition a few years after his death and over a decade before the writing of the Pauline epistles.<!--Is there a better example than Philippians, written at least 20 years after Jesus' death, to demonstrate why scholars make this conclusion?-->{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}<ref name="Bouma.2014"/><!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{efn-la|name="High.Christology"|The development of the early Christian views on Jesus' divinity is a matter of debate within contemporary scholarship. According to a longstanding consensus, the oldest Christology was an "exaltation Christology", according to which Jesus was subsequently "raised to divine status".<ref name=BE_2013.02.14>{{cite web|last1=Ehrman|first1=Bart D.|author-link1=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Incarnation Christology, Angels, and Paul |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/incarnation-christology-angels-and-paul-for-members/|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|access-date=May 2, 2018|date=February 14, 2013|ref=none}}</ref> This "exaltation Christology" may have developed over time,{{sfn|Mack|1995|ps=none}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2003|ps=none}}<ref name="autogenerated1">Bart Ehrman, ''How Jesus became God'', Course Guide</ref> as witnessed in the Gospels,{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} with the earliest Christians believing that Jesus became divine when he was resurrected.<ref name="autogenerated1"/><ref>Geza Vermez (2008), ''The Resurrection'', pp. 138–139</ref> Later beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his eternal existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> This "High Christology" is "the view that Jesus was a pre-existent divine being who became a human, did the Father's will on earth, and then was taken back up into heaven whence he had originally come".<ref name=BE_2013.02.14/>{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} Yet, as Ehrman notes, this subsequent "incarnation Christology" was also preached by Paul, and even predates him.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}} According to the "Early High Christology Club", which includes Martin Hengel, Larry Hurtado, and Richard Bauckham,<ref name="Bouma.2014"/> this "incarnation Christology" or "high Christology" did not evolve over a longer time, but was a "big bang" which arose in the first few decades of the church, as witnessed in the writings of Paul.<ref name="Bouma.2014">{{cite web|last=Bouma|first=Jeremy|title=The Early High Christology Club and Bart Ehrman—An Excerpt from "How God Became Jesus"|url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/how-god-became-jesus-bart-ehrman-high-christology-excerpt/|website=Zondervan Academic Blog|publisher=[[HarperCollins]] Christian Publishing|access-date=May 2, 2018|date=March 27, 2014}}</ref>{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** -->

Recent scholarship places the exaltation and devotion of Jesus firmly in a Jewish context. Andrew Chester argues that "for Paul, Jesus is clearly a figure of the heavenly world, and thus fits a messianic category already developed within Judaism, where the Messiah is a human or angelic figure belonging ... in the heavenly world, a figure who at the same time has had specific, limited role on earth".{{sfn|Chester|2007|pp=394–395}} According to Ehrman, Paul regarded Jesus to be an angel, who was incarnated on earth.{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}{{efn-la|name=Ehrman_angel|Ehrman-blog, [https://ehrmanblog.org/pauls-christology/ ''Paul's View of Jesus as an Angel'']: "Paul understood Christ to be an angel who became a human." See also [https://ehrmanblog.org/pauls-view-of-jesus-as-an-angel-for-members/ ''Paul's View of Jesus as an Angel''], [https://ehrmanblog.org/christ-as-an-angel-in-paul-for-members/ ''Christ as an Angel in Paul'' (10 April 2014)], [https://ehrmanblog.org/christ-as-an-angel-in-paul-2/ ''Christ as an Angel in Paul'' (7 June 2014)]; and Carrier's response at [https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/6923 ''Bart Ehrman on How Jesus Became God''].}}{{efn-la|Mainstream scholars have noted the extent and significance of Jewish belief in a chief angel acting as a heavenly mediator during the [[Second Temple period]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Garrett|first=Susan R.|title=No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus |url=https://archive.org/details/noordinaryangelc00garr|url-access=registration|year=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-14095-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/noordinaryangelc00garr/page/238 238]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gieschen|first=Charles A.|title=Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddLqKDaOQdMC&pg=PA316|year=1998|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-10840-0|page=316, n. 6}}</ref><ref name="Ehrman.2014.angel" group=web /> as well as the similarities between Jesus and this chief celestial angel.{{sfn|Barker|1992|pp=190–233}}}} According to James Waddell, Paul's conception of Jesus as a heavenly figure was influenced by the [[Book of Enoch]] and its conception of the Messiah.<ref>James Waddell (2010), ''The Messiah: A Comparative Study of the Enochic Son of Man and the Pauline Kyrios''</ref><ref group=web>Bob Foster, [http://enochseminar.org/review/1425 ''The Messiah (Waddell)'']</ref>{{efn-la|The [[Book of Enoch]] (3rd–1st century BCE) is the first text to contain the idea of a preexistent heavenly Messiah, called the "Son of Man".<ref group=web name="JE.Messiah">Joseph Jacobs, Moses Buttenwieser (1906), [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10729-messiah#anchor4 ''Messiah''], Jewish Encyclopedia</ref> He is described as an angelic being,<ref group=web name="JE.Messiah"/>{{sfn|Collins|Collins|2008|p=207}} who "was chosen and hidden with God before the world was created, and will remain in His presence forevermore".<ref group=web name="JE.Messiah"/> He is the embodiment of justice and Wisdom, seated on a throne in Heaven, who will be revealed to the world at the end of times when he will judge all beings.<ref group=web name="JE.Messiah"/>{{sfn|Collins|Collins|2008|p=207}}}}

=====Mythicist views=====
Christ myth theorists generally reject the idea that Paul's epistles refer to a historical individual.{{efn-la|name="Price62"|{{harv|Price|2009}}:<br />* See p. 55 for his argument that it is quite likely Jesus did not exist.<br />* See pp. 62–64, 75 for the three pillars}} According to Doherty, the Jesus of Paul was a divine Son of God, existing in a spiritual realm{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}} where he was crucified and resurrected.{{sfn|Doherty|2009}} This mythological Jesus was based on exegesis of the Old Testament and [[Vision (spirituality)|mystical visions]] of a risen Jesus.{{sfn|Doherty|2009}} According to Carrier, the genuine Pauline epistles show that the [[Saint Peter|Apostle Peter]] and the Apostle Paul believed in a visionary or dream Jesus, based on a [[pesher]] of [[Septuagint]] verses and [[Zechariah 3]] and [[Zechariah 6|6]], [[Daniel 9]] and [[Isaiah 52]]–[[Isaiah 53|53]].{{sfn|Carrier|2014|loc=Chapter 4 and Chapter 11}} Carrier notes that there is little if any concrete information about Jesus' earthly life in the Pauline epistles.<ref name="Carrier2014_location34725">{{cite book |last1=Carrier|first1=Richard|title=On the Historicity of Jesus|date=2014|publisher=Sheffield Phoenix Press|isbn=978-1-909697-70-6|page=location 34725 |edition=Kindle |ref=none}}</ref> 

According to Carrier, originally Jesus was a celestial or "angelic extraterrestrial"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carrier |first1=Richard |title=Jesus from Outer Space: What the Earliest Christians Really Believed about Christ |date=2020 |publisher=Pitchstone Publishing |isbn=9781634311946 |page=8-9 |edition=First |quote=The most accurate description of earliest Christian thought is that Jesus was an angelic extraterrestrial, who descended from outer space to become a man, teach the gospel, suffer an atoning death, and rise again to return to his throne among the stars, even more powerful than before.}}</ref> who came from a "cosmic sperm bank"{{sfn|Carrier|2014|p=576-577 "The notion of a cosmic sperm bank is so easily read out of this scripture, and is all but required by the outcome of subsequent history, that it is not an improbable assumption. And since scripture required the messiah to be Davidic, anyone who started with the cosmic doctrine inherent in minimal mythicism would have had to imagine something of this kind. That Jesus would be made 'from the sperm of David' is therefore all but entailed by minimal mythicism."}} and was tortured and crucified by Satan and his demons, buried in a tomb above the clouds, and resurrected - everything occurring in outer space.{{sfn|Carrier|2014|p=563 "In Chapter 3 we addressed the bare facts of Jesus having suffered and died and been buried and resurrected, which are all expected beliefs on minimal mythicism - as on that theory, these events all occurred in outer space (in the original Christian belief). Jesus would have been buried in a grave or tomb somewhere above the clouds, just as Adam was (Element 38). He would likewise have been abused and crucified there, by Satan and his sky demons (Element 37), just as the earliest discernible redaction of the Ascension of Isaiah imagined."}} According to Carrier "[t]his 'Jesus' would most likely have been the same archangel identified by [[Philo of Alexandria]] as already extant in Jewish theology",{{sfn|Carrier|2014|pp=200–205}} that Philo knew by all of the attributes by which Paul knew Jesus.{{efn-la|The firstborn son of God ([[Epistle to the Romans]] 8:29), the celestial image of God ([[Second Epistle to the Corinthians]] 4:4) and God's agent of creation ([[First Epistle to the Corinthians]] 8:6). He was also God's celestial high priest (Hebrews 2:17, 4:14, etc.) and God's Logos.{{sfn|Carrier|2014|pp=200–205}}{{refn|group=web|name="Carrier.Zechariah.6"}}}} According to Carrier, Philo says this being was identified as the figure named Jesus in the [[Book of Zechariah]], implying that "already before Christianity there were Jews aware of a celestial being named Jesus who had all of the attributes the earliest Christians were associating with their celestial being named Jesus".{{refn|group=web|name="Carrier.Zechariah.6"}}

Raphael Lataster, following Carrier, also argues that "Jesus began as a celestial messiah that certain Second Temple Jews already believed in, and was later allegorised in the Gospels."<ref>BRILL, summary of [https://brill.com/view/title/54738?lang=en ''Questioning the Historicity of Jesus''].</ref>

=====Mainstream criticism=====
Ehrman notes that Doherty, like many other mythicists, "quotes professional scholars at length when their views prove useful for developing aspects of his argument, but he fails to point out that not a single of these scholars agrees with his overarching thesis."{{sfn|Ehrman|2013|p=252}} Ehrman has also criticized Doherty for misquoting scholarly sources as if in support of his celestial being-hypothesis, whereas those sources explicitly "[refer] to Christ becoming a human being in flesh on earth—precisely the view he rejects."<ref group=web name="Ehrman Blog"/>

[[James F. McGrath|James McGrath]] criticizes Carrier, stating that Carrier is ignoring the details, adding that "Philo is offering an allusive reference to, and allegorical treatment of, a text in Zechariah which mentioned a historical high priest named Joshua."<ref group=web>James McGrath (sept. 16, 2012), [https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionprof/2012/09/problematizing-richard-carriers-treatment-of-the-historical-jesus.html ''Further Problematizing Richard Carrier's Claims about Jesus'']</ref>

According to Hurtado, for Paul and his contemporaries Jesus was a human being, who was exalted as Messiah and Lord after his crucifixion.<ref group=web name="LH.traction"/> According to Hurtado, "There is no evidence whatsoever of a 'Jewish archangel Jesus' in any of the second-temple Jewish evidence. ... Instead, all second-temple instances of the name are for historical figures."<ref group=web name="LH.traction">Larry Hurtado (December 2, 2017 ), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/12/02/why-the-mythical-jesus-claim-has-no-traction-with-scholars/ ''Why the "Mythical Jesus" Claim Has No Traction with Scholars'']</ref> Hurtado rejects Carrier's claim that "Philo of Alexandria mentions an archangel named 'Jesus{{'"}}, instead stating that Philo mentions a priestly figure called Joshua, and a royal personage whose name can be interpreted as "rising", among other connotations. According to Hurtado, there is no "Jesus Rising" in either Zechariah nor Philo.<ref group=web>Larry Hurtado (December 7, 2017 ), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/12/07/gee-dr-carrier-youre-really-upset/ ''Gee, Dr. Carrier, You're Really Upset!'']</ref><ref group=web>Larry Huratdo (December 11, 2017 ), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/12/11/on-accurate-representation-of-texts/ ''On Accurate Representation of Texts'']</ref>

Ehrman notes that "there were no Jews prior to Christianity who thought that Isaiah 53 (or any of the other "suffering" passages) referred to the future messiah."{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=166}} Only after his death were these texts used to interpret his suffering in a meaningful way,{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=166}} though "Isaiah is not speaking about the future messiah, and he was never interpreted by any Jews prior to the first century as referring to the messiah."{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=167}}{{efn-la|See also {{harvp|Carrier|2012a|loc="The Dying Messiah Question"}}; and {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160404193243/http://historical-jesus.info/32.html ''#32 Richard Carrier and earliest Christians "copying" pre-dating Jewish concepts of a suffering & dying (for a purpose) messiah: Part 1'']}}.}}

[[Simon Gathercole]] at Cambridge also evaluated the mythicist arguments for the claim that Paul believed in a heavenly, celestial Jesus who was never on Earth. Gathercole concludes that Carrier's arguments&mdash;and more broadly, the mythicist positions on different aspects of Paul's letters&mdash;are contradicted by the historical data and that Paul says a number of things regarding Jesus' life on Earth, his personality, family, etc.<ref>Gathercole, Simon. "The Historical and Human Existence of Jesus in Paul's Letters". ''Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus'' 16.2–3 (2018): 183–212.</ref>

====Parallels with savior gods====
{{See also|Comparative mythology|Religious syncretism|Mytheme}}

=====Mainstream view=====
Jesus should be understood in the Palestinian and Jewish context of the first century AD.{{sfn|Hagner|2011|p=1063}}{{sfn|Evans|2004|p=163}}{{sfn|Bernier|2016|pp=2–3}} Most of the themes, epithets, and expectations formulated in the New Testamentical literature have Jewish origins and are elaborations of these themes. According to Hurtado, Roman-era Judaism refused "to worship any deities other than the God of Israel," including "any of the adjutants of the biblical God, such as angels, messiahs, etc."<ref group=web name="Hurtado.2019june29">Larry Hurtado (29 June 2019), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/honoring-the-son-an-entree-work/ ''"Honoring the Son": An Entree Work'']</ref> The Jesus-devotion which emerged in early Christianity should therefore be regarded as a specific, Christian innovation in the Jewish context.<ref group=web name="Hurtado.2019june29"/>

=====Mythicist view=====
According to Wells, in his early years, Doherty, and Carrier, the mythical Jesus was derived from Wisdom traditions, the personification of an eternal aspect of God, who came to visit human beings.{{sfn|Wells|1975|p=38–39}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=349, n.20}}{{refn|group=web|name="Carrier.2016"}} Doherty notes that the concept of a spiritual Christ was the result of common philosophical and religious ideas of the first and second century AD, in which the idea of an intermediary force between God and the world were common.{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}}

According to Doherty, the Christ of Paul shares similarities with the [[Greco-Roman mysteries|Greco-Roman mystery cults]].{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}} Authors Timothy Freke and [[Peter Gandy (author)|Peter Gandy]] argue that Jesus was a deity, akin to the mystery cults,{{sfn|Freke|Gandy|1999}} while [[Acharya S|Dorothy Murdock]] argues that the Christ myth draws heavily on the Egyptian story of [[Osiris]] and [[Horus]].<ref name="Christ in Egypt">{{cite web |last1=Price |first1=Robert M. |title=Book review of D. M. Murdock (Acharya S.), ''Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection''. Stellar House Publishing |website=r m p Reviews | url =http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/reviews/murdock_christ_egypt.htm |access-date=August 4, 2010 |date=2009 |ref=none}}</ref>  According to Carrier, Jesus came from a tradition of "dying-and-rising" savior gods like [[Romulus]], [[Osiris]], and [[Zalmoxis]]. Along with [[Mithras]], these gods were all the children of a higher god, underwent a passion, conquered death, and existed on Earth within human history.<ref name="Carrier.2012.where.did.he.come.from"/>

[[Alvar Ellegård]] has argued that Paul's Jesus may have lived far earlier, in a dimly remembered remote past.{{sfn|Price|2009|p=65}}{{sfn|Price|2011|pp=387–388}}{{sfn|Doherty|2012}} Wells argues that Paul's Jesus did not have a definite historical moment in mind for when he was supposedly crucified.{{efn-la|name="Wells2004_p34"}}{{sfn|Martin|1993|p=38}}

According to Price, the ''Toledot Yeshu'' places Jesus "about 100 BCE", while [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] and the Talmud make references to "Jewish and Jewish-Christian belief" that Jesus lived about a century earlier than usually assumed. According to Price, this implies that "perhaps the Jesus figure was at first an ahistorical myth and various attempts were made to place him in a plausible historical context, just as Herodotus and others tried to figure out when Hercules 'must have' lived".{{sfn|Price|2006|p=240}}{{efn-la|According to Epiphanius in his ''Panarion'',{{efn-la|Panarion 29.5.6}} the fourth-century Jewish-Christian [[Nazarene (sect)|Nazarenes]] (Ναζωραιοι) were originally Jewish converts of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}<!-- After a whole afternoon I can't find anything in Carrier's work to match this{{sfn|Carrier|2009|p=293, n.10}}--> Richard Carrier contends that "Epiphanius, in ''Panarion'' 29, says there was a sect of still-[[Torah-observant]] Christians who taught that Jesus lived and died in the time of Jannaeus, and all the Jewish sources on Christianity that we have (from the [[Talmud]] to the Toledot Yeshu) report no other view than that Jesus lived during the time of Jannaeus".{{sfn|Carrier|2012a}}{{sfn|Carrier|2014|pp=284ff}}}}

=====Mainstream criticism=====
Mainstream scholarship disagrees with these interpretations, and regards them as outdated applications of ideas and methodologies from the ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule''. According to Philip Davies, the Jesus of the New Testament is indeed "composed of stock motifs (and mythic types) drawn from all over the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world" but this does not mean that Jesus was "invented"; according to Davies, "the existence of a guru of some kind is more plausible and economical than any other explanation".<ref group=web name="Davies2012"/> Ehrman states that mythicists make too much of the perceived parallels with pagan religions and mythologies. According to Ehrman, critical-historical research has clearly shown the Jewish roots and influences of Christianity.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012}}

According to historian of religion Jonathan Z. Smith, modern scholars hold that the "dying and rising gods" trope is wrong since early sources on numerous gods show that gods who have died, do not resurrect or even go through rebirth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Jonathan Z. |title=Drudgery Divine: On the Comparison of early Christianities and the Religions of late antiquity |date=1990 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226763637 |pages=100–102}}</ref> Furthermore, claims of dying and resurrected gods is based on dubious reconstructions of later sources since early indigenous sources never make such claims, and there is no clear instance of a dying and rising deity.<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Religion |date=2005 |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |isbn=9780028659978 |pages=2535–2536,2539 |edition=2nd |chapter=Dying and Rising Gods |quote=The category of dying and rising gods, once a major topic of scholarly investigation, must now be understood to have been largely a misnomer based on imaginative reconstructions and exceedingly late or highly ambiguous texts... There is no unambiguous instance in the history of religions of a dying and rising deity....The majority of evidence for Near Eastern dying and rising deities occurs in Greek and Latin texts of late antiquity, usually post-Christian in date....This pattern will recur for many of the figures considered: an indigenous mythology and ritual focusing on the deity’s death and rituals of lamentation, followed by a later Christian report adding the element nowhere found in the earlier native sources, that the god was resurrected....As the above examples make plain, the category of dying and rising deities is exceedingly dubious. It has been based largely on Christian interest and tenuous evidence.}}</ref>

Many mainstream biblical scholars respond that most of the perceived parallels with mystery religions are either coincidences or without historical basis and/or that these parallels do not prove that a Jesus figure did not live.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=208}}<!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{efn-la|In particular, the transformations faced by deities have distinct differences from the resurrection of Jesus. [[Osiris]] regains consciousness as king of the underworld, rather than being "transformed into an eschatological new creation" as [[Craig S. Keener]] writes.<ref name="Keener">The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, by Craig S. Keener, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2012. p. 336</ref> While Jesus was born from a human woman (traditionally a virgin) and accompanied by shepherds, [[Mitra]] is born (unaccompanied by shepherds) from the goddess [[Aditi]] (to whom the word "virgin" is only rarely, loosely, and indirectly applied in a highly poetic sense), while [[Mithras]] (granted, accompanied by shepherds later) emerges full-grown from a rock.{{sfn|Casey|2014|p=155}} The rebirth of many of these deities was a clear metaphor for the renewal of spring that repeated the death every year, rather than a historic event meant to proclaim the god's cancellation of death. Some of these parallels appear after Christianity (e.g. the earliest references to [[Adonis]] rising from the dead is in the second century AD, [[Attis]] a century later), and are often only known through later Christian sources. Most other and later parallels were made in the works of [[James George Frazer]],<ref name="Keener" /> or may be guilty of [[parallelomania]]<ref>Jesus and His Contemporaries: Comparative Studies, by Craig A. Evans, Brill, 2001. p. 48</ref> and even misrepresentation of religious (both Christian and non-Christian) and linguistic sources<ref name="Keener" />{{sfn|Casey|2014|p=206}} (for example, ignoring the [[false cognate]] relationship between Christ and [[Krishna]]).{{sfn|Casey|2014|p=206}}}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --> Boyd and Eddy doubt that Paul viewed Jesus similar to the savior deities found in ancient mystery religions.{{sfn|Boyd|Eddy|2007|pp=45–47}} Ehrman notes that Doherty proposes that the mystery cults had a neo-Platonic cosmology, but that Doherty gives no evidence for this assertion.{{sfn|Ehrman|2013|pp=254–255}} Furthermore, "the mystery cults are never mentioned by Paul or by any other Christian author of the first hundred years of the Church," nor did they play a role in the worldview of any of the Jewish groups of the first century.{{sfn|Ehrman|2013|p=256}}

Boyd and Eddy criticize the idea that "Paul viewed Jesus as a cosmic savior who lived in the past", referring to various passages in the Pauline epistles that seem to contradict this idea. In [[Galatians 1:19]], Paul says he met with [[James, brother of Jesus|James]], the "Lord's brother"; [[1 Corinthians 15:3]]–[[1 Corinthians 15:8|8]] refers to people to whom Jesus' had appeared, and who were Paul's contemporaries; and in [[s:Bible (American Standard)/1 Thessalonians#2:14|1 Thessalonians 2:14–16]] Paul refers to the Jews "who both killed the Lord Jesus" and "drove out us" as the same people, indicating that the death of Jesus was within the same timeframe as the persecution of Paul.{{sfn|Boyd|Eddy|2007|pp=46–47}}

== Late 18th to early 20th century ==
[[File:Constantin François Volney 1.jpg|upright=0.6|thumb|alt=a sketch of a bust of Constantin-François Chassebœuf|French historian [[Constantin-François Chassebœuf|Constantin-François Volney]], one of the earliest myth theorists]]

According to Van Voorst, "The argument that Jesus never existed, but was invented by the Christian movement around the year 100, goes back to Enlightenment times, when the historical-critical study of the past was born", and may have originated with [[Lord Bolingbroke]], an English deist.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=568}}

According to Walter Weaver, the beginnings of the formal denial of the existence of Jesus can be traced to late 18th-century France with the works of [[Constantin-François Chassebœuf|Constantin François Chassebœuf de Volney]] and [[Charles-François Dupuis]].{{sfn|Weaver|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1CZbuFBdAMUC&pg=PA45 45–50]}}{{sfn|Schweitzer|2001|pp=355ff}} Volney and Dupuis argued that Christianity was an amalgamation of various ancient mythologies and that Jesus was a totally mythical character.{{sfn|Weaver|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1CZbuFBdAMUC&pg=PA45 45–50]}}{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=8}} Dupuis argued that ancient rituals in Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and India had influenced the Christian story which was [[allegory|allegorized]] as the histories of [[solar deity|solar deities]], such as [[Sol Invictus]].{{sfn|Wells|1969|p=}} Dupuis also said that the resurrection of Jesus was an allegory for the growth of the sun's strength in the sign of Aries at the spring [[equinox]].{{sfn|Wells|1969|p=}} Volney argued that [[Abraham]] and [[Sarah]] were derived from [[Brahma]] and his wife [[Saraswati]], and that Christ was related to [[Krishna]].<ref name=Leask104>''British Romantic Writers and the East'' by Nigel Leask (2004) {{ISBN|0521604443}} Cambridge Univ Press pp. 104–105</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-link=Tristram Stuart |first=Tristram |last=Stuart |title=The Bloodless Revolution |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=2007 |url=https://archive.org/details/bloodlessrevolut00stua |url-access=registration |quote=volney. |page=[https://archive.org/details/bloodlessrevolut00stua/page/591 591] |isbn=978-0-3930-5220-6 |access-date=September 20, 2018}}</ref> Volney made use of a draft version of Dupuis' work and at times differed from him, for example, in arguing that the gospel stories were not intentionally created, but were compiled organically.{{sfn|Wells|1969|p=}} Volney's perspective became associated with the ideas of the [[French Revolution]], which hindered the acceptance of these views in [[England]].<ref name=Prickett>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Stephen Prickett |title=The Bible as holy book |encyclopedia=Companion Encyclopedia of Theology |editor1=Peter Byrne |editor2=James Leslie Houlden |year=1995 |isbn=978-0415064477 |pages=154–155}}</ref> Despite this, his work gathered significant following among British and American radical thinkers during the 19th century.<ref name=Prickett/>

[[File:1908 David-Friedrich-Strauss.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=portrait|German Professor [[David Strauss]]]]
In 1835, David Strauss published his extremely controversial ''The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined'' (''Das Leben Jesu''). According to Elisabeth Hurt, Strauss "arrived at a Christianity depersonalized and anonymous, reducing Jesus to nothing more than a gifted genius whom legend had gradually deified."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hurth |first1=Elisabeth |title=Between faith and unbelief : American transcendentalists and the challenge of atheism |date=2007 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004161665 |page= 77 |quote=Strauss arrived at a Christianity depersonalized and anonymous, reducing Jesus to nothing more than a gifted genius whom legend had gradually deified. In this account, the Christian faith could be explained without reference to the Jesus of history. Strauss in this way firmly stayed on the side of the negative critique. He did not arrive at a historical core of the life of Jesus...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Beiser |first1=Frederick C. |title=David Friedrich Strauß, father of unbelief : an intellectual biography |date=2020 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198859857 |edition=First}}</ref> While not denying that Jesus existed, he did argue that the miracles in the New Testament were mythical additions with little basis in fact.<ref name="Strauss">David Friedrich Strauss (2010), ''The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined'', {{ISBN|1-61640-309-8}} pp. 39–43, 87–91</ref><ref name= "Herrick">James A. Herrick (2003), ''The Making of the New Spirituality'', {{ISBN|0-8308-2398-0}} pp. 58–65</ref>{{sfn|McClymond|2004 |p=82}} According to Strauss, the early church developed these stories in order to present Jesus as the Messiah of the Jewish prophecies. This perspective was in opposition to the prevailing views of Strauss' time: [[rationalism]], which explained the miracles as misinterpretations of non-supernatural events, and the [[supernaturalism|supernaturalist]] view that the biblical accounts were entirely accurate. Strauss' third way, in which the miracles are explained as myths developed by early Christians to support their evolving conception of Jesus, heralded a new epoch in the textual and historical treatment of the rise of Christianity.<ref name="Strauss"/><ref name="Herrick"/>{{sfn|McClymond|2004|p=82}}

[[File:Bruno Bauer.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=portrait|German Professor Bruno Bauer]]
German [[Bruno Bauer]], who taught at the [[University of Bonn]], took Strauss' arguments further and became the first author to systematically argue that Jesus did not exist.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=7–11}}<ref name="BeilbyEddy2009">Beilby, James K. and Eddy, Paul Rhodes. [https://books.google.com/books?id=O33P7xrFnLQC&pg=PA16 "The Quest for the Historical Jesus"], in James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy (eds.). ''The Historical Jesus: Five Views''. Intervarsity, 2009, p. 16.</ref><ref>Strauss, David. ''[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RmdLqnfw1OgC The Life of Jesus Critically Examined]'', Calvin Blanchard, 1860.</ref> Beginning in 1841 with his ''Criticism of the Gospel History of the Synoptics'', Bauer argued that Jesus was primarily a literary figure, but left open the question of whether a historical Jesus existed at all. Then in his ''Criticism of the Pauline Epistles'' (1850–1852) and in ''A Critique of the Gospels and a History of their Origin'' (1850–1851), Bauer argued that Jesus had not existed.{{sfn|Schweitzer |2001|pp=124–128, 139–141}} Bauer's work was heavily criticized at the time, as in 1839 he was removed from his position at the University of Bonn and his work did not have much impact on future myth theorists.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=7–11}}{{sfn|Bennett|2001|p=204}}

In his two-volume, 867-page book ''[[Anacalypsis]]'' (1836), English gentleman [[Godfrey Higgins]] said that "the mythos of the Hindus, the mythos of the Jews and the mythos of the Greeks are all at bottom the same; and are contrivances under the appearance of histories to perpetuate doctrines",{{sfn|Harpur|2004|p=30}} and that Christian editors "either from roguery or folly, corrupted them all".{{sfn|Harpur|2004|p=59}} In his 1875 book ''[[The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors]]'', American [[Kersey Graves]] said that many demigods from different countries shared similar stories, traits or quotes as Jesus and he used Higgins as the main source for his arguments. The validity of the claims in the book have been greatly criticized by Christ myth proponents including Richard Carrier, and are largely dismissed by biblical scholars.<ref>"[http://infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/graves.html Kersey Graves and The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors]" by Richard Carrier (2003)</ref>

Starting in the 1870s, English poet and author [[Gerald Massey]] became interested in Egyptology and reportedly taught himself Egyptian hieroglyphics at the British Museum.{{sfn|Harpur|2004}} In 1883, Massey published ''The Natural Genesis'', in which he asserted parallels between Jesus and the Egyptian god [[Horus]]. His other major work, ''Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World,'' was published shortly before his death in 1907. His assertions have influenced various later writers such as [[Alvin Boyd Kuhn]] and [[Tom Harpur]].{{sfn|Harpur|2004|p=200}}

In the 1870s and 1880s, a group of scholars associated with the [[University of Amsterdam]], known in German scholarship as the Radical Dutch school, rejected the authenticity of the Pauline epistles and took a generally negative view of the Bible's historical value.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=10}} [[Abraham Dirk Loman]] argued in 1881 that all New Testament writings belonged to the second century and doubted that Jesus was a historical figure, but later said the core of the gospels was genuine.{{sfn|Schweitzer|2001|pp=356–361, 527 n. 4}}

Additional early Christ myth proponents included Swiss skeptic Rudolf Steck,<ref>Arthur Drew, 1926, ''The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present''</ref> English historian [[Edwin Johnson (historian)|Edwin Johnson]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/antiquamaterast01johngoog |title=Antiqua Mater: A Study of Christian Origins|last=Edwin Johnson|date=1887 |publisher=Trübner}}</ref> English radical [[Robert Taylor (Radical)|Reverend Robert Taylor]] and his associate [[Richard Carlile]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gray|first1=Patrick|title=Paul as a Problem in History and Culture: The Apostle and His Critics through the Centuries |publisher=Baker Academic|isbn=9781493403332|page=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQ4_CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT85|language=de|date=2016-04-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lockley|first1=Philip|title=Visionary Religion and Radicalism in Early Industrial England: From Southcott to Socialism |publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=9780199663873|page=168|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=scL4a56tdM0C&pg=PA168|year=2013}}</ref>

During the early 20th century, several writers published arguments against Jesus' historicity, often drawing on the work of liberal theologians, who tended to deny any value to sources for Jesus outside the New Testament and limited their attention to Mark and the hypothetical Q source.{{sfn|Schweitzer|2001|pp=356–361, 527 n. 4}} They also made use of the growing field of [[History of religions|religious history]] which found sources for Christian ideas in Greek and Oriental mystery cults, rather than Judaism.{{sfn|Arvidsson|2006|pp=116–117}}{{efn-la|[[Joseph Klausner]] wrote that biblical scholars "tried their hardest to find in the historic Jesus something which is not Judaism; but in his actual history they have found nothing of this whatever, since this history is reduced almost to zero. It is therefore no wonder that at the beginning of this century there has been a revival of the eighteenth and nineteenth century view that Jesus never existed".<ref>Klausner, Joseph. ''Jesus of Nazareth''. Bloch, 1989; first published 1925, pp. 105–106.</ref>}}

The work of social anthropologist [[James George Frazer]] has also influenced various myth theorists, although Frazer himself believed that Jesus existed.{{sfn|Bennett|2001|p=205}} In 1890, Frazer published the first edition of ''[[The Golden Bough]]'' which attempted to define the shared elements of religious belief. This work became the basis of many later authors who argued that the story of Jesus was a fiction created by Christians. After a number of people claimed that he was a myth theorist, in the 1913 expanded edition of ''The Golden Bough'' he expressly stated that his position assumed a historical Jesus.{{sfn|Price|2000|p=207}}

In 1900, Scottish Member of Parliament [[J. M. Robertson|John Mackinnon Robertson]] argued that Jesus never existed, but was an invention by a first-century messianic cult of [[Joshua]], whom he identifies as a [[solar deity]].{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=11–12}}{{sfn|Wells|1987|pp=162–163}}{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=11–12}}{{sfn|Wells|1987|pp=162–163}} The English school master [[G. R. S. Mead|George Robert Stowe Mead]] argued in 1903 that Jesus had existed, but that he had lived in 100&nbsp;BC.<ref name=MeadQ>''G. R. S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest'' by Clare Goodrick-Clarke (2005) {{ISBN|155643572X}} pp. 1–3</ref>{{sfn|Price|2009|pp=80–81}} Mead based his argument on the Talmud, which pointed to Jesus being crucified {{circa|100 BC}}. In Mead's view, this would mean that the Christian gospels are mythical.<ref>''Did Jesus Live 100 B.C.?'' by [[G. R. S. Mead]] (1903) {{ISBN|1596053763}} (Cosimo Classics 2005) pp. 10–12</ref>

In 1909, school teacher [[John Remsburg|John Eleazer Remsburg]] published ''The Christ'', which made a distinction between a possible historical Jesus (Jesus of Nazareth) and the Jesus of the Gospels (Jesus of Bethlehem). Remsburg thought that there was good reason to believe that the historical Jesus existed, but that the "Christ of Christianity" was a mythological creation.<ref>''The Christ'' by John Remsburg 1909, Chapter 1: "Christ's Real Existence Impossible"</ref> Remsburg compiled a list of 42 names of "writers who lived and wrote during the time, or within a century after the time" who Remsburg felt should have written about Jesus if the gospel accounts were reasonably accurate, but who did not.<ref>''The Christ Myth'' by John Remsburg 1909, Chapter 2: "Silence of Contemporary Writers"</ref>

[[File:Arthur Drews.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=portrait|German Professor [[Arthur Drews]]]]
Also in 1909, German philosophy Professor [[Arthur Drews|Christian Heinrich Arthur Drews]] wrote ''[[The Christ Myth]]'' to argue that Christianity had been a Jewish Gnostic cult that spread by appropriating aspects of Greek philosophy and life-death-rebirth deities.<ref>Drews' book was reviewed by A. Kampmeier in ''[[The Monist]]'', volume 21, Number 3 (July 1911), pp. 412–432. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27900331?&Search=yes&searchText=myth&searchText=Christ&searchText=theory&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DChrist%2Bmyth%2Btheory%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3DJosephus%2BAntiquities%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=22&ttl=18632&returnArticleService=showFullText]</ref> In his later books ''The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus'' (1912) and ''[[The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present]]'' (1926), Drews reviewed the biblical scholarship of his time, as well as the work of other myth theorists, attempting to show that everything reported about the historical Jesus had a mythical character.{{sfn|Weaver|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1CZbuFBdAMUC&pg=PA50 50], [https://books.google.com/books?id=1CZbuFBdAMUC&pg=PA300 300]}}{{efn-la|Drews' work found fertile soil in the [[Soviet Union]], where [[Marxist–Leninist atheism]] was the official doctrine of the state. Soviet leader [[Lenin]] argued that it was imperative in the struggle against religious obscurantists to form a union with people like Drews.<ref>James Thrower: ''Marxist-Leninist "Scientific Atheism" and the Study of Religion and Atheism''. [[Walter de Gruyter]], 1983, p. 426</ref><ref>Also see Edyth C. Haber: [http://jstor.org/stable/309549 "The Mythic Bulgakov: 'The Master and Margarita' and Arthur Drews's 'The Christ Myth'"], ''Slavic & East European Journal'', vol. 43, issue 2, 1999, p. 347.</ref> Several editions of Drews' ''The Christ Myth'' were published in the Soviet Union from the early 1920s onwards and his arguments were included in school and university textbooks.<ref>Nikiforov, Vladimir. "Russian Christianity", in James Leslie Houlden (ed.) ''Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia''. ABC-CLIO, 2003, p. 749.</ref> Public meetings asking "Did Christ live?" were organized, during which party operatives debated with clergymen.<ref>Peris, Daniel. ''Storming the Heavens''. [[Cornell University Press]], 1998, p. 178.</ref>}}

== Revival (1970s–present)==
Beginning in the 1970s, in the aftermath of the second quest for the historical Jesus, interest in the Christ myth theory was revived by George A. Wells, whose ideas were elaborated by Earl Doherty. With the rise of the internet in the 1990s, their ideas gained popular interest, giving way to a multitude of publications and websites aimed at a popular audience, most notably Richard Carrier, often taking a polemical stance toward Christianity. Their ideas are supported by Robert Price, an academic theologian, while somewhat different stances on the mythological origins are offered by Thomas L. Thompson and Thomas L. Brodie, both also accomplished scholars in theology.

===Revival of the Christ myth theory===

==== Paul-Louis Couchoud ====
The French philosopher [[Paul-Louis Couchoud]] (1879–1959),{{sfn|Weaver|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1CZbuFBdAMUC&pg=PA300 300–303]}} who published in the 1920s and 1930s, was a predecessor for contemporary mythicists. According to Couchoud, Christianity started not with a biography of Jesus but "a collective mystical experience, sustaining a divine history mystically revealed".{{sfn|Couchoud|1924|p=23}} Couchaud's Jesus is not a "myth", but a "religious conception".<ref name="Hibbert1939">''Hibbert Journal'' Volume 37 (1938–39), pp. 193–214</ref>

Robert Price mentions Couchoud's comment on the Christ Hymn, one of the relics of the Christ cults to which Paul converted. Couchoud noted that in this hymn the name Jesus was given to the Christ after his death, implying that there cannot have been a ministry by a teacher called Jesus.

==== George Albert Wells ====
[[George Albert Wells]] (1926–2017), a professor of German, revived interest in the Christ myth theory. In his early work,<ref>{{harvs|nb|last=Wells|year1=1971|year2=1975|year3=1982}}</ref> including ''[[Did Jesus Exist? (Wells)|Did Jesus Exist?]]'' (1975), Wells argued that because the gospels were written decades after Jesus' death by Christians who were theologically motivated but had no personal knowledge of him, a rational person should believe the gospels only if they are independently confirmed.{{sfn|Martin|1993|p=38}}

From the mid-1990s onwards, Wells came to accept that the Jesus of the gospel stories was partly based on a historical figure.{{sfn|Wells|2009|pp=14–15}} In ''The Jesus Myth'' (1999) and later works, Wells argues that two Jesus narratives were fused into one, namely Paul's mythical Jesus, and a historical Jesus from a Galilean preaching tradition, whose teachings were preserved in the Q source.{{sfn|Wells|1999}}{{sfn|Wells|2009}}{{efn-la|name="Wells2009_two_characters"}} According to Wells, both figures owe much of their substance to ideas from Jewish Wisdom literature.{{sfn|Wells|2013|p=16}}

In 2000, Van Voorst gave an overview of proponents of the "Nonexistence Hypothesis" and their arguments, presenting [[Christ myth theory#Other criticisms|seven arguments against the hypothesis]] as put forward by Wells and his predecessors, detailing his criticisms.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=14–15}}{{sfn|Van Voorst|2003|pp=659–660}} According to [[Maurice Casey]], Wells' work repeated the main points of the ''[[History of religions school|Religionsgeschichtliche Schule]]'', which are deemed outdated by mainstream scholarship. His works were not discussed by New Testament scholars, because it was "not considered to be original, and all his main points were thought to have been refuted long ago, for reasons which were very well known".{{sfn|Casey|2014|p=2}}

====Earl Doherty====
Canadian writer [[Earl Doherty]] (born 1941) was introduced to the Christ myth theme by a lecture by Wells in the 1970s.{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}} Doherty follows the lead of Wells, but disagrees on the historicity of Jesus, arguing that "everything in Paul points to a belief in an entirely divine Son who 'lived' and acted in the spiritual realm, in the same mythical setting in which all the other savior deities of the day were seen to operate".{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}}{{efn-la|According to Doherty, it was Paul's view that Jesus' death took place in the spiritual not the earthly realm.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=258}} According to Ehrman, not only is there "no evidence to support Doherty's assertion of what Paul's view of Jesus was", but there are also "a host of reasons for calling Doherty's view into serious question".{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pp=254, 258}}}} According to Doherty, Paul's Christ originated as a myth derived from [[middle Platonism]] with some influence from [[Merkabah mysticism|Jewish mysticism]] and belief in a historical Jesus emerged only among Christian communities in the second century.{{sfn|Doherty|2009|pp=vii–viii}} Doherty agrees with [[Richard Bauckham]] that the earliest [[Christology]] was already a "high Christology", that is, Jesus was an incarnation of the pre-existent Christ, but deems it "hardly credible" that such a belief could develop in such a short time among the Jews.{{sfn|Doherty|2009|p=716, n. 12}}{{efn-la|name="High.Christology"}} Therefore, Doherty concludes that Christianity started with the myth of this incarnated Christ, who was subsequently historicised. According to Doherty, the nucleus of this historicised Jesus of the Gospels can be found in the Jesus-movement that wrote the Q source.{{sfn|Doherty|1995d}} Eventually, Q's Jesus and Paul's Christ were combined in the Gospel of Mark by a predominantly gentile community.{{sfn|Doherty|1995d}} In time, the gospel narrative of this embodiment of Wisdom became interpreted as the literal history of the life of Jesus.{{sfn|Doherty|1997}}

Eddy and Boyd characterize Doherty's work as appealing to the "History of Religions School".{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=30, n. 35}} In a book criticizing the Christ myth theory, New Testament scholar Maurice Casey describes Doherty as "perhaps the most influential of all the mythicists",{{sfn|Casey|2014|p=2}} but one who is unable to understand the ancient texts he uses in his arguments.{{sfn|Casey|2014|p=16}}

====Richard Carrier====
[[File:RichardCarrierSM.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Richard Carrier]]]]
American independent scholar{{sfn|Gullotta|2017}} [[Richard Carrier]] (born 1969) reviewed Doherty's work on the origination of Jesus{{sfn|Carrier|2002}} and eventually concluded that the evidence favored the core of Doherty's thesis.{{sfn|Lataster|2014b|pp=614–616}} According to Carrier, following Couchoud and Doherty, Christianity started with the belief in a new deity called Jesus,{{efn-la|name="Carrier.OHJ"}} "a spiritual, mythical figure".{{efn-la|name="Doherty.2009.mythical.figure"}} According to Carrier, this new deity was fleshed out in the gospels, which added a narrative framework and [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynic]]-like teachings, and eventually came to be perceived as a historical biography.{{efn-la|name="Carrier.OHJ"}} Carrier argues in his book ''On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt'' that the Jesus figure was probably originally known only through private revelations and hidden messages in scripture, which were then crafted into a historical figure to communicate the claims of the gospels allegorically. Those allegories were subsequently believed as fact during the struggle for control of the Christian churches of the first century.{{sfn|Carrier|2014}} Citing the methodological failure of the criteria of authenticity and asserting a failure of the "entire quest for criteria", Richard Carrier writes, "The entire field of Jesus studies has thus been left without any valid method."<ref>Carrier, Richard (2012). ''Proving History: Bayes's Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus'' (pp. 11, 293f, n. 2–7).</ref>

===Biblical scholars===

====Robert M. Price====
[[File:Robert M. Price 1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|alt=Robert Price at a microphone|American New Testament scholar [[Robert M. Price]]]]
American New Testament scholar and former [[Baptist]] pastor [[Robert M. Price]] (born 1954) has questioned the historicity of Jesus in a series of books, including ''Deconstructing Jesus'' (2000), ''The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man'' (2003), ''Jesus Is Dead'' (2007) and ''The Christ-Myth Theory and Its Problems'' (2011). Price uses critical-historical methods,{{sfn|Price|2003|pp=9–24}} but also uses "history-of-religions parallel[s]",{{sfn|Price|2003|p=125}} or the "Principle of Analogy",{{sfn|Price|2011|p=25}} to show similarities between gospel narratives and non-Christian Middle Eastern myths.{{sfn|Price|2003|pp=121, 125–128, 331}} Price criticises some of the criteria of critical Bible research, such as the criterion of dissimilarity{{sfn|Price|2003|pp=16–19}} and the criterion of embarrassment.{{sfn|Price|2003|p=121}} Price further notes that "consensus is no criterion" for the historicity of Jesus.{{sfn|Price|2009|p=61}} According to Price, if critical methodology is applied with ruthless consistency, one is left in complete [[agnosticism]] regarding Jesus' historicity.{{sfn|Price|2003|p=351}}{{efn-la|Price: "One wonders if all these scholars came to a certain point and stopped, their assumption being "If Jesus was a historical figure, he must have done and said ''something''!" But their own criteria and critical tools, which we have sought to apply here with ruthless consistency, ought to have left them with complete agnosticism.{{sfn|Price|2003|p=351}}}}

In ''Deconstructing Jesus'', Price claims that the Jesus of the New Testament is a "[[composite figure]]" out of which a broad variety of historical Jesuses can be reconstructed, any one of which may have been the real Jesus, but not all of them together.{{sfn|Price|2000|pp=15–16}} According to Price, various Jesus images flowed together at the origin of Christianity, some of them possibly based on myth, some of them possibly based on a historical "Jesus the Nazorean",{{sfn|Price|2000|p=86}} and that the historical Jesus has become obscured behind the dogma.{{sfn|Price|2000|p=34 ''"The historical Jesus has gotten lost behind the stained glass curtain of the Christ of dogma"''.}} Price concluded that it is plausible that there might have been a historical Jesus, whose story was completely assimilated into the "Mythic Hero Archetype", but that it was no longer possible to be sure there had ever been a real person underneath all the fiction.{{sfn|Price|2000|p=518 ''"It doesn't prove there was no historical Jesus, for it is not implausible that a genuine, historical individual might become so lionised, even so deified, that his life and career would be completely assimilated to the Mythic Hero Archetype. But if that happened, we could no longer be sure there had ever been a real person at the root of the whole thing."'' }}{{sfn|Price|2000|pp=85, 261}}

In ''Jesus is Dead'' (2007) Price again stated the possibility that the gospel Jesus is not based on a historical individual, and that the "Christ of faith" is "a synthetic construct of theologians".{{sfn|Price|2007|pp=271–272}}

In his later contribution, "Jesus at the Vanishing Point", appearing in ''The Historical Jesus: Five Views'' (2009), Price concludes that the gospel story is a "tapestry of Scripture quotes from the Old Testament." He further states that the gospel story also incorporates many of the recurrent features of the Indo-European and Semitic hero myths—what Price calls the "Mythic Hero Archetype".{{sfn|Price|2009|pp=77ff}} Price acknowledges that he stands against the majority view of scholars, but cautions against attempting to settle the issue by appeal to the majority.{{sfn|Price|2009|pp=61ff}}

==== Thomas L. Thompson ====
[[Thomas L. Thompson]] (born 1939), professor emeritus of theology at the [[University of Copenhagen]], is a leading [[Biblical minimalism|biblical minimalist]] of the Old Testament. According to Thompson, "questions of understanding and interpreting biblical texts" are more relevant than "questions about the historical existence of individuals such as ... Jesus".{{sfn|Thompson|2007}} In his view, Jesus' existence is based more on theological necessity than historical evidence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pfoh|first=Emanuel|editor=Thomas L. Thompson|others=Thomas S. Verenna|title="Is this Not the Carpenter?": The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus|isbn=978-1-84553-986-3|pages=80–81|chapter=Jesus and the Mythic Mind: An Epistemological Problem |year=2012 |publisher=Equinox |quote=The main reason for holding to the historicity of the [gospel] figure of Jesus ... resides not primarily in historical evidence but derives instead from a modern theological necessity.}}</ref> He believes that most theologians accept that large parts of the Gospels are not to be taken at face value, while also treating the historicity of Jesus as not an open question.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ellegård|first1=Alvar|title=Theologians as historians|journal=Scandia |date=1993|issue=2|volume=59|pages=169–181 (170–171)|quote=[M]ost present-day theologians also accept that large parts of the Gospel stories are, if not fictional, at least not to be taken at face value as historical accounts. On the other hand, no theologian seems to be able to ... admit that the question of the historicity of Jesus must be judged to be an open one.}}</ref> In his 2007 book ''The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David'', Thompson argues that the biblical accounts of both King David and Jesus of Nazareth are not historical accounts, but are mythical in nature and based on Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek and Roman literature.{{sfn|Thompson|2007|p=8}} Those accounts are based on the Messiah mytheme, a king anointed by God to restore the Divine order at Earth.{{sfn|Thompson|2012}} Thompson also argues that the resurrection of Jesus is taken directly from the story of the dying and rising god, [[Dionysus]].{{sfn|Thompson|2007|p=8}} Thompson concludes, "A negative statement, however, that such a figure did not exist, cannot be reached: only that we have no warrant for making such a figure part of our history."{{sfn|Thompson|2012}}

Thompson co-edited the contributions from a diverse range of scholars in the 2012 book ''Is This Not the Carpenter?: The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus''.{{sfn|Thompson|Verenna|2012|ps=none}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Is This Not the Carpenter? (Contents) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/is-this-not-the-carpenter/23611D6CA766967BBE1A1A1AB66684FA |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=May 4, 2017|date=July 2012 |isbn=9781845539863 }}</ref> In the introduction he writes, "The essays collected in this volume have a modest purpose. Neither establishing the historicity of a historical Jesus nor possessing an adequate warrant for dismissing it, our purpose is to clarify our engagement with critical historical and exegetical methods."{{sfn|Thompson|Verenna|2012|loc=Introduction}}

Ehrman{{efn-la|name="Ehrman.2012.p11_15"}}{{efn-la|name="Casey2014"}} and Casey have characterized Thompson's position as mythicist, and Ehrman has criticised Thompson, questioning his qualifications and expertise regarding New Testament research.{{efn-la|name="Ehrman.2012.p11_15"}} In a 2012 online article, Thompson defended his qualifications to address New Testament issues, and objected to Ehrman's statement that "[a] different sort of support for a mythicist position comes in the work of Thomas L. Thompson."{{efn-la|Ehrman (2012), ''Did Jesus Exist?'' 336–37{{sfn|Thompson|2012}}}} According to Thompson, "Bart Ehrman has attributed to my book arguments and principles which I had never presented, certainly not that Jesus had never existed", and reiterated his position that the issue of Jesus' existence cannot be determined one way or the other.{{sfn|Thompson|2012}}{{request quotation|date=January 2022}} Thompson further states that Jesus is not to be regarded as "the notoriously stereotypical figure of ... (mistaken) [[Eschatology|eschatological]] prophet", as Ehrman does, but is modelled on "the royal figure of a [[Messiah in Judaism|conquering messiah]]", derived from Jewish writings.{{sfn|Thompson|2012}} In response to Thompson's article, Maurice Casey dismissed Thompson as "an incompetent New Testament scholar".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Is Not This an Incompetent New Testament Scholar? A Response to Thomas L. Thompson {{!}} Bible Interp|url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/opeds/cas368006|access-date=2021-07-12|website=bibleinterp.arizona.edu}}</ref>

==== Thomas L. Brodie ====
In 2012, the Irish Dominican priest and theologian [[Thomas L. Brodie]] (born 1943), holding a PhD from the [[Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas]] in [[Rome]] and a co-founder and former director of the Dominican Biblical Institute in [[Limerick]], published ''Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus: Memoir of a Discovery''. In this book, Brodie, who previously had published academic works on the Hebrew prophets, argued that the gospels are essentially a rewriting of the stories of Elijah and Elisha when viewed as a unified account in the [[Books of Kings]]. This view led Brodie to the conclusion that Jesus is mythical.<ref name="brodie2012">{{cite book |last=Brodie|first=Thomas L.|year=2012|title=Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus: Memoir of a Discovery|publisher=Sheffield Phoenix Press|isbn=978-1-9075-3458-4}}</ref> Brodie's argument builds on his previous work, in which he stated that rather than being separate and fragmented, the stories of Elijah and Elisha are united and that 1 Kings 16:29 – 2 Kings 13:25 is a natural extension of 1 Kings 17 – 2 Kings 8 which have a coherence not generally observed by other biblical scholars.<ref name=brodie2000>{{cite book|last=Brodie|first=Thomas L.|year=2000|title=The crucial bridge: the Elijah–Elisha narrative as an interpretive synthesis of Genesis–Kings and a literary model of the Gospels|location=Collegeville, Minnesota|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=9780814659427|pages=1–3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ittqkiibm0C&pg=PA1}}</ref> Brodie then views the Elijah–Elisha story as the underlying model for the gospel narratives.<ref name="brodie2000" />

In response to Brodie's publication of his view that Jesus was mythical, the Dominican order banned him from writing and lecturing, although he was allowed to stay on as a brother of the Irish Province, which continued to care for him.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus—Official Dominican Response to a Controversial Book|journal=Doctrine and Life|date=May–June 2014}}</ref> According to Gerard Norton, "There is an unjustifiable jump between methodology and conclusion" in Brodie's book that "are not soundly based on scholarship". According to Norton, they are "a memoir of a series of significant moments or events" in Brodie's life that reinforced "his core conviction" that neither Jesus nor Paul of Tarsus were historical.<ref>{{cite news |last=Barry |first=Cathal |date=April 10, 2014 |title=Cleric faces dismissal over claim that Jesus Christ 'did not exist{{'-}} |website=irishcatholic.ie |location=Dublin |publisher=Irish Catholic |url=http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/cleric-faces-dismissal-over-claim-jesus-christ-did-not-exist |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412024546/http://www.irishcatholic.ie/article/cleric-faces-dismissal-over-claim-jesus-christ-did-not-exist |archive-date=April 12, 2016 |access-date=April 12, 2016 }}</ref>

=== Other modern proponents ===
[[File:John Marco Allegro.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|British academic [[John M. Allegro]]]]

In his books ''[[The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross]]'' (1970) and ''[[The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth]]'' (1979), British archaeologist and philologist [[John M. Allegro]] advanced the view that stories of early Christianity originated in a [[shamanism|shamanistic]] [[Essene]] clandestine cult centered around the use of [[Psilocybin mushroom|hallucinogenic mushrooms]].{{sfn|Allegro|1970}}{{sfn|Allegro|1992}}<ref name=Meaning323/><ref name=Taylor305>''The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea'' by Joan E. Taylor (2012) {{ISBN|019955448X}} Oxford University Press p. 305</ref> He also argued that the story of Jesus was based on the crucifixion of the [[Teacher of Righteousness]] in the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]].{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=77}}<ref>Hall, Mark. Foreword to Allegro, John M. ''The Dead Sea Scrolls & the Christian Myth''. Prometheus 1992, first published 1979, p. ix.</ref> Allegro's position was criticised sharply by Welsh historian [[Philip Jenkins]], who wrote that Allegro relied on texts that did not exist in quite the form he was citing them.<ref>Jenkins, Philip. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wv6x5kTHGvsC&pg=PA180 ''Hidden Gospels'']. Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 180.</ref> Based on this and many other negative reactions to the book, Allegro's publisher later apologized for issuing the book and Allegro was forced to resign his academic post.<ref name=Meaning323>''The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls'' by Peter Flint and James VanderKam (2005) {{ISBN|056708468X}} T&T Clark pages 323–325</ref><ref name=MidE82>''A History of the Middle East'' by [[Saul S. Friedman]] (2006) {{ISBN|0786423560}} p. 82</ref>

[[Alvar Ellegård]], in ''The Myth of Jesus'' (1992), and ''Jesus: One Hundred Years Before Christ. A Study in Creative Mythology'' (1999), argued that Jesus lived 100 years before the accepted dates, and was a teacher of the Essenes. According to Ellegård, Paul was connected with the Essenes, and had a vision of this Jesus.

Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, in their 1999 publication ''The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God?'' propose that Jesus did not exist as a historically identifiable individual, but was instead a [[Syncretism|syncretic]] re-interpretation of the fundamental pagan "godman" by the [[Gnostic]]s, who were the original sect of Christianity. The book has been negatively received by scholars, and also by Christ mythicists.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://your.sydneyanglicans.net/culture/thinking/387a/ |title=The Jesus Mysteries—a critique |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921085911/http://your.sydneyanglicans.net/culture/thinking/387a/ |archive-date=September 21, 2007 }}</ref><ref>Bart Ehrman, interview with David V. Barrett, "The Gospel According to Bart", ''Fortean Times'' (221), 2007</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier/archives/1026 |title=Ehrman on Jesus: A Failure of Facts and Logic |access-date=October 23, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117094139/http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier/archives/1026 |archive-date=January 17, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Photo of Tom Harpur by Hugh Wesley.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.6|Canadian author [[Tom Harpur]]]]
Influenced by Massey and Higgins, [[Alvin Boyd Kuhn]] (1880–1963), an American [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|Theosophist]], argued an Egyptian etymology to the Bible that the gospels were symbolic rather than historic and that church leaders started to misinterpret the New Testament in the third century.<ref>"[http://members.tripod.com/~pc93/abbskcth.htm Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Ph.D. A Biographical Sketch of his life and work]", by Richard Alvin Sattelberg, B.A., M.S.., 2005</ref> Building on Kuhn's work, author and ordained priest [[Tom Harpur]] in his 2004 book ''[[The Pagan Christ]]'' listed similarities among the stories of Jesus, Horus, Mithras, Buddha and others. According to Harpur, in the second or third centuries the early church created the fictional impression of a literal and historic Jesus and then used forgery and violence to cover up the evidence.{{sfn|Harpur|2004}}{{efn-la|Harpur's book received a great deal of [[The Pagan Christ#Criticism and responses|criticism]], including a response book, ''Unmasking the Pagan Christ: An Evangelical Response to the Cosmic Christ Idea''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwPvu3r6ZzUC |title=Unmasking the Pagan Christ: An Evangelical Response to the Cosmic Christ Idea |last1=Porter |first1=Stanley E. |last2=Bedard |first2=Stephen J. |date=2006 |publisher=Clements Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-8946-6771-5}}</ref> Fellow mythicist Robert M. Price also wrote a negative review, saying that he did not agree that the Egyptian parallels were as forceful as Harpur thought.<ref name="Price.Harpur">{{cite web|author1=Robert M. Price|author-link1=Robert M. Price|title=Review—Tom Harpur, The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light reviewed by Robert M. Price |url=http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/reviews/harpur_pagan_christ.htm |website=www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com |access-date=September 3, 2016|date=2009}}</ref> In 2007, Harpur published a sequel, ''Water Into Wine''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dZsAAAAQBAJ|title=Water Into Wine: An Empowering Vision of the Gospels|last=Harpur|first=Tom|date=2008|publisher=Dundurn.com|isbn=9780887628276}}</ref>}}

In 2014, Raphael Lataster, a lecturer in [[religious philosophy]] at the [[University of Sydney]] wrote an opinion piece in ''[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]'' and ''[[The Washington Post]]'', stating that the historical evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth "just doesn't add up" and that "there are clearly good reasons to doubt the existence of Jesus".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lataster |first=Raphael |date=15 December 2014 |title=Weighing up the evidence for the 'Historical Jesus' |url=http://theconversation.com/weighing-up-the-evidence-for-the-historical-jesus-35319 |website=The Conversation |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Did historical Jesus really exist? The evidence just doesn't add up|newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/18/did-historical-jesus-exist-the-traditional-evidence-doesnt-hold-up/|access-date=2021-07-16|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> His works were met with widespread criticism from the scholarly community.{{efn-la|[[John Dickson (author)|John Dickson]], Honorary Fellow of the Department of Ancient History at [[Macquarie University]] and once a teacher of Lataster himself, wrote on [[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] that "as his former lecturer, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that Raphael's 1000 words on Jesus would not receive a pass mark in any history class I can imagine, even if it were meant to be a mere "personal reflection" on contemporary Jesus scholarship"; Dickson also accused Lataster of distorting the truth to support his views (such as claiming that there is a scholarly debate about the historicity of Jesus, while in fact there is no debate about it) or stating that many scholars believe that the description of Jesus in the Pauline Epistles is believed to be celestial and uncorporeal (a view that is actually rejected by the scholarly consensus).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dickson|first=John|date=2014-12-24|title=It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas ... Mythicism's in the Air|url=https://www.abc.net.au/religion/its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas-mythicisms-in-the-air/10098732|access-date=2021-07-16|website=ABC Religion & Ethics}}</ref>}} His 2019 peer-reviewed publication ''Questioning the historicity of Jesus'' received negative reviews.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hansen |first1=Christopher M. |title=Book review: Questioning the Historicity of Jesus: Why A Philosophical Analysis Elucidates the Historical Discourse |journal=McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry |date=2019–2020 |volume=21 |pages=75–79}}</ref>

Paul George, a student of [[Classics|Classics and Ancient History]] at the [[University of Western Australia]], proposes a thesis that challenges traditional narratives about the beginnings of Christianity. In his book ''On Christian Origins'' (2020), he argues that Christianity did not emerge from the teachings of a single historical figure called Jesus, but rather as a response to the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whittaker |first=Thomas |title=The Origins of Christianity: With an outline of Van Manen's analysis of the Pauline literature |url=https://archive.org/details/originschristia01whitgoog |date=1914 |location=London |publisher=Watts & Co.}}</ref> His work builds on previous scholarship, examining historical, psychological, and sociological factors that contributed to the formation of Christian beliefs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=George |first=Paul |title=On Christian Origins |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL28307462M/On_Christian_Origins |journal=On Christian Origins |publisher=Vivid Publishing |ol=28307462M |publication-date=Jun 10, 2020 |oclc=1175676691}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=George |first=Paul |date=2025 |title=Revisiting the Origins of Christianity: A Proposed Shift in Chronology and the Role of Messianic Rumors Post-Temple Destruction |url=https://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.13361.29281 |language=en |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.13361.29281 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref>

The Christ myth theory enjoyed brief popularity in the [[Soviet Union]], where it was supported by [[Sergey Kovalev (historian)|Sergey Kovalev]], [[Alexander Kazhdan]], [[Abram Ranovich]], [[Nikolai Rumyantsev (historian)|Nikolai Rumyantsev]] and [[Robert Vipper]].<ref name="Andreev">{{cite web | url =http://pstgu.ru/download/1430825026.5_andreev_73-88.pdf |script-title=ru:Дискуссия об историчности Иисуса Христа в советском религиоведении|title=Diskussiya ob istorichnosti Yisusa Khrista v sovyetskom religiovyedeny |trans-title= Discussion about the historicity of Jesus Christ in Soviet religious studies|author=A. V. Andreyev|work=Newspaper of [[Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University]]|language=ru| date=2015| access-date =June 12, 2015}}</ref> However, several scholars, including Kazhdan, later retracted their views about a mythical Jesus, and by the end of the 1980s [[Iosif Kryvelev]] remained as virtually the only proponent of the Christ myth theory in Soviet academia.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.gumer.info/bogoslov_Buks/bogoslov/Golol/03.php|script-title=ru:Богословие и национальный вопрос|title=Bogosloviye i natsional'ny vopros|trans-title=Theology and the national question|author=Gololob G.|publisher=Gumer Library| language=ru| access-date =June 12, 2015}}</ref>

==Reception==

=== Scholarly reception ===

====Lack of support for mythicism====
In modern scholarship, the Christ myth theory is considered a [[fringe theory]], and finds virtually no support from scholars,{{sfn|Van Voorst|2003|pp=658, 660}}{{sfn|Fox|2005|p=48}}{{sfn|Burridge|Gould|2004|p=34}}<ref group="web" name="Ehrman Blog">{{cite web |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |author-link=Bart D. Ehrman |date=April 25, 2012 |title=Fuller Reply to Richard Carrier |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/fuller-reply-to-richard-carrier/ |website=The Bart Ehrman Blog |ref=none}}</ref>{{sfn|Bernier|2016|pp=57, note 6}}{{efn-la|name="fringe"}} to the point of being addressed in footnotes or almost completely ignored due to the obvious weaknesses they espouse.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=6}} Common criticisms against the Christ myth theory include: general lack of expertise or relationship to academic institutions and current scholarship; reliance on [[arguments from silence]], lack of evidence, dismissal or distortion of what sources actually state, questionable methodologies, and outdated or superficial comparisons with mythologies.{{efn-la|name="criticism"}}

According to scholar [[Bart D. Ehrman]], nearly all scholars who study the early Christian period believe that Jesus did exist, and Ehrman observes that mythicist writings are generally of poor quality because they are usually authored by amateurs and non-scholars who have no academic credentials or have never taught at academic institutions.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|p=2}} Maurice Casey, a scholar of New Testament and early Christianity, stated that the belief among professors that Jesus existed is generally completely certain. According to Casey, the view that Jesus did not exist is "the view of extremists", "demonstrably false" and "professional scholars generally regard it as having been settled in serious scholarship long ago".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Casey |first=Maurice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXK0auknD0YC |title=Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian's Account of His Life and Teaching |publisher=[[T&T Clark]] |year=2010 |isbn= 9780567645173|pages=33, 104, 499 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1977, classical historian and popular author [[Michael Grant (author)|Michael Grant]] in his book ''Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels'', concluded that "modern critical methods fail to support the Christ-myth theory".{{sfn|Grant|1977|p=200}} In support, Grant quoted [[Roderic Dunkerley]]'s 1957 opinion that the Christ myth theory has "again and again been answered and annihilated by first-rank scholars".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunkerley |first=Roderic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlqkQgAACAAJ |title=Beyond the Gospels |date=1957 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |pages=12 |language=en}}</ref> He also quoted Otto Betz' 1968 opinion that in recent years "no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus—or at any rate very few, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Betz |first=Otto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AV2YmQEACAAJ |title=What do we know about Jesus? |date=1968 |publisher=[[SCM Press]] |pages=9 |language=en}}</ref> In the same book, he also wrote: {{blockquote|If we apply to the New Testament, as we should, the same sort of criteria as we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we can no more reject Jesus' existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned.{{sfn|Grant|1977}}}}

Graeme Clarke, emeritus Professor of Classical Ancient History and Archaeology at [[Australian National University]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Academy Fellows |url=http://www.humanities.org.au/Fellowship/FindFellows/tabid/123/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1092/Clarke-Graeme.aspx |publisher=Australian Academy of the Humanities|access-date=June 11, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527092213/http://www.humanities.org.au/Fellowship/FindFellows/tabid/123/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1092/Clarke-Graeme.aspx|archive-date=May 27, 2014}}</ref> stated in 2008: "Frankly, I know of no ancient historian or biblical historian who would have a twinge of doubt about the existence of a Jesus Christ—the documentary evidence is simply overwhelming".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dickson |first1=John |date=March 21, 2008 |title=Facts and friction of Easter |newspaper=[[Brisbane Times]] |url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/facts-and-friction-of-easter/2008/03/21/1205602592557.html?page=3 }}</ref> [[R. Joseph Hoffmann]], who had created the [[Jesus Project]], which included both mythicists and historicists to investigate the historicity of Jesus, wrote that an adherent to the Christ myth theory asked to set up a separate section of the project for those committed to the position. Hoffmann felt that to be committed to mythicism signaled a lack of necessary skepticism and he noted that most members of the project did not reach the mythicist conclusion.<ref group="web" name="Hoffmann">{{Cite web |last=Hoffmann |first=R. Joseph |date=2009 |title=Threnody: Rethinking the Thinking behind The Jesus Project |url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/opeds/hoffman1044 |website=The Bible and Interpretation}}</ref> Hoffmann also called the mythicist theory "fatally flawed".{{efn-la|name="Hoffmann2012"}}

[[Philip Jenkins]], Distinguished Professor of History at [[Baylor University]], wrote, "What you can't do, though, without venturing into the far swamps of extreme crankery, is to argue that Jesus never existed. The 'Christ-Myth Hypothesis' is not scholarship, and is not taken seriously in respectable academic debate. The grounds advanced for the 'hypothesis' are worthless. The authors proposing such opinions might be competent, decent, honest individuals, but the views they present are demonstrably wrong. ... Jesus is better documented and recorded than pretty much any non-elite figure of antiquity."<ref group="web">{{cite web |last1=Jenkins |first1=Phillip |date=April 18, 2016 |title=The Myth of the Mythical Jesus |url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2016/04/the-myth-of-the-mythical-jesus/#IGPQmrQ3pSPteW5M.99 |website=[[Patheos]]}}</ref>

According to Daniel Gullotta, most of the mythicist literature contains "wild theories, which are poorly researched, historically inaccurate, and written with a sensationalist bent for popular audiences."{{sfn|Gullotta|2017|pp=310–346}}

According to [[James F. McGrath]] and Christopher Hansen, mythicists sometimes rely on questionable and outdated methods like Rank and Raglan mythotypes that end up resulting in misclassifying real historical persons as mythical figures.<ref name="McGrath">{{cite web |last1=McGrath |first1=James |title=Rankled by Wrangling over Rank-Raglan Rankings: Jesus and the Mythic Hero Archetype |url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2014/12/mcg388023 |website=The Bible and Interpretation |publisher=University of Arizona}}</ref><ref name="Hansen">{{cite journal |last1=Hansen |first1=Christopher M. |date=2020 |title=Lord Raglan's Hero and Jesus: A Rebuttal to Methodologically Dubious Uses of the Raglan Archetype |url=http://jgrchj.net/volume16/JGRChJ16-7_Hansen.pdf |journal=[[Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism]] |volume=16 |pages=129–149}}</ref>

====Questioning the competence of proponents====
Critics of the Christ myth theory question the competence of its supporters.{{efn-la|name="Casey2014"}} Maurice Casey has criticized mythicists, pointing out their complete ignorance of how modern critical scholarship actually works. He also criticizes their frequent assumption that modern New Testament scholarship is [[Christian fundamentalism]],{{sfn|Casey|2014|pp=245 "I therefore conclude that the mythicist arguments are completely spurious from beginning to end. They have been mainly put forward by incompetent and unqualified people. Most of them are former fundamentalist Christians who were not properly aware of critical scholarship then, and after conversion to atheism, are not properly aware of critical scholarship now. They frequently confuse any New Testament scholarship with Christian fundamentalism."}} insisting that this assumption is not only totally inaccurate, but also exemplary of the mythicists' misconceptions about the ideas and attitudes of mainstream scholars.{{sfn|Casey|2014|pp=1–41}}

According to Bart Ehrman:

{{blockquote|Few of these mythicists are actually scholars trained in ancient history, religion, biblical studies or any cognate field, let alone in the ancient languages generally thought to matter for those who want to say something with any degree of authority about a Jewish teacher who (allegedly) lived in first-century Palestine. ... These views are so extreme and so unconvincing to 99.99% of the real experts that anyone holding them is as likely to get a teaching job in an established department of religion as a [[young Earth creationists|six-day creationist]] is likely to land on in a bona fide department of biology<ref name="Ehrman_Huffington"/>}}

====Bias====
According to Van Voorst, mythicism has a long history of being pushed by individuals with anti-religious sentiment from radical Deists, to Freethought advocates, to radical secular humanists and activist atheists.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=15-16}} Contemporary mythicists are usually atheists or agnostics. According to Ehrman "It is no accident that virtually all mythicists (in fact, all of them, to my knowledge) are either atheists or agnostics. The ones I know anything about are quite virulently, even militantly, atheist."<ref name="Ehrman_Huffington"/>{{sfn|Ehrman|2012}} According to Casey, mythicists are former fundamentalists who push for an atheist agenda and tend to be related to atheist activism.{{sfn|Casey|2014}} Gullota notes that mythicists are "apologists for a kind of dogmatic atheism" and that usually the proponents are atheist activists who have disdain for religion.{{sfn|Gullotta|2017}}

====Other criticisms====
Robert Van Voorst has written, "Contemporary New Testament scholars have typically viewed [Christ myth] arguments as so weak or bizarre that they relegate them to footnotes, or often ignore them completely. ... The theory of Jesus' nonexistence is now effectively dead as a scholarly question."{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=6}} [[Paul L. Maier]], former professor of Ancient History at [[Western Michigan University]] and current professor emeritus of its Department of History has stated, "Anyone who uses the argument that Jesus never existed is simply flaunting his ignorance."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Grace |first1=John Patrick |date=July 21, 2015 |title=Questioning Jesus' existence is sheer madness |work=[[The Herald-Dispatch]] |url=http://www.herald-dispatch.com/opinion/john-patrick-grace-questioning-jesus-existence-is-sheer-madness/article_2223a091-477e-5f55-a8a8-ee50b372fe9e.html }}</ref>

In 2000, Van Voorst gave an overview of proponents of the "Nonexistence Hypothesis" and their arguments, presenting seven arguments against the hypothesis as put forward by "Wells and his predecessors":{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=14–16}}
# "[[Argument from silence|Arguments from silence]]" are to be rejected, because "it is wrong to suppose that what is unmentioned or undetailed did not exist". Van Voorst further argued that the early Christian literature was not written for historical purposes.
# Dating the "invention" of Jesus around 100&nbsp;AD is too late: the Gospel of Mark is generally considered to have been written around 70&nbsp;AD.
# The "development [of the Gospel traditions] does not necessarily mean wholesale invention, and difficulties do not prove nonexistence".
# Wells could not explain why "no pagans and Jews who opposed Christianity denied Jesus' historicity or even questioned it"
# The rejection of [[Tacitus]] (''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'') and [[Josephus]] (''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'') ignores the scholarly consensus.
# Proponents of the "nonhistoricity hypothesis" are not driven by scholarly interests, but by anti-Christian sentiments.
# Wells and others do not offer "other, credible hypotheses" for the origins of Christianity.
In 2003, Van Voorst added an eighth "final argument"—that Wells had since accepted the "historical basis for the existence of Jesus".{{sfn|Van Voorst|2003|pp=659–660}}

In his book ''[[Did Jesus Exist? (Ehrman)|Did Jesus Exist?]]'', [[Bart Ehrman]] surveys the arguments "mythicists" have made against the existence of Jesus since the idea was first raised at the end of the 18th century. Regarding the lack of contemporaneous records for Jesus, Ehrman notes that no comparable Jewish figure is mentioned in contemporary records either and there are mentions of Christ in several Roman works of history from only decades after the [[death of Jesus]].{{sfn|Ehrman|2012}} He adds that the authentic letters of the apostle [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] in the New Testament were likely written within a few years of Jesus' death and that Paul likely personally knew [[James, brother of Jesus|James, the brother of Jesus]]. Ehrman writes that although "our best sources about Jesus, the early Gospels, are riddled with problems ... written decades after Jesus' life by biased authors", they "can be used to yield historically reliable information". He adds, "With respect to Jesus, we have numerous, independent accounts of his life in the sources lying behind the Gospels (and the writings of Paul)", which he says is "pretty astounding for an ancient figure of any kind".<ref name="Ehrman_Huffington"/> Ehrman dismisses the idea that the story of Jesus is an invention based on [[Paganism|pagan myths]] of dying-and-rising gods, maintaining that the early Christians were primarily influenced by [[Judaism|Jewish ideas]], not Greek or Roman ones,<ref name="Ehrman_Huffington"/>{{sfn|Ehrman|2012}} and repeatedly insisting that the idea that there was never such a person as Jesus is not seriously considered at all by historians or experts in the field.{{sfn|Ehrman|2012}}

Alexander Lucie-Smith, Catholic priest and doctor of moral theology, states that "People who think Jesus didn't exist are seriously confused," but also notes that "the Church needs to reflect on its failure. If 40 per cent believe in the Jesus myth, this is a sign that the Church has failed to communicate with the general public."<ref name=Lucie-Smith>Alexander Lucie-Smith, [http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2015/11/02/people-who-think-jesus-didnt-exist-are-seriously-confused/ ''People who think Jesus didn't exist are seriously confused''], Catholic Herald</ref>

[[Stanley E. Porter]], president and dean of [[McMaster Divinity College]] in Hamilton, and Stephen J. Bedard, a Baptist minister and graduate of McMaster Divinity, respond to [[The Pagan Christ|Harpur's ideas]] from an evangelical standpoint in ''Unmasking the Pagan Christ: An Evangelical Response to the Cosmic Christ Idea'', challenging the key ideas lying at the foundation of Harpur's thesis. Porter and Bedard conclude that there is sufficient evidence for the historicity of Jesus and assert that Harpur is motivated to promote "universalistic spirituality".{{sfn|Porter|Bedard|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NwPvu3r6ZzUC&pg=PA69 69]}}{{efn-la|See also Stephen J. Bedard, [http://www.stephenjbedard.com/jesus-myth/ ''Jesus Myth Theory''], for an overview of blogs by Bedard on the Jesus Myth Theory.}}

=== Popular reception ===
In a 2015 poll conducted by the [[Church of England]], 22% of British respondents indicated that they did not believe Jesus was a real person.<ref>{{cite web |title=Executive Summary |url=https://talkingjesus.org/research/executive-summary.cfm |publisher=talkingjesus.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123155347/http://www.talkingjesus.org/research/upload/Perceptions-of-Jesus-Christians-and-Evangelism-Executive-Summary.pdf |archive-date=23 November 2015}}</ref> A 2020 poll by Yougov stated that the number of British respondents who did not believe Jesus existed is just 15%.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jesus, his Birth and Resurrection: Fact or Fiction? |url=https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/33539-jesus-his-birth-and-resurrection-fact-or-fiction |website=Yougov |language=en-gb |date=December 29, 2020}}</ref>

Ehrman notes that "the mythicists have become loud, and thanks to the Internet they've attracted more attention".<ref name="Ehrman.2015.Debate" /> Within a few years of the inception of the [[History of the World Wide Web|World Wide Web]] (c. 1990), mythicists such as Earl Doherty began to present their argument to a larger public via the internet.{{efn-la|name="Doherty.1997.Mack"}} Doherty created the website ''The Jesus Puzzle'' in 1996,{{refn|group=web|name="Doherty.2011.Godfrey"}} while the organization [[Internet Infidels]] has featured the works of mythicists on their website<ref name="Internet.Infidels.Historicity" /> and mythicism has been mentioned on several popular news sites.{{sfn|Gullotta|2017|pp=311–312, n. 34}}

According to Derek Murphy, the documentaries ''[[The God Who Wasn't There]]'' (2005) and ''[[Zeitgeist (film series)#Zeitgeist: The Movie|Zeitgeist]]'' (2007) introduced the Christ myth theory to a larger audience and gave the topic broad coverage on the Internet.{{sfn|Murphy|2011|p=65}} Daniel Gullotta notes the relationship between the organization "Atheists United" and Carrier's work related to mythicism, which has increased "the attention of the public".{{efn-la|name="Gullotta.2015"}}

== Documentaries ==
Since 2005, several English-language documentaries have focused—at least in part—on the Christ myth theory:
* ''[[The God Who Wasn't There]]'' directed by [[Brian Flemming]] and featuring [[Richard Carrier]] and [[Robert M. Price]] (2005)
* ''[[The Pagan Christ#CBC documentary|The Pagan Christ]]'' produced by the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] and featuring [[Tom Harpur]] (2007)
* ''[[Zeitgeist: The Movie]]'' directed by [[Peter Joseph]] (2007)
* ''The Hidden Story of Jesus'' produced by [[Channel 4]] and featuring [[Robert Beckford]] (2007)
* ''[[Religulous]]'' directed by [[Larry Charles]] and featuring [[Bill Maher]] (2008)
* ''[[Caesar's Messiah]]'' by Joseph Atwill (2013)

== See also ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* [[Bible conspiracy theory]]
* [[Christian mythology]]
* [[Criticism of the Bible]]
* [[Criticism of Christianity]]
* [[Criticism of Jesus]]
* [[Euhemerism]]
* [[Francesco Carotta]]
* [[Historical background of the New Testament]]
* [[Historical reliability of the Gospels]]
* [[Historicity of the Bible]]
* [[Jesus in comparative mythology]]
* [[List of Christ myth theory proponents]]
* [[List of messiah claimants]]
* [[Rank-Raglan mythotype]]
}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist|35em|group=lower-alpha|refs=
<!-- A -->
<!-- argument.from.silence -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="argument.from.silence">Argument from silence:
* {{harvnb|Ehrman|2012|p=34}}: "[The basic mythicist position is] the negative argument, that we have no reliable witness that even mentions a historical Jesus, and the positive one, that his story appears to have been modeled on the accounts told of other divinities..."
* {{harvnb|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WgROZMp4zDMC&pg=PA165 165]}}: "[Some Christ myth theorists] make much of the claim that there is little or no credible information about the historical Jesus to be found in first—and second—century non-Christian sources or in Paul, the earliest Christian source. Surely if a miracle-working prophet like the Jesus of the Gospels actually existed, it is argued, Paul and pagan contemporaries would have mentioned his feats and his teachings. Instead, they argue, we find a virtual silence."</ref>
<!-- B -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="basic facts">Basic assent about baptism and crucifixion:
* {{harvnb|Dunn|2003|p=339}} states of baptism and crucifixion that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent."
* {{harvnb|Crossan|1995|p=145}}: That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus [...] agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact."
* {{harvnb|Levine|2006|p=4}}: "There is a consensus of sorts on a basic outline of Jesus' life. Most scholars agree that Jesus was baptized by John, debated with fellow Jews on how best to live according to God's will, engaged in healings and exorcisms, taught in parables, gathered male and female followers in Galilee, went to Jerusalem, and was crucified by Roman soldiers during the governorship of Pontius Pilate (26-36 CE). But, to use the old cliché: the devil is in the details."
* {{harvnb|Komoszewski|Bock|2019|pp=22–23}} "...a considerable number of specific facts about Jesus are so well supported historically as to be widely acknowledged by most scholars, whether Christian (of any stripe) or not:...(lists 18 points)...Nevertheless, what can be known about Jesus with a high degree of confidence, apart from theological or ideological agendas, is perhaps surprisingly robust."
* {{harvnb|Evans|Wright|2009|p=3}}: "No serious historian of any religious or nonreligious stripe doubts that Jesus of Nazareth really lived in the first century and was executed under the authority of Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea and Samaria. Though this may be common knowledge among scholars, the public may well not be aware of this."
</ref>
<!-- "Bromiley1982" -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Bromiley1982">{{harvnb|Bromiley|1982|p=1034}}: "... the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology [possessing no] substantial claims to historical fact".</ref>
<!-- C -->
<!-- "Carrier.OHJ" -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Carrier.OHJ">{{harv|Carrier|2014|p=52}}: "[T]he basic thesis of every competent mythologist, then and now, has always been that Jesus was originally a god just like any other god (properly speaking, a demigod in pagan terms; an archangel in Jewish terms; in either sense, a deity), who was later historicized."</ref>
<!-- Carrier.2014.53 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Carrier.2014.53">{{harv|Carrier|2014|p=53}}: "At the origin of Christianity, Jesus Christ was thought to be a celestial deity much like any other. ... Like some other celestial deities, this Jesus was originally believed to have endured an ordeal of incarnation, death, burial and resurrection in a supernatural realm [not on Earth]."</ref>
<!-- Casey2014 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Casey2014">{{harvnb|Casey|2014|pp=10, 24}}: "I introduce here the most influential mythicists who claim to be 'scholars', though I would question their competence and qualifications [...] [Thomas L. Thompson] was Professor of Theology at the University of Copenhagen from 1993–2009. His early work, which is thought to have successfully refuted the attempts of Albright and others to defend the historicity of the most ancient parts of biblical literature history, is said to have negatively affected his future job prospects."</ref>
<!-- Christ_of_faith -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Christ_of_faith">{{harvnb|Vermes|2001|loc=ch.8}} "By the end of the first century Christianity had lost sight of the real Jesus and of the original meaning of his message. Paul, John and their churches replaced him by the otherworldy Christ of faith."</ref>
<!-- criticism -->
{{efn-la|name="criticism"|Criticisms of mythicism:
* {{harvnb|Gullotta|2017}} "In short, the majority of mythicist literature is composed of wild theories, which are poorly researched, historically inaccurate, and written with a sensationalist bent for popular audiences." "Criticized for being Euro-centric and male-centric, these holistic-comparative theories have been almost universally rejected by scholars of folklore and mythology..."
* {{harvnb|Casey|2014|pp=243–245}} "I therefore conclude that the mythicist arguments are completely spurious from beginning to end. They have been mainly put forward by incompetent and unqualified people. Most of them are former fundamentalist Christians who were not properly aware of critical scholarship then, and after conversion to atheism, are not properly aware of critical scholarship now. They frequently confuse any New Testament scholarship with Christian fundamentalism."
* {{harvtxt|Marina|2022}} states that Carrier's work is guided by his ideological agenda and lacks positive evidences from primary sources and notes that his mythicist views have not won any supporters from critical scholars to date
* {{harvnb|Ehrman|2012}}
* {{harvnb|Ehrman|1999|p=248}}
* {{harvnb|Ehrman|2011|p=285}}
* {{harvnb|Van Voorst|2003|pp=659–660}} 
* {{harvnb|Hansen|2022|}} "The theory of a pre-Christian Jesus, while exceptionally intriguing, still has not found any decent footing in recent years. Though there have been some attempts at innovating the concept, invariably the arguments for this have relied heavily on conjectural interpretations of biblical and extrabiblical literature in an attempt to validate the hypothesis. The arguments tend to rely on specious interpretations of the ancient texts, various conjectures, and, in Price's case, a reliance on outdated and long-since disproven concepts. All of these issues, and more, demonstrate that the pre-Christian Jesus hypothesis is still an unreliable thesis, and likely should be discounted as it was a century ago. The renovated theories fail to convincingly explain the evidence at hand."}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Meggitt |first1=Justin J. |title='More Ingenious than Learned'? Examining the Quest for the Non-Historical Jesus |journal=New Testament Studies |date=2019 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=443–460 |doi=10.1017/S0028688519000213|s2cid=203247861 |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/289048 }}
<!-- D -->
<!-- Doherty.1997.Mack -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Doherty.1997.Mack">{{harvnb|Doherty|1997b|pp=12–13}}. Earl Doherty has published a much-expanded version of this review at the following Web site, where he has also reproduced his series "The Jesus Puzzle", which appeared in recent issues of ''Humanist in Canada'': <nowiki>http://www.magi.com/~oblio/jesus.html.</nowiki></ref>
<!-- Doherty.2009.mythical.figure -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Doherty.2009.mythical.figure">{{harv|Doherty|2009|pp=vii–viii}}: "[The Mythical Jesus viewpoint holds] that Christianity began with a belief in a spiritual, mythical figure..."</ref>
<!-- E -->
<!-- Eddy2007_p202 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Eddy2007_p202">{{harv|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WgROZMp4zDMC&pg=PA202 202]}}: "While New Testament scholars agree that Paul has relatively little to say about the life and ministry of Jesus, most grant that Paul viewed Jesus as a recent contemporary. The most extreme legendary-Jesus theorists, however—particularly the Christ myth theorists—deny this. They argue that nothing in Paul's letters indicates that he believed Jesus was a contemporary of his. Rather, they contend, the Jesus of Paul's theology is a savior figure patterned after similar figures within ancient mystery religions. According to the theory, Paul believed that Christ entered the world at some point in the distant past—or that he existed only in a transcendent mythical realm—and died to defeat evil powers and redeem humanity. Only later was Jesus remythologized [i.e. historicized] as a Jewish contemporary."</ref>
<!-- Ehrman.2012.p11_15 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Ehrman.2012.p11_15">{{harv|Ehrman|2012|pp=11, 15}} "[Per "A Brief History of Mythicism"] ... some of the more influential contemporary representatives who have revitalized the [Mythicism] view in recent years. ... A different sort of support for a mythicist position comes in the work of Thomas L. Thompson, ''The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David''. Thompson is trained in biblical studies, but he does not have degrees in New Testament or early Christianity. He is, instead, a Hebrew Bible scholar who teaches at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. In his own field of expertise, he is convinced that figures from the Hebrew Bible such as Abraham, Moses, and David never existed. He transfers these views to the New Testament and argues that Jesus too did not exist but was invented by Christians who wanted to create a savior figure out of stories found in the Jewish scriptures."</ref>
<!-- Ehrman_def -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Ehrman_def">{{harv|Ehrman|2012|pp=12, 347, n. 1}}: "[Per] Jesus mythicism, Earl Doherty, defines the view as follows: it is "the theory that no historical Jesus worthy of the name existed, that Christianity began with a belief in a spiritual, mythical figure, that the Gospels are essentially allegory and fiction, and that no single identifiable person lay at the root of the Galilean preaching tradition." [Earl Doherty (2009), ''Jesus: Neither God nor Man: The Case for a mythical Jesus'' (Ottawa, ON: Age of Reason Publications), vii–viii.] In simpler terms, the historical Jesus did not exist. Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity."</ref>
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Ehrman_1">{{harv|Ehrman|2012|pp=144-146}}: "He was a member of an even closer inner circle made up of Peter, James, and John. In the Gospels these three spend more time with Jesus than anyone else does during his entire ministry...In about the year 36, Paul went to Jerusalem to confer with Peter (Galatians 1:18–20). Paul spent fifteen days there...But it defies belief that Paul would have spent over two weeks with Jesus's closest companion and not learned something about him—for example, that he lived. Even more telling is the much-noted fact that Paul claims that he met with, and therefore personally knew, Jesus's own brother James... And so in the letter to the Galatians Paul states as clearly as possible that he knew Jesus's brother. Can we get any closer to an eyewitness report than this? The fact that Paul knew Jesus's closest disciple and his own brother throws a real monkey wrench into the mythicist view that Jesus never lived."</ref>

<!-- F -->
<!-- fringe -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="fringe">The Christ myth theory is regarded as a fringe theory in mainstream scholarship:
* [[Larry Hurtado]] (December 2, 2017), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/12/02/why-the-mythical-jesus-claim-has-no-traction-with-scholars/ ''Why the "Mythical Jesus" Claim Has No Traction with Scholars'']: "The "mythical Jesus" view doesn't have any traction among the overwhelming number of scholars working in these fields, whether they be declared Christians, Jewish, atheists, or undeclared as to their personal stance. Advocates of the "mythical Jesus" may dismiss this statement, but it ought to count for something if, after some 250 years of critical investigation of the historical figure of Jesus and of Christian Origins, and the due consideration of "mythical Jesus" claims over the last century or more, this spectrum of scholars have judged them unpersuasive (to put it mildly)."
* {{harvnb|Gullotta|2017|p=312}}: "[Per Jesus mythicism] Given the fringe status of these theories, the vast majority have remained unnoticed and unaddressed within scholarly circles."
* Patrick Gray (2016), ''Varieties of Religious Invention'', chapter 5, ''Jesus, Paul, and the birth of Christianity'', Oxford University Press, p.114: "That Jesus did in fact walk the face of the earth in the first century is no longer seriously doubted even by those who believe that very little about his life or death can be known with any certainty. [Note 4:] Although it remains a fringe phenomenon, familiarity with the Christ myth theory has become much more widespread among the general public with the advent of the Internet."
* [[Michael Grant (author)|Michael Grant]] (2004), ''Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels'', p.200: "In recent years, 'no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus' or at any rate very few, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary."
* Bart Ehrman (2012), ''Did Jesus Exist?'', p.20: "It is fair to say that mythicists as a group, and as individuals, are not taken seriously by the vast majority of scholars in the fields of New Testament, early Christianity, ancient history, and theology. This is widely recognized, to their chagrin, by mythicists themselves."
* Raphael Lataster (2019), ''Questioning the Historicity of Jesus: Why a Philosophical Analysis Elucidates the Historical Discourse'', BRILL, p. 1: "One common criticism is that we are on the fringes of scholarship."
* [[Robert M. Price]], ''The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-Four Formative Texts'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2006) p. 1179: "New Testament criticism treated the Christ Myth Theory with universal disdain." Price, a Christian atheist who denies the existence of Jesus, agrees that this perspective runs against the views of the majority of scholars; Robert M. Price "Jesus at the Vanishing Point" in ''The Historical Jesus: Five Views'' edited by James K. Beilby & Paul Rhodes Eddy, 2009 InterVarsity, {{ISBN|0830838686}} p. 6.</ref>
<!-- G -->
<!-- Gullotta.2015 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Gullotta.2015">{{harvnb|Gullotta|2015}}: "What is also significant about [Richard] Carrier's body of work related to Mythicism is that it represents the result of a $20,000 research grant from various supporters and donations overseen by Atheists United, which demonstrates the public's interest in the subject matter. ... [T]he academic community committed to the study of the New Testament and Christian origins needs to pay attention to Carrier and engage with his thesis (even if they end up rejecting his conclusions); and if for no other reason than that he has the attention of the public."</ref>
<!-- Gullotta2017 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Gullotta2017">{{harvtxt|Gullotta|2017|p=311}}: "Originally known as the 'Christ Myth theory,' this school of thought has more recently adopted the moniker 'Jesus Myth theory' or 'mythicism'."</ref>
<!-- H -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Hoffmann2012">{{harvnb|Hoffmann|2012}}: "This essay is in part an attempt to clarify procedural issues relevant to what is sometimes called the 'Christ-myth' or 'Non-historicity' thesis—an argumentative approach to the New Testament based on the theory that the historical Jesus of Nazareth did not exist. I have come to regard this thesis as fatally flawed and subject to a variety of objections that are not often highlighted in the academic writings of New Testament scholars. ... It is my view, simply stated, that while facts concerning the Jesus of history were jeopardized from the start by a variety of salvation myths, by the credulity of early believers, by the historiographical tendencies of the era, and by the editorial tendencies of early writers, the gospels retain a stubbornly historical view of Jesus, preserve reliable information about his life and teachings, and are not engulfed by any of the conditions under which they were composed. Jesus "the Nazarene" did not originate as a myth or a story without historical coordinates, but as a teacher in first century Roman Palestine."</ref>
<!-- J -->
{{efn-la|name="Jesus.Biography"|The basic facts of Jesus' life according to scholars:
* {{harvnb|Dunn|2003|p=339}}: "[these] two facts [of baptism and crucifixion] in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent."
* {{harvnb|Crossan|1995|p=145}}: "That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus...agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact."
* According to {{harvnb|Herzog|2005|pp=1–6}}, Jesus was [[Baptism of Jesus|baptized]] by [[John the Baptist]], preached about the coming [[Kingdom of God]], attracted numerous followers including the [[Apostles in the New Testament|twelve disciples]], and was subsequently [[Crucifixion of Jesus|crucified]] by the order of the [[Roman governor|Roman prefect]] [[Pontius Pilate]], which eventually led to his immediate followers continuing his movement which soon became known as [[Christianity]].
* [[E. P. Sanders]], in "Jesus and Judaism" (1985), says there are eight facts that can be discerned about the historical Jesus: his Baptism, that he was a Galilean itinerant preacher who was reputed to do healings and other 'miracles', he called disciples and spoke of there being 12, that he confined his activity to Israel, that he engaged in controversy over the Temple, that he was crucified outside of Jerusalem by the Romans, that those disciples continued as a movement after his death. In his 1993 work, "The Historical figure of Jesus" he added six more: that Jesus was likely born in 4–6 BC under Herod the Great (the Gregorian calendar is wrong), Jesus grew up in Nazareth, Jesus taught in small villages and towns and seemed to avoid cities, Jesus ate a final meal with his disciples, he was arrested and interrogated by Jewish authorities apparently at the instigation of the high priest, his disciples abandoned him at his death, later believed they saw him and thereafter believed Jesus would return.
* {{harvnb|Tuckett|2001|pp=121–137, esp. 125}} summarizes the view of mainstream historians regarding what Paul records regarding the historical Jesus: "Even if we had no other sources, we could still infer some things about Jesus from Paul's letters. Paul clearly implies that Jesus existed as a human being ('born of a woman' Gal 4.4), was born a Jew ('born under the Law' Gal 4.4; cf. Rom 1.3) and had brothers (1 Cor 9.5; Gal 1.19). Paul also claims possible character traits for Jesus (cf. 'meekness and gentleness' 2 Cor 10.1; Jesus 'did not please himself' Rom 15.3) and he refers to the tradition of the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper (1 Cor 11.23–25), taking place 'at night' (1 Cor 11.23). Above all, he refers very frequently to the fact that Jesus was crucified (1 Cor 1.23; 2.2; Gal 3.1 etc.), and at one point ascribes prime responsibility for Jesus' death to (some) Jews (1 Thess 2.15). He also occasionally explicitly refers to Jesus' teaching, e.g. on divorce (1 Cor 7.10–11) and on Christian preachers or missionaries claiming support (1 Cor 9.14)."}}
<!-- Johnson.2010.241-->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Johnson.2010.241">{{harv|Johnson|2010|p=241|loc=§.&nbsp;Pauls Ministry and Letters}}: "Nearly all critical scholars accept seven letters as written by Paul: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. There is almost equal unanimity in rejecting 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Serious debate can occasionally be found concerning 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, and Ephesians, but the clear and growing scholarly consensus considers them to be non-Pauline."</ref>
<!-- M -->
<!-- mix.Price.2010.103.Price.2002 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="mix.Price.2010.103.Price.2002">Price:
* {{harv|Price|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5VlgCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT91 103, n. 5]}}: "Bolland, ''De Evangelische Jozua''; Rylands, ''The Evolution of Christianity''; Rylands, ''The Beginnings of Gnostic Christianity''; Zindler, ''The Jesus the Jews Never Knew'', 340, and others similarly held that Christianity began variously among Hellenized Jewish settlements throughout the Diaspora, with allegorized Jewish elements being made almost unrecognizable by their intermingling with gnostic mythemes."
* {{harv|Price|2002|loc=§.&nbsp;[http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/art_diaspora.htm Suitors and Seducers]}}: "The temptations and challenges of the Diaspora only served to increase the diversity of ancient Judaism, a diversity directly reflected in emerging Christianity, which demonstrably partakes of Jewish Gnosticism [Schmithals, 1975; Scholem, 1965], Zoroastrianism [Welburn, 1991], the Mystery Cults, etc.{{pb}}[Walter Schmithals, ''The Apocalyptic Movement: Introduction and Interpretation''. Trans. John E. Steely (NY: Abingdon Press, 1975; Gershom Scholem, ''Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition''. NY: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 2nd ed., 1965), esp. chapter IX, "The Relationship between Gnostic and Jewish Sources," pp. 65–74.] [Andrew Welburn, ''The Beginnings of Christianity: Essene Mystery, Gnostic Revelation and the Christian Vision'' (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 1991), pp. 44–51. The identification of the Nag Hammadi ''Apocalypse of Adam'' as Zoroastrian in substance has enormous implications.]"</ref>
<!-- mix.Wells.1999.1999.2009 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="mix.Wells.1999.1999.2009">{{harv|Wells|1999|loc=§.&nbsp;Conclusion: The Origins and Development of Christology|pp=94–111}}:
* {{harv|Wells|1999b}}: "The Jewish literature describes Wisdom [personified] as God's chief agent, a member of his divine council, etc., and this implies supernatural, but not, I agree, divine status."
* {{harv|Wells|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KuccAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA328 328]}}: "I have always allowed that Paul believed in a Jesus who, fundamentally supernatural, had nevertheless been incarnated on Earth as a man."</ref>
<!-- N -->
<!-- "no_consensus" -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="no_consensus">No consensus about the historicity of the other major details of the gospel stories, or on the extent to which the Pauline epistles and the gospels replaced the historical human Jesus with a religious narrative of a supernatural "Christ of faith":
* {{harvnb|Beilby|Rhodes Eddy|2009|pp=38–39}}: "Contrary to previous times, virtually everyone in the field today acknowledges that Jesus was considered by his contemporaries to be an exorcist and a worker of miracles. However, when it comes to historical assessment of the miracles tradition itself, the consensus quickly shatters. Some, following in the footsteps of Bultmann, embrace an explicit methodological naturalism such that the very idea of a miracle is ruled out a priori. Others defend the logical possibility of miracle at the theoretical level, but, in practice, retain a functional methodological naturalism, maintaining that we could never be in possession of the type and/or amount of evidence that would justify a historical judgment in favor of the occurrence of a miracle. Still others, suspicious that an uncompromising methodological naturalism most likely reflects an unwarranted metaphysical naturalism, find such a priori skepticism unwarranted and either remain open to, or even explicitly defend, the historicity of miracles within the Jesus tradition."
* {{harvnb|Vermes|2001|loc=ch.8}} "By the end of the first century Christianity had lost sight of the real Jesus and of the original meaning of his message. Paul, John and their churches replaced him by the otherworldy Christ of faith."
* {{harvnb|Ehrman|2012|pp=13, 298, 334–335}}: "The problem with the historical Jesus for Schweitzer was that he was in fact all too historical. That is, Jesus was so firmly rooted in his own time and place, that he does not translate to modern idiom. The Jesus proclaimed by preachers and theologians today had no existence. That particular Jesus is (or those particular Jesuses are) a myth. But there was a historical Jesus, who was very much a man of his time."
* {{harvnb|Ehrman|2012|pp=268–270}}: "As I have repeatedly emphasized, different scholars come to radically different conclusions about how to understand the life of the historical Jesus...Nearly all critical scholars agree at least on those points about the historical Jesus. But there is obviously a lot more to say, and that is where scholarly disagreements loom large - disagreements not over whether Jesus existed but over what kind of Jewish teacher and preacher he was."
* {{harvnb|Levine|2006|pp=1}}: "No single picture of Jesus has convinced all, or even most, scholars; all methods and their combinations find their critics as well as their advocates." 
* {{harvnb|Price|2000|p=34}}: "The historical Jesus has gotten lost behind the stained glass curtain of the Christ of dogma".
* {{harvnb|Watson|2001|p=168}}: "All this suggests that the relationship between Christian faith and historical research is to be seen as an ongoing critical dialogue about Jesus and his significance. There is no pre-established harmony between the two sides, and the hope for an eventual consensus is in current circumstances utopian. But neither is this a purely negative relationship of absolute antagonism or indifference. The dialogue may at least serve to clarify why it is that for some Jesus is one of the prophets, whereas for others he is the Christ. Each side in the dialogue remains an unresolved problem to the other—and, as such, an opportunity to learn something new."
* {{harvnb|Dunn|2005|p=80}}: "When Christians tried to make the Messiahship of Jesus credible in their sermons and then in epistles and gospels, they always made use of two kinds of evidence: personal testimony to his resurrection, based on experience, and the witness of the Scriptures. As the living Lord he was for them the Messiah of the Old Covenant. Therefore we, too, speak of the historic Christ of the Bible."
* {{harvnb|Komoszewski|Bock|2019|p=23}}: "To look at the situation from the other end, all of the generally accepted facts about Jesus are consistent with the church's beliefs about Jesus. That is, there is not a single well-evidenced historical fact about Jesus that undermines the "orthodox" view of Jesus."
* {{harv|Ehrman|2014}}
* {{harv|Stanton|2002|pp=143ff}}</ref>
<!-- no_reconstruction -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="no_reconstruction">No reconstruction possible:
* {{harvnb|Dunn|2003|pp=125–126}}: "the historical Jesus is properly speaking a nineteenth- and twentieth-century construction using the data supplied by the [[Synoptic Gospels|Synoptic]] tradition, ''not'' Jesus back then", (the Jesus of Nazareth who walked the hills of Galilee), "and ''not'' a figure in history whom we can realistically use to critique the portrayal of Jesus in the Synoptic tradition".
* {{harvnb|Merrigan|2000|pp=77–78}}: "Dunn points out as well that 'the Enlightenment Ideal of historical objectivity also projected a false goal onto the quest for the historical Jesus', which implied that there was a 'historical Jesus', objectively verifiable, 'who will be different from the dogmatic Christ and the Jesus of the Gospels and who will enable us to criticize the dogmatic Christ and the Jesus of the Gospels' (''Jesus Remembered'', p. 125)."</ref>
<!-- P -->
<!-- Pagan.witnesses -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Pagan.witnesses">{{harvp|Martin|1993|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wWkC4dTmK0AC&pg=PA52 52]}}: "[P]agan witnesses indicate that there is no reliable evidence that supports the historicity of Jesus. This is surely surprising given the fact that Jesus was supposed to be a well-known person in the area of the world ruled by Rome. One would surely have supposed that there would have been ''some'' surviving records of Jesus if he did exist. Their absence, combined with the absence of Jewish records, suggests that NEP [Negative Evidence Principle] applies and that we are justified in disbelieving that Jesus existed."</ref>
<!-- Price2003_p350 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Price2003_p350">{{harv|Price|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GmlB-KXsX8kC&pg=PA350 350]}}: "This astonishingly complete absence of reliable gospel material begins to coincide, along its own authentic trajectory ...with another minimalist approach to the historical Jesus, namely, that there never was one. Most of the Dutch Radical scholars, following Bruno Bauer, argued that all of the gospel tradition was fabricated to historicize an originally bare datum of a savior, perhaps derived from the Mystery Religions or Gnosticism or even further afield. The basic argument offered for this position, it seems to me, is that of analogy, the resemblances between Jesus and Gnostic and Mystery Religion saviors being just too numerous and close to dismiss."</ref>
<!-- Ph2:6-11 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Ph2:6-11">See [[s:Bible (American Standard)/Philippians#2:6–11|Philippians#2:6–11]] for full text:<br />
5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:<br />
6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,<br />
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;<br />
8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] unto death, yea, the death of the cross.<br />
9 Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name;<br />
10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven and [things] on earth and [things] under the earth,<br />
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.</ref>
<!-- V -->
<!-- "views-broadly" -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="views-broadly">Proponents broadly argue that a historical Jesus never existed:
* {{harvnb|Gullotta|2017|p=311}}: "In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Constantin-François Volney, Charles François Dupuis, and Bruno Bauer all advocated for the theory that Jesus did not exist as a historical person. While their arguments failed to convince the academy, their questions have persisted and inspired a new movement within North America, which also argues that Jesus did not exist. Originally known as the 'Christ Myth theory,' this school of thought has more recently adopted the moniker 'Jesus Myth theory' or 'mythicism'"
* {{harvnb|Price|2000|p=17: "Generations of Rationalists and freethinkers have held that Jesus Christ corresponds to no historical character: There never was a Jesus of Nazareth. We might call this categorical denial "Jesus atheism"}}
* {{harvnb|Price|2011|pp=18–19}}: "G. A. Wells, like his predecessors advocating the Christ Myth theory, discounted the gospel story of an historical Jesus [...] implying that there was no Jesus tradition floating around in either oral or written form at the time Paul and Peter were writing letters"</ref>
<!-- "views_obscured" -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="views_obscured">"obscured by myths and dogma":
* {{harvnb|Price|2000|p=17}}: "What I am describing is something different, a "Jesus agnosticism". There may have been a Jesus on earth in the past, but the state of the evidence is so ambiguous that we can never be sure what this figure was like or, indeed, whether there was such a person."
* {{harvnb|Price|2000|p=34}}: "The historical Jesus has gotten lost behind the stained glass curtain of the Christ of dogma."
* {{harvnb|Price|2000|p=518}}: "It doesn't prove there was no historical Jesus, for it is not implausible that a genuine, historical individual might become so lionised, even so deified, that his life and career would be completely assimilated to the Mythic Hero Archetype. But if that happened, we could no longer be sure there had ever been a real person at the root of the whole thing."
* {{harvnb|Wells|2013|p=19}} leaves open the question regarding Paul's Christ "as to whether such a person had in fact existed and lived the obscure life that Paul supposed of him." According to Wells, "There is no means of deciding this issue."</ref>
<!-- W -->
<!-- Wells2004_p34 -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Wells2004_p34">{{harvnb|Wells|2004|p=34}}: "My view is that Paul knew next to nothing of the earthly life of Jesus, and did not have in mind any definite historical moment for his crucifixion. As we saw, holy Jews had been crucified alive in the first and second centuries B.C., but traditions about these events, and about the persecuted Teacher of Righteousness, could well have reached Paul without reference to times and places, and he need not have regarded their occurrences as anything like as remote in time as they in fact were."</ref>
<!-- Wells2009_two_characters -->
<ref group=lower-alpha name="Wells2009_two_characters">In his later works, Wells argued that Paul's Jesus was a mythical character, which was woven together in the gospels with stories about a Galilean preacher. Wells insisted that this figure of the Q-source is distinct from the sacrificial Christ myth of Paul's epistles and other early Christian documents, and that these two figures have different sources before being fused in Mark:
* {{harvnb|Wells|2009|pp=14–15}}: "When I first addressed these problems, more than thirty years ago, it seemed to me that, because the earliest Christian references to Jesus are so vague, the gospel Jesus could be no more than a mythical expansion and elaboration of this obscure figure. But from the mid-1990s I became persuaded that many of the gospel traditions are too specific in their references to time, place, and circumstances to have developed in such a short time from no other basis, and are better understood as traceable to the activity of a Galilean preacher of the early first century, the personage represented in Q (the inferred non-Markan source, not extant, common to Matthew and Luke; cf. above, p. 2), which may be even earlier than the Paulines. This is the position I have argued in my books of 1996, 1999, and 2004, although the titles of the first two of these—The Jesus Legend and The Jesus Myth—may mislead potential readers into supposing that I still denied the historicity of the gospel Jesus. These titles were chosen because I regarded (and still do regard) the virgin birth, much in the Galilean ministry, the crucifixion around A.D. 30 under Pilate, and the resurrection as legendary."
* {{harvnb|Wells|2009|p=16}}: "What we have in the gospels is surely a fusion of two originally quite independent streams of tradition [...] the Galilean preacher of the early first century who had met with rejection, and the supernatural personage of the early epistles, [the Jesus of Paul] who sojourned briefly on Earth and then, rejected, returned to heaven—have been condensed into one. The [human] preacher has been given a [mythical] salvific death and resurrection, and these have been set not in an unspecified past (as in the early epistles) but in a historical context consonant with the Galilean preaching. The fusion of the two figures will have been facilitated by the fact that both owe quite a lot of their substance in the documents—to ideas very important in the Jewish Wisdom literature."
Compare David Tacey (2015), ''Religion as Metaphor: Beyond Literal Belief'', Transaction Publishers: "I do not doubt the existence of a real Jesus, but I adopt the view that the representation of this figure in the gospels is not historical but mythological. This has caused some to draw a distinction between the Jesus of history and the Christ of theology. We know little about the former, but I concur with Jung that "this Christ of St. Paul's would hardly have been possible without the historical Jesus.<br>My reading of Jesus is not to be confused with the tradition known as the "Christ Myth Theory".</ref>
}}

== References ==
=== Footnotes ===
{{Reflist|20em|refs=
<!-- Carrier.2012.where.did.he.come.from -->
<ref name="Carrier.2012.where.did.he.come.from">{{cite web|last1=Carrier|first1=Richard|date=July 13, 2012b |title=So...if Jesus Didn't Exist, Where Did He Come from Then?|url=http://www.richardcarrier.info/Historicity_of_Jesus.pdf |website=www.richardcarrier.info The Official Website of Richard Carrier, Ph.D.|access-date=May 12, 2016}}</ref>
<ref name="Ehrman.2015.Debate">{{cite web|last1=Ehrman|first1=Bart D.|author-link1=Bart D. Ehrman |title=Kickstarting a Debate|url=https://ehrmanblog.org/kickstarting-a-debate/|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|access-date=September 15, 2017 |date=June 26, 2015}}</ref>
<ref name="Ehrman_Huffington">
{{cite web |first=Bart D. |last=Ehrman |date=March 20, 2012 |orig-year=Updated: May 20, 2012 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/did-jesus-exist_b_1349544.html |title=Did Jesus Exist? |work=Huffington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318051804/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/did-jesus-exist_b_1349544.html |access-date=April 8, 2014 |archive-date=March 18, 2016 |ref=none}}</ref>
<ref name="Internet.Infidels.Historicity">{{cite web|title=Historicity of Jesus|website=The Secular Web |publisher=Internet Infidels |url=https://infidels.org/library/modern/theism/christianity/historicity.html |access-date=October 14, 2017}}</ref>
}}

=== Sources ===

====Printed sources====
{{Refbegin|40em}}
<!-- A -->
* {{Citation | last =Allegro | first =John M. | year =1970 | author-link =John M. Allegro | title =The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross | publisher =Hodder & Stoughton | isbn =978-0-9825562-7-6}}
* {{Citation | last =Allegro | first =John M. | year =1992 | orig-year =1979 | title =The Dead Sea Scrolls & the Christian Myth | publisher =Prometheus | isbn =978-0-879-75757-1}}
* {{Citation | last =Arnal | first =William | year =2005 | title =The Symbolic Jesus: Historical Scholarship, Judaism and the Construction of Contemporary Identity | publisher =Routledge | isbn =978-1845530075}}
* {{cite book| last =Arnal | first =William E.| year =2015 | title =The Symbolic Jesus: Historical Scholarship, Judaism and the Construction of Contemporary Identity | publisher =Routledge | isbn =978-1-317-32440-9 }}
* {{Citation | last =Arvidsson | first =Stefan | year =2006 | title ='Aryan Idols: Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science | publisher =University of Chicago Press}}
<!-- B -->
* Bader, Christopher, et al. ''American Piety in the 21st Century''. Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, 2006.
* Baggett, John. ''Seeing Through the Eyes of Jesus: His Revolutionary View of Reality and His Transcendent Significance for Faith''. Eerdmans, 2008.
* {{cite book | last =Baggett | first =John | year =2008 | title =Seeing through the eyes of Jesus: his revolutionary view of reality and his transcendent significance for faith | publisher =William B. Eerdmans Pub. | location =Grand Rapids, Mich. | isbn =978-0802863409 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=rwgvyW8AOeIC | access-date =January 24, 2018 }}
* [[Dan Barker|Barker, Dan]]. ''Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists''. Ulysses, 2008
* {{Citation | last =Barker | first =Margaret | year =1992| title =The Great Angel: A Study of Israel's Second God | publisher =Westminster John Knox Press | isbn =978-0-664-25395-0}}
* [[Paul Barnett (bishop)|Barnett, Paul]]. ''Jesus and the Logic of History''. InterVarsity, 2001.
* Barnett, Paul. ''Messiah Jesus – the evidence of history''. InterVarsity, 2009.
* [[David V. Barrett|Barrett, David V.]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20080706142806/http://www.quango.net/ekklesia/wcghistory/topsecret/barterhman.html "The Gospel According to Bart"], ''Fortean Times'' issue 221, 2007.
* [[Richard Bauckham|Bauckham, Richard]]. ''Jesus and the Eyewitnesses''. Eerdmans, 2006.
* Bauckham reviewed. {{cite book |editor1=Scott W. Hahn |editor2=Dave Scott |title=Letter and Spirit: The Hermeneutic of Continuity: Christ, Kingdom, and Creation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ-fd4hQQJ0C |volume=3 |year=2007 |publisher=Emmaus Road Publishing |isbn=978-1-931018-46-3 |pages=225ff |chapter=Reviews & Notices: Richard Bauckham (2006), ''Jesus and the Eyewitnesses'' |issn=1555-4147 |ref={{harvid|Review of Bauckham|2006}} }} <!--{{sfn|Review of Bauckham|2006|ps=none}} -->
* {{cite book| last =Bauckham | first =Richard | year =2017 | title =Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony | publisher =Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing}}
* {{cite book|last=Behr|first=John|author-link=John Behr|title=Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isxoAgAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-166781-7}}
* Beilby, James K. and Eddy, Paul Rhodes. "The Quest for the Historical Jesus," in James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy (eds.). ''The Historical Jesus: Five Views''. Intervarsity, 2009.
* {{cite book | editor-last1 =Beilby | editor-first1 =James K. | editor-last2 =Rhodes Eddy | editor-first2 =Paul | year =2009 | title =The Historical Jesus: Five Views |publisher =IVP Academic |location=Downers Grove, Ill. |isbn=978-0830838684 |chapter=Introduction|pages=38–39}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Clinton Bennett |last=Bennett |first=Clinton |title=In Search of Jesus: Insider and Outsider Images |publisher=Continuum |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8264-4916-0}}
* [[Nikolai Berdyaev|Berdyaev, Nikolai]]. "The Scientific Discipline of Religion and Christian Apologetics," ''Put'', volume 6, 1927.
* {{Citation | last =Bernier | first =Jonathan | year =2016 | title =The Quest for the Historical Jesus after the Demise of Authenticity: Toward a Critical Realist Philosophy of History in Jesus Studies | publisher =Bloomsbury Publishing}}
* [[Edwyn Bevan|Bevan, Edwyn R.]] ''The History of Christianity in the Light of Modern Knowledge''. Blackie & Son, 1929.
* Bevan, Edwyn R. ''Hellenism And Christianity''. G. Allen & Unwin, 1930.
* [[Craig Blomberg|Blomberg, Craig L.]] "Gospels (Historical Reliability)" in Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, & I. Howard Marshall (eds.) ''Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels''. InterVarsity, 1992.
* [[Gerardus Johannes Petrus Josephus Bolland|Bolland, G. J. P. J.]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110717072335/http://www.radikalkritik.de/Bolland_jozua.pdf ''De Evangelische Jozua''], 1907.
* [[Günther Bornkamm|Bornkamm, Günther]]. ''Jesus of Nazareth''. Fortress, 1995, first published 1959.
* {{cite book | last1 =Boyd | first1 =Gregory A. | author-link1 =Greg Boyd (theologian) | last2 =Eddy | first2 =Paul R. | year =2007 | title =Lord Or Legend?: Wrestling with the Jesus Dilemma | publisher =Baker Books | isbn =978-0-8010-6505-7 | url =https://archive.org/details/lordorlegendwres00boyd }}
* [[S. G. F. Brandon|Brandon, S. G. F.]] "The Ritual Perpetuation of the Past", ''Numen'', volume 6, issue 1, 1959.
* Breen, Tom. ''The Messiah Formerly Known as Jesus''. Baylor University Press, 2008.
* {{cite book |editor-last=Bromiley |editor-first=Geoffrey W. |editor-link=Geoffrey W. Bromiley |others=Associate editors: Everett F. Harrison, Roland K. Harrison, William Sanford LaSor |chapter=Jesus Christ |title=International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE): fully revised, illustrated, in four volumes. Vol. 2, E–J |pages=1034–1049 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yklDk6Vv0l4C |year=1982 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-3785-1 |oclc=500471471 }}
* [[F. F. Bruce|Bruce, F. F.]] ''Paul and Jesus'' SPCK, 1977.
* [[Emil Brunner|Brunner, Emil]]. ''The Mediator: A Study of the Central Doctrine of the Christian Faith''. Lutterworth, 2002, first published 1934.
* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]]. ''Ancient Mystery Cults''. Harvard University Press, 1989.
* {{cite book|last1=Burridge|first1=Richard A.|author-link1=Richard Burridge (priest)|last2=Gould|first2=Graham|title=Jesus Now and Then|url=https://archive.org/details/jesusnowthen0000burr|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-8028-0977-3}}
* Bushby, Tony, ''The Bible Fraud'', The Pacific Group, 2001.
* {{cite book |last1=Byrskog |first1=Samuel |title=Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus (Volume 3) |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004163720 |pages=2183–2212 |chapter=The Historicity of Jesus: How do we know that Jesus existed?}}
<!-- C -->
* [[Henry Cadbury|Cadbury, Henry J.]] ''The Eclipse of the Historical Jesus''. Pendle Hill, 1964.
* {{cite web|last1=Carrier|first1=Richard|author-link1=Richard Carrier|title=Did Jesus Exist? Earl Doherty and the Argument to Ahistoricity|url=https://infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/jesuspuzzle.html|website=Secular Web|publisher=[[Internet Infidels]]|access-date=April 25, 2017|year=2002}}
* {{cite book|last=Carrier|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Carrier|title=Sense and Goodness Without God: A Defense of Metaphysical Naturalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oFdMzq56qyEC|year=2005|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4520-5926-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Carrier|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Carrier|title=Proving History: Bayes's Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5b1ocsVi2cC|year=2012|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=978-1-61614-560-6}}
* {{cite web |last1=Carrier |first1=Richard |date=April 19, 2012a |title=Ehrman on Jesus: A Failure of Facts and Logic |website=Richard Carrier Blog |url=http://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/1026 |access-date=August 27, 2017 }}
* {{cite web | last =Carrier | first =Richard | year =2013 | title =Questioning the Historicity of Jesus | url =http://www.strangenotions.com/questioning-the-historicity-of-jesus/ | website =Strange Notions | publisher =Brandon Vogt | access-date =April 6, 2016 }} <!-- Cf. date @ https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/4573 -->
* {{cite book|last=Carrier|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Carrier|title=On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWIJoAEACAAJ|year=2014|publisher=Sheffield Phoenix Press|isbn=978-1-909697-35-5}}
* {{Citation | last =Carrier | first =Richard | year =2015 | author-link =Richard Carrier | editor-last =Lataster | editor-first =Raphael | title =Jesus Did Not Exist: A Debate Among Atheists | publisher =CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform | pages =iii–xii, 417–422 | isbn =978-1-5148-1442-0 }}
* Case, Shirley Jackson. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/3155273 "The Historicity of Jesus: An Estimate of the Negative Argument"], ''The American Journal of Theology'', volume 15, issue 1, 1911.
* {{cite book | last =Casey | first =Maurice | author-link =Maurice Casey | year =2014 | title =Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths? | publisher =Bloomsbury T & T Clark | isbn =978-0-5672-9458-6 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=YTFiAgAAQBAJ }}
* Centre for Public Christianity. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110715131921/http://www.publicchristianity.com/_literature_41628/New_survey_finds_over_half_of_Australians_think_Jesus_rose_from_the_dead "New survey finds over half of Australians think Jesus rose from the dead"], 2009, Retrieved 2010-08-04.
* [[James H. Charlesworth|Charlesworth, James H.]] ''Jesus and Archaeology''. Eerdmans, 2006.
* Communication Research. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120306003453/http://campaigndirector.moodia.com/Client/Theos/Files/EasterHeadlines.pdf Theos: Easter Survey], February 2008, Retrieved August 3, 2010.
* {{Citation | last =Chester | first =Andrew | year =2007 | title =Messiah and Exaltation: Jewish Messianic and Visionary Traditions and New Testament Christology | publisher =Mohr Siebeck}}
<!-- Co -->
* {{Citation | last1 =Collins | first1 =Adela Yarbro | last2 =Collins | first2 =John J. | year =2008 | title=King and Messiah as Son of God: Divine, Human, and Angelic Messianic Figures in Biblical and Related Literature | publisher =Eerdmans}}
* [[Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare|Conybeare, Frederick Cornwallis]]. [https://archive.org/details/cu31924029311796 "The Historical Christ, or, An investigation of the views of Mr. J.M. Robertson, Dr. A. Drews, and Prof. W.B. Smith"], Watts & Co, 1914.
* Costa, Tony. [http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/7049_7653.pdf "Review of ''Jesus is Dead''"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612142201/http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/7049_7653.pdf |date=June 12, 2011 }}, ''Review of Biblical Literature'', 2009.
* {{cite magazine|last=Couchoud|first=Paul-Louis|author-link=Paul-Louis Couchoud|year=1924|title=Le Mystère de Jésus|language=fr|magazine=[[Mercure de France]]|volume=170|issue=617|pages=335–358|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2019505/f65.item}}
* {{cite book|last=Couchoud|first=Paul Louis|author-link=Paul-Louis Couchoud|title=The Creation of Christ: An Outline of the Beginnings of Christianity; Tr. by C. Bradlaugh Bonner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZjptgAACAAJ|edition=original French edition: Jésus, Le Dieu fait Homme, 1937|volume=1|year=1939|publisher=Watts & Co.|location=London}}
<!-- Cr -->
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Cross|editor-first1=Frank L.|editor-last2=Livingstone|editor-first2=Elizabeth A.|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA779|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3|chapter=Historical Jesus, Quest of the|pages=779–780|edition=3}}
* {{cite book| last =Crossan | first =John Dominic | year =1995 | title =Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography | publisher =HarperOne | isbn =978-0-06-061662-5}}
* Cutner, Herbert ''Jesus – God, Man or Myth: An Examination of the Evidence''. Book Tree, 2000, first published 1950.
<!-- D -->
* {{cite book |last1=Dark |first1=Ken |title=Archaeology of Jesus' Nazareth |date=2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0192865397}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Richard Dawkins |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=The God Delusion |url=https://archive.org/details/goddelusion00dawk |url-access=registration |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=2006 |isbn=978-0618680009 }}
* {{Citation | last =De Conick | first =April D. | year =2006 | chapter =What Is Early Christian and Jewish Mysticism? | editor1-last =De Conick | editor1-first =April D. | title =Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism | publisher =SBL | isbn =978-1589832572 | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=KUJ630m-CcwC&q=%22ecstatic+experiences%22%22in+the+form+of+rapture+events%22&pg=PA6 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Detering |first1=Hermann |author-link1=Hermann Detering |title=Der gefälschte Paulus : das Urchristentum im Zwielicht |date=1995 |publisher=Patmos |isbn=3491779693 |edition=1. Aufl |language=de}}; Published in English: {{cite journal |last1=Detering |first1=Hermann |title=The Falsified Paul |url=https://vridar.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/FabricatedJHC.pdf |journal=Journal of Higher Criticism |date=Fall 2003 |volume=10 |issue=2 |translator=Darrell Daughty |pages=3–199 }}; English translation revised 2018: {{ISBN|978-1-981040-81-0}}, {{ASIN|B006XXX04G}}.
* [[John Dickson (author)|Dickson, John]]. ''Jesus: A Short Life''. Lion Hudson, 2008.
* Dickson, John. [https://www.smh.com.au/news/national/facts-and-friction-of-easter/2008/03/21/1205602592557.html?page=fullpage "Facts and friction of Easter"], ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', March 21, 2008.
<!-- Do -->
* {{cite web|last=Doherty|first=Earl|author-link=Earl Doherty|year=1995a|title=The Jesus Puzzle. Main Articles: Preamble|url=http://www.jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/preamble.htm|access-date=March 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311172731/http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/preamble.htm|archive-date=March 11, 2017|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|last=Doherty|first=Earl|author-link=Earl Doherty|year=1995c|title=The Jesus Puzzle. Main Articles: Part Two: Who was Christ Jesus?|url=http://www.jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/parttwo.htm|access-date=March 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320052317/http://www.jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/parttwo.htm|archive-date=March 20, 2017|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|last=Doherty|first=Earl|author-link=Earl Doherty|year=1995d|title=The Jesus Puzzle. Main Articles: Part Three: The Evolution of Jesus of Nazareth|url=http://www.jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/partthre.htm|access-date=March 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318174025/http://www.jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/partthre.htm|archive-date=March 18, 2017|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|last1=Doherty|year=1996|first1=Earl|author-link1=Earl Doherty|title=Supplementary Article No. 1: Apollos of Alexandria and the Early Christian Apostolate|url=http://www.magi.com/~oblio/jesus/supp01.htm|website=The Jesus Puzzle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991127183943/http://www.magi.com/~oblio/jesus/supp01.htm|archive-date=November 27, 1999|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Doherty|first1=Earl|author-link1=Earl Doherty|title=The Jesus Puzzle: Pieces in a Puzzle of Christian Origins|journal=[[Journal of Higher Criticism]]|year=1997|volume=4|issue=2|pages=68–102|url=https://depts.drew.edu/jhc/jhcindex.html}}
* {{cite journal |last1= Doherty |first1= Earl |author-link1= Earl Doherty |title= A review of a book by Burton L. Mack on the making of the Christian myth |journal= Humanist in Canada |year= 1997b |series= 120 |pages= 12–13 |url= http://www.humanists.net:80/hic/spring%201997.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20000830155050/http://www.humanists.net/hic/spring%201997.html |archive-date= August 30, 2000 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=Doherty|first1=Earl|author-link1=Earl Doherty|title=Was There No Historical Jesus?|journal=The Monthly Newsletter of the Internet Infidels|year=1999a|volume=4|issue=4|url=https://infidels.org/infidels/newsletter/1999/april.html|at=Feature}}
* {{cite book|last=Doherty|first=Earl|author-link=Earl Doherty|title=The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? – Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus|date=1999b|publisher=Canadian Humanist Publications|isbn=978-0-9686014-0-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIR9AAAACAAJ}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Doherty|first1=Earl|author-link1=Earl Doherty|title=The Higher Critical Review: Robert M. Price, Deconstructing Jesus|journal=[[Journal of Higher Criticism]]|year=2000|volume=7|issue=1|pages=126–140|url=https://depts.drew.edu/jhc/hcr.html|access-date=October 5, 2017}}
* {{cite book|last=Doherty|first=Earl|author-link=Earl Doherty|title=Jesus: Neither God Nor Man – The Case for a Mythical Jesus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KD6wQQAACAAJ|year=2009|publisher=Age of Reason Publications|location=Ottawa|isbn=978-0-9689259-2-8|edition=New, Revised and Expanded}} Originally published under the title: ''The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? – Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus''
* {{cite book|last1=Doherty|first1=Earl|author-link1=Earl Doherty|title=The End of an Illusion: How Bart Ehrman's "Did Jesus Exist?" Has Laid the Case for an Historical Jesus to Rest |date=2012 |publisher=Age of Reason Publications |edition=1st |postscript=, |asin=B00A2XN7EQ}} Online, [[Comparison of e-book formats#Kindle (Amazon)|Kindle]]. 
<!--Dr -->
* [[Arthur Drews|Drews, Arthur]]. ''Die Christusmythe''. Eugen Diederichs, 1910, published in English as ''The Christ Myth'', Prometheus, 1910.
* {{Citation | last =Dunn | first =James D.G. | year =1982 | title =The New Perspective on Paul. Manson Memorial Lecture, 4 November 1982}}
* [[James Dunn (theologian)|Dunn, James D. G.]] "Myth" in Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, & I. Howard Marshall (ed.) ''Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels''. InterVarsity, 1992.
* Dunn, James D. G. ''The Christ and the Spirit''. Eerdmans, 1998.
* {{Citation | last =Dunn | first =James D. G.| author-link =James Dunn (theologian) | year =2003 | title =Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making | publisher =Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing | isbn =978-0-8028-3931-2}}
* {{Citation | last =Dunn | first =James D.G. | year =2005 | chapter =The Tradition | editor-last1 =Dunn | editor-first1 =James D.G. | editor-last2 =McKnight | editor-first2 =Scot | title =The Historical Jesus in Recent Research | publisher =Eisenbrauns}}
* {{Citation | last =Dunn | first =James D.G. | year =2006 | orig-year =1977 | title =Unity and diversity in the New Testament | publisher =Scm Press}}
* Dunn, James D. G. (2009). "Response to Robert M. Price" in James K. Beilby & Paul Rhodes Eddy. ''The Historical Jesus: Five Views''. InterVarsity.
* [[Charles François Dupuis|Dupuis, Charles François]] (2007) [1794]. ''The Origin of All Religious Worship''. Kessinger.
* [[Will Durant|Durant, Will]] (1972). ''Christ and Caesar''. Simon & Schuster.
<!-- E -->
* {{cite book| last1 =Eddy | first1 =Paul Rhodes | last2 =Boyd | first2 =Gregory A. | year = 2007 | title=The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition | publisher =Baker Academic | isbn =978-0-8010-3114-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Ehrman |first=Bart D.|author-link=Bart D. Ehrman |year=1999 |title= The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-512639-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|author-link=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew|url=https://archive.org/details/lostchristianiti00ehrm|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-972712-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Ehrman |first=Bart D.|year= 2005 |orig-year= 2003 |title= Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518249-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|year=2007|title=Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why|publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0060859510|url=https://archive.org/details/misquotingjesus00bart|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|last=Ehrman |first=Bart D.|year= 2010 |title= Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them)}}
* {{cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|author-link=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Forged: Writing in the Name of God – Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are|url=https://archive.org/details/forged_ehrm_2011_000_10544376|url-access=registration|year=2011|publisher=HarperOne|isbn=978-0-06-207863-6}}
* {{cite book | last =Ehrman | first =Bart D | year =2012 | title =Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth | publisher =HarperOne | isbn =978-0062206442 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=hf5Rj8EtsPkC }}
* {{Citation | last =Ehrman | first =Bart D | year =2013 | title =Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth | publisher =HarperOne | edition =First HarperCollins paperback | isbn=978-0062206442}}
* {{cite book| last =Ehrman | first =Bart | year =2014 | title =How Jesus became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee | publisher =Harper Collins}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ellegård|first=Alvar|author-link=Alvar Ellegård|date=1993|title=Theologians as historians|url=http://journals.lub.lu.se/index.php/scandia/article/download/1078/863|journal=Scandia: Tidskrift för Historisk Forskning|issue=59|pages=169–204}}
* [[Friedrich Engels|Engels, Friedrich]]. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1882/05/bauer.htm "Bruno Bauer and Early Christianity"], ''Der Sozialdemokrat'', May 1882.
* [[Craig A. Evans|Evans, Craig A.]] [http://www.ts.mu.edu/content/54/54.1/54.1.1.pdf "Life-of-Jesus Research and the Eclipse of Mythology"], ''Theological Studies'', volume 54, 1993.
* {{Citation | last =Evans | first =Craig A. | year =2004 | chapter =The New Quest for Jesus and the New Research on the Dead Sea Scrolls | editor-last =Schmidt | editor-first =Andreas | title =Jesus, Mark and Q | publisher =A&C Black}}
* Evans, Craig A. ''Fabricating Jesus''. InterVarsity, 2008, p.&nbsp;220–221.
* {{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Craig |last2=Wright |first2=N.T. |title=Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened |date=2009 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0664233594}}
* Evans, Henry Ridgely. ''The Napoleon Myth''. Open Court, 1995.
<!-- F -->
* [[Louis Feldman|Feldman, Louis H.]] "Josephus" in David Noel Freedman (ed.) ''Anchor Bible Dictionary''. Doubleday, 1992.
* Fiensy, David A. ''New Testament Introduction''. College Press, 1995.
* {{Citation | last =Finlan | first =Stephen | year =2004 | title =The Background and Content of Paul's Cultic Atonement Metaphors | publisher =Society of Biblical Literature}}
* Forbes, Chris. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090914133803/http://www.publicchristianity.org/Videos/zeitgeist.html "Zeitgeist: Time to Discard the Christian Story?"], Center for Public Christianity, 2009, Retrieved 2010-08-04.
* [[Peter Taylor Forsyth|Forsyth, P. T.]] ''The Person and Place of Jesus Christ'' Wipf & Stock, 1996.
* [[James George Frazer|Frazer, James]]. ''The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion''. Macmillan, 1919.
* [[R. T. France|France, R. T.]] ''The Evidence for Jesus''. InterVarsity, 1986.
* [[Paula Fredriksen|Fredriksen, Paula]]. ''From Jesus to Christ''. Yale University Press, 2000.
* {{cite book|last1=Freke|first1=Timothy|author-link1=Timothy Freke|last2=Gandy|first2=Peter|author-link2=Peter Gandy (author)|title=The Jesus Mysteries|publisher=Thorsons|date=1999}}
* {{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robin Lane|author-link=Robin Lane Fox|title=The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian|url=https://archive.org/details/classicalworldep00lane|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-02496-4}}
<!-- G -->
* {{cite book | last =George | first =Paul | year =2020 | title =On Christian Origins | publisher =Vivid Publishing | ol =28307462M | url =https://openlibrary.org/books/OL28307462M/On_Christian_Origins}}
* Gerrish, Brian A. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1202070 "Jesus, Myth, and History: Troeltsch's Stand in the 'Christ-Myth' Debate"], ''The Journal of Religion'', volume 55, issue 1, 1975.
* {{cite book|last=Goguel|first=Maurice|author-link=Maurice Goguel|title=Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History? Translated by Frederick Stephens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hH2pQgAACAAJ|year=1926|publisher=D. Appleton & Co.|location=New York|isbn=978-1666750867}} (Originally published as {{cite book|title=Jésus de Nazareth: Mythe ou Histoire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLTQAQAACAAJ|year=1925|publisher=Payot|location=Paris|language=fr}})
* Goguel, Maurice. "Recent French Discussion of the Historical Existence of Jesus Christ," ''Harvard Theological Review'', volume 19, issue 2, 1926, pp.&nbsp;115–142.
* Graham, Lloyd M., ''Deceptions and Myths of the Bible'', Citadel Press, 1975.
* {{cite book|last=Grant|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Grant (classicist)|title=Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0TG_QgAACAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-0-684-14889-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Grant|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Grant (classicist)|title=Jesus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVUxICZlgYIC|year=2004|publisher=Orion|isbn=978-1-898799-88-7|orig-year=1977}} Reprint of ''Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels'' (1977).
* {{cite book|last=Green|first=Gene L.|title=Jude and 2 Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_quXRpxOxEEC|year=2008|publisher=Baker Academic|isbn=978-0-8010-2672-0}}
* {{cite web|last=Gullotta|first=Daniel N.|title=Why You Should Read Carrier's On the Historicity of Jesus|work=Daniel N. Gullotta |url=https://danielngullotta.com/2015/02/04/why-you-should-read-carriers-on-the-historicity-of-jesus/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214043512/https://danielngullotta.com/2015/02/04/why-you-should-read-carriers-on-the-historicity-of-jesus/|archive-date=February 14, 2015|date=February 2, 2015}}
* {{cite journal |last=Gullotta |first=Daniel N.|title=On Richard Carrier's Doubts: A Response to Richard Carrier's On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt|journal=Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus|year=2017|volume=15|issue=2–3|pages=310–346|doi=10.1163/17455197-01502009}}
<!-- H -->
* Haber, Edyth C. [http://jstor.org/stable/309549 "The Mythic Bulgakov: 'The Master and Margarita' and Arthur Drews's 'The Christ Myth'"], ''Slavic & East European Journal'', volume 43, issue 2, 1999.
* {{cite book|last1=Habermas|first1=Gary|last2=Licona|first2=Michael|title=The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus|year=2004|publisher=Kregel Publications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdF97o5L768C&q=The+Case+for+the+Resurrection+of+Jesus|isbn=978-0825494109}}
* {{Citation | last =Hagner | first =Donald A. | year =2011 | chapter =The Jewish Quest and Jewish-Christian Relations | editor-last1 =Holmén | editor-first1 =Tom | editor-last2 =Porter | editor-first2 =Stanley E. | title =Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus (4 Vols) | publisher =BRILL}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Hansen |first1=Christopher M. |title=Re-examining the Pre-Christian Jesus |journal=Journal of Early Christian History |date=4 May 2022 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=17–40 |doi=10.1080/2222582X.2021.2001667|s2cid=246882282}} 
* {{cite book|last=Harpur |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Harpur |title=The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light |year=2004 |location=Toronto |publisher=Thomas Allen Publishers |isbn=978-0-88762-145-1|title-link=The Pagan Christ }}
* [[Sam Harris (author)|Harris, Sam]]. ''The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason''. W. W. Norton, 2005.
* [[Sam Harris (author)|Harris, Sam]]. ''Letter to a Christian Nation: A Challenge to Faith''. Bantam, 2007.
* [[Carl F. H. Henry|Henry, Carl F.H.]] ''God, Revelation, and Authority''. Crossway, 1999.
* {{Citation | last =Herzog | first =William R. | year =2005 | title =Prophet and Teacher: An Introduction to the Historical Jesus | publisher =Westminster John Knox Press | isbn =0664225284}}
* [[Christopher Hitchens|Hitchens, Christopher]]. ''God Is Not Great''. Twelve Books, 2007.
* [[R. Joseph Hoffmann|Hoffmann, R. Joseph]]. "Maurice Goguel and the 'Myth Theory' of Christian Origins" in Maurice Goguel. ''Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History?'' Prometheus, 2006.
* {{cite web|last=Hoffmann|first=R. Joseph|date=May 22, 2012|title=The Jesus Process: A Consultation on the Historical Jesus|url=https://rjosephhoffmann.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/the-jesus-process-a-consultation-on-the-historical-jesus/|url-status=live|access-date=July 14, 2021|website=The New Oxonian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526214913/http://rjosephhoffmann.wordpress.com:80/2012/05/22/the-jesus-process-a-consultation-on-the-historical-jesus/|archive-date=May 26, 2012}}
* [[William Horbury|Horbury, William]]. "The New Testament" in [[Ernest Nicholson]] (ed.) ''A century of Theological and Religious Studies in Britain''. Oxford University Press, 2003.
* {{Citation | last =Hurtado |first =Larry |year =2005 | title =Lord Jesus Christ. Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity | publisher =Eerdmans}}
<!-- J -->
* Jacoby, Douglas A. ''Compelling Evidence For God and the Bible''. Harvest House Publishers, 2010.
* [[Edwin Johnson (historian)|Johnson, Edwin]]. ''The Antiqua mater: A Study of Christian Origins''. Trübner, 1887.
* {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Luke Timothy|author-link=Luke Timothy Johnson|title=The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pn6UW01P43oC|edition=3|year=2010|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-1-4514-1327-4}}
<!-- K -->
* {{Citation | editor-last1 =Keith | editor-first1 =Chris | editor-last2 =Le Donne | editor-first2 =Anthony | year =2012 | title =Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity | publisher =A&C Black}}
* {{cite book|last=King|first=Karen L.|year=2008|chapter=Which Early Christianity?|author-link=Karen Leigh King|editor=Harvey, Susan Ashbrook|editor2=Hunter, David G.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgPI7Jt1HewC|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-927156-6|pages=66–80}}
* {{cite journal|last1=King|first1=Karen L.|author-link=Karen Leigh King|title=Factions, Variety, Diversity, Multiplicity: Representing Early Christian Differences for the 21st Century|journal=Method & Theory in the Study of Religion|date=2011|volume=23|issue=3–4|pages=216–237|doi=10.1163/157006811X608368|s2cid=144645442|url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10955120/King%20Representing%20Early%20Christian%20Difference.pdf?sequence=1}}
* [[Joseph Klausner|Klausner, Joseph]]. ''Jesus of Nazareth''. Bloch, 1989; first published 1925.
* {{Citation | last =Koester | first =Helmut | year =2000 | title =Introduction to the New Testament, Vol. 2: History and Literature of Early Christianity | publisher =Walter de Gruyter}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Komoszewski |editor1-first=J. Ed |editor2-last=Bock |editor2-first=Darrell |title=Jesus, Skepticism & The Problem of History: Criteria and Context in the Study of Christian Origins |date=2019 |publisher=Zondervan Academic |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |isbn=978-0310534761}}
* [[Andreas J. Köstenberger|Köstenberger, Andreas J.]] ''Encountering John''. Baker Academic, 1999.
* Kratz, Peter. ''The Whole Rosenberg Story Again?'' Berliner Institut für Faschismus-Forschung und Antifaschistische Aktion, 1999.
* {{Citation | last =Kubitza | first =Heinz-Werner | year =2016 | title =The Jesus Delusion: How the Christians created their God: The demystification of a world religion through scientific research | publisher =Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag}}
<!-- L -->
* {{cite journal | last =Lataster | first =Raphael | date =2014a | title =The Fourth Quest: A Critical Analysis of the Recent Literature on Jesus' (a)Historicity | journal =Literature & Aesthetics | volume =24 | issue =1 | pages =1–28 | url =https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/LA/article/view/8328 | issn =2200-0437 }}
* {{cite journal | last =Lataster | first =Raphael | year =2014b | title =Richard Carrier: On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2014; pp. xiv + 696. | journal =Journal of Religious History | volume =38 | issue =4 | pages =614–616 | doi =10.1111/1467-9809.12219 }}
* {{cite journal | last =Lataster | first =Raphael | year =2015a | title =Questioning the Plausibility of Jesus Ahistoricity Theories—A Brief Pseudo-Bayesian Metacritique of the Sources | journal =Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies | volume =6 | issue =1 | pages =63–96 | url =http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjournal/vol6/iss1/5/ | language =en | issn =2155-1723 }}
* {{cite book | last =Lataster | first =Raphael | year =2015b | title =Jesus Did Not Exist: A Debate Among Atheists | publisher =CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform | isbn =978-1-5148-1442-0 }}
* {{cite journal | last =Lataster | first =Raphael | year =2016 | title =Review Essay: Bart Ehrman and the Elusive Historical Jesus | journal =Literature & Aesthetics | volume =26 | issue =1 | pages =181–192 | url =https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/LA/article/view/11431 | issn =2200-0437 }}
* {{cite web |last=Langenbach |first=Christian G. |url=http://www.schattenblick.de/infopool/weltan/human-vd/whges036.html |title=Freireligiöse und Nationalsozialismus |language=de |website=Schattenblick |date=October 5, 2007 }}
* Le Beau, Bryan F. ''The Atheist: Madalyn Murray O'Hair''. New York University Press, 2005.
* {{Citation | last =Leman | first =Johan |year =2015 | title =Van totem tot verrezen Heer. Een historisch-antropologisch verhaal | publisher =Pelckmans}}
* {{Citation |last1=Levine |first1=Any-Jill |title=The Historical Jesus in Context |date=2006 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, N.J. |isbn=978-0691009926}}
* {{Citation | last =Licona | first =Michael | year =2016 | title =Is the Sky Falling in the World of Historical Jesus Research? | journal = Bulletin for Biblical Research |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=353–368| doi =10.2307/26371455 | jstor =26371455 | s2cid =246623584 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Louth |first=Andrew |title=The Date of Eusebius' " Historia Ecclesiastica" |journal=Journal of Theological Studies |volume=41 |issue=1 |year=1990 |pages=111–23 |doi=10.1093/jts/41.1.111}}
* {{cite book | last =Ludemann | first =Gerd | author-link =Gerd Lüdemann | year =2002 | title =Paul: The Founder of Christianity | publisher =Prometheus Books, Publishers | isbn =978-1-61592-367-0 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=6PmG7E2obskC&pg=PA28 }}
<!-- M -->
* {{cite book| last =Maccoby | first =Hyam | year =1986 | title =The Mythmaker. Paul and the Invention of Christianity | publisher =Barnes & Noble}}
* [[John Gresham Machen|Machen, John Gresham]]. "History and Faith", ''The Princeton Theological Review'', volume 13, issue 3, 1915.
* {{cite book | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | author-link =Burton L. Mack | year =1988 | title =A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins | publisher =Fortress Press | isbn =978-0-8006-2549-8 | chapter =The Congregations of the Christ | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=fNSbW8hWRzwC&pg=PA98 }}
* {{cite book | last =Mack | first =Burton L. | year =1995 | author-link =Burton L. Mack | title =Who wrote the New Testament? The making of the Christian myth | publisher =HarperSanFrancisco | isbn =978-0-06-065517-4 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=dZ8NAQAAMAAJ }}
* {{cite book| last =Mack | first =Burton L. | year =1997 | orig-year=1995 | title =Wie schreven het Nieuwe Testament werkelijk? Feiten, mythen en motieven | publisher =Uitgeverij Ankh-Hermes |language=nl}}
* {{cite book |last=McGiffert |first=Arthur Cushman |title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 1 |editor-last=Schaff |editor-first=Philip |editor-link=Philip Schaff |chapter=Paragraph 7 of "Chapter XI.—Testimonies in Regard to John the Baptist and Christ" from Book I of Eusebius' "The Church History." |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vi.xi.html |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18ikU69I-TwC&q=Nicene+and+Post-Nicene+Fathers:+Second+Series+Volume+I |access-date=14 February 2012 |year=2007 |publisher=Cosimo |isbn=978-1-60206-508-6 }}
* [[John Macquarrie|Macquarrie, John]]. ''The Scope of Demythologizing: Bultmann and His Critics''. SCM, 1960.
* [[Mangasar Magurditch Mangasarian|Mangasarian, Mangasar Magurditch]] ''The Truth About Jesus—Is He a Myth?'' Chicago: Independent Religious Society, 1909.
* [[Mangasar Magurditch Mangasarian|Mangasarian, Mangasar Magurditch]] ''The Bible Unveiled''. Chicago: Independent Religious Society [Rationalist], 1911.
* {{cite journal |last1=Marina |first1=Marko |title=Povijesni Isus i miticizam: kritička analiza teorije Richarda Carriera |journal=Diacovensia |date=2022 |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=215–235 |doi=10.31823/d.30.2.3|doi-access=free }}
* [[I. Howard Marshall|Marshall, Ian Howard]]. ''I Believe in the Historical Jesus''. Regent College Publishing, 2004.
* {{cite book|last=Martin|first=Michael|author-link1=Michael Martin (philosopher)|year=1993|title=The Case Against Christianity|publisher=Temple University Press|isbn=978-1-56639-081-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWkC4dTmK0AC}}
* {{cite book | last =McCabe | first =Joseph | author-link =Joseph McCabe | year =1948 | title =A Rationalist Encyclopædia: A Book of Reference on Religion, Philosophy, Ethics and Science | publisher =Watts | chapter =Jesus | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=tXKIkgAACAAJ }}
* {{cite book |last1=McClymond |first1=Michael J. |title=Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth |date=2004 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-2680-0}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Meggitt |first1=Justin J. |author-link=Justin Meggitt |title='More Ingenious than Learned'? Examining the Quest for the Non-Historical Jesus |journal=New Testament Studies |date=2019 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=443–460 |doi=10.1017/S0028688519000213|s2cid=203247861 |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/289048 }}
* {{Citation | last =Merrigan | first =T. | year =2000 | chapter =The Historical Jesus in the Pluralist Theology of Religions | editor-last1 =Merrigan | editor-first1 =T. | editor-last2 =Haers | editor-first2 =J. | title =The Myriad Christ: Plurality and the Quest for Unity in Contemporary Christology | publisher =Leuven University Press}} 
* Mettinger, Tryggve N. D. ''The Riddle of Resurrection''. Almqvist & Wiksell, 2001.
* [[Bruce M. Metzger|Metzger, Bruce M.]] "Book review of Rim i rannee Khristianstvo by R. Yu. Vipper". ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', volume 75, issue 3, 1956.
* Metzger, Bruce M. ''Historical and Literary Studies, Pagan, Jewish, and Christian''. Brill 1968.
* [[Hugo Meynell|Meynell, Hugo A.]] ''An Introduction to the Philosophy of Bernard Lonergan''. University of Toronto Press, 1991.
* Miller, Lisa and Scelfo, Julie. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070515044134/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18629187/site/newsweek/print/0/displaymode/1098/ "Who Was Jesus? Pope Benedict's Answer"], ''Newsweek'', May 21, 2007.
* [[Douglas Moggach|Moggach, Douglas]]. ''The Philosophy and Politics of Bruno Bauer''. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
* {{Citation|last=Murphy|first=Derek|year=2011|title=Jesus Potter Harry Christ|publisher=holyblasphemy press|url=https://www.jesuspotterharrychrist.com/JPHC-4-Chapter-Sample.pdf|access-date=March 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324105732/http://www.jesuspotterharrychrist.com/JPHC-4-Chapter-Sample.pdf|archive-date=March 24, 2012|url-status=dead}}
<!-- N -->
* {{Citation | last =Neufeld | year =1964 | title =The Earliest Christian Confessions | place =Grand Rapids | publisher =Eerdmans}}
* {{cite book|last=Niehoff|first=Maren R.|title=Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ex21hEqXwI0C|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-50101-9}}
* Nikiforov, Vladimir. "Russian Christianity" in James Leslie Houlden (ed.) ''Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia''. ABC-CLIO, 2003.
* Norman, Asher, ''Twenty Six Reasons Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus'', Black, White, and Read Publishing, 2007.
* {{cite book|last=Novenson|first=Matthew V.|title=Christ Among the Messiahs: Christ Language in Paul and Messiah Language in Ancient Judaism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vkBpAgAAQBAJ|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-984458-6}}
<!-- O -->
* O'Dwyer, Davin. [https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2007/0825/1187332519087.html "Zeitgeist: The Nonsense"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021173946/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2007/0825/1187332519087.html |date=October 21, 2012 }}, ''The Irish Times'', August 25, 2007.
* O'Neil, Tom. [http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2008/08/jesus-religulou.html "Expect 'Religulous' and Bill Maher to Raise Oscars Hell"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103142327/http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2008/08/jesus-religulou.html |date=November 3, 2011 }}, ''The Los Angeles Times'', August 20, 2008.
*{{cite journal |last=Olson |first=K. A. |title=Eusebius and the Testimonium Flavianum |journal=The Catholic Biblical Quarterly |volume=61 |issue=2 |year=1999 |page=305}}
<!-- P -->
* {{cite book | last =Pagels | first =Elaine H. | author-link =Elaine Pagels | year =1975 | title =The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters | publisher =Fortress Press | isbn =978-0-8006-0403-5 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Y97YAAAAMAAJ }}
* {{cite book| last =Pagels | first =Elaine H. | author-link =Elaine Pagels | year =1979| title =The Gnostic Gospels | publisher=Random House | isbn =978-0-394-50278-6}}
* [[Jean-Baptiste Pérès|Pérès, Jean-Baptiste]]. [https://archive.org/details/napoleonmyth00prgoog/page/n21 <!-- pg=9 quote="Grand Erratum" "Jean Baptiste Pérès". --> "Grand Erratum: The Non-Existence of Napoleon Proved"] in Henry Ridgely Evans. ''The Napoleon Myth''. Open Court, 1827.
* Peris, Daniel. ''Storming the Heavens''. Cornell University Press, 1998.
* [[Nicholas Perrin|Perrin, Nicholas]]. ''Lost in Transmission?''. Thomas Nelson, 2007.
* [[Otto Pfleiderer|Pfleiderer, Otto]]. [https://archive.org/stream/a603765000pfleuoft#page/n9/mode/2up ''The Development of Theology in Germany Since Kant and Its Progress in Great Britain Since 1825'']. Swan Soennenschein, 1893.
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Pfoh|first=Emanuel|title=Jesus and the Mythic Mind: An Epistemological Problem|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5BauthorTerms%5D=Emanuel%20Pfoh&eventCode=SE-AU|pages=79–92|editor-last1=Thompson|editor-first1=Thomas L.|editor-last2=Verenna|editor-first2=Thomas S.|year=2012|encyclopedia="Is this Not the Carpenter?": The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus|publisher=Equinox Publishing|isbn=978-1-84553-986-3}}
* Porter, Stanley E. and Bedard, Stephen J. ''Unmasking the Pagan Christ''. Clements, 2006.
* {{cite book|last=Powell|first=Mark Allan|author-link=Mark Allan Powell|title=Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7NyMQEACAAJ|edition=2|year=2013|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-23447-8|orig-year=1998}}
* {{Citation | last =Powell | first =Mark Allan | year =1998 | title =Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee | publisher =Westminster John Knox Press | isbn =0-664-25703-8}}
<!-- Pr -->
* {{cite magazine|last=Price|first=Robert M.|author-link=Robert M. Price|title=Of Myth and Men: A Closer Look at the Originators of the Major Religions—What Did They Really Say and Do?|magazine=[[Free Inquiry]]|year=1999|volume=20|issue=1|pages=24–36|url=http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/2756}}
* Price, Robert M. and Craig, William Lane. [http://www.bringyou.to/CraigPriceDebate.mp3 "The Craig-Price Debate: Did Jesus Rise From the Dead?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607052514/http://www.bringyou.to/CraigPriceDebate.mp3 |date=June 7, 2011 }}, at Ohio State University, The Veritas Forum, 1999.
* {{cite book|last=Price|first=Robert M.|author-link=Robert M. Price|year=2000|title=Deconstructing Jesus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJh1H-hf5EwC|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=978-1-5739-2758-1}}
* {{cite journal | last =Price | first =Robert M. | year =2002 | author-link =Robert M. Price | title =Christianity, Diaspora Judaism, and Roman Crisis | journal =Review of Rabbinic Judaism | volume =5 | issue =3 | pages =316–331 | doi =10.1163/15700700260430988 | issn =1568-4857 | url =http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/art_diaspora.htm | url-access =subscription }}
* {{cite book | last =Price | first =Robert M. | year =2003 | author-link =Robert M. Price | title =The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition? | publisher =Prometheus Books | isbn =978-1591021216 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=GmlB-KXsX8kC }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Price|first=Robert M.|author-link=Robert M. Price|editor1-first=Jacob|editor1-last=Neusner|editor2-first=Alan J.|editor2-last=Avery-Peck|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Midrash: Biblical Interpretation in Formative Judaism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DAOAQAAMAAJ|year=2005|volume=1|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-9004141667|pages=534–573|title=New Testament Narrative as Old Testament Midrash}}
* {{cite book|last=Price|first=Robert M.|author-link=Robert M. Price|title=The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-four Formative Texts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=InMRAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Signature Books|isbn=978-1-56085-194-3}}
* {{cite book | last =Price | first =Robert M. | year =2007 | author-link =Robert M. Price | title = Jesus Is Dead | publisher = American Atheist Press | isbn =978-1578840007 }}
* {{cite book|last=Price|first=Robert M.|author-link=Robert M. Price|chapter=Jesus at the Vanishing Point|editor1-last=Beilby|editor1-first=James K.|editor2-last=Eddy|editor2-first=Paul R.|title=The Historical Jesus: Five Views|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O33P7xrFnLQC&pg=PA55|year=2009|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-3868-4|pages=55–83}}
* {{cite book|last=Price|first=Robert M.|author-link=Robert M. Price|title=Secret Scrolls: Revelations from the Lost Gospel Novels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5VlgCgAAQBAJ|year=2010|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-6109-7075-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Price|first=Robert M.|author-link=Robert M. Price|title=The Christ-Myth Theory and Its Problems|url=http://www.deuceofclubs.com/books/312christ-myth_theory.htm|year=2011|publisher=American Atheist Press|isbn=978-1-5788-4017-5}}
* Puskas, Charles B. and [[David Crump|Crump, David]]. ''An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts''. Eerdmans, 2008.
<!-- R -->
* {{cite book |last = Reddish |first = Mitchell |title = An Introduction to The Gospels |year = 2011 |publisher = Abingdon Press |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hliGUOv18cQC |isbn = 978-1426750083 }}
* {{Citation | last =Reed | first =Annette Yoshiko | year =2018 | title =Jewish Christianity and the History of Judaism | publisher =Mohr Siebeck}}
* Richards, George W. ''Beyond Fundamentalism and Modernism''. Scribner, 1934.
* {{cite book |author-link=John M. Robertson |last=Robertson |first=John M. |title=Christianity And Mythology |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.351620 |location=London |publisher=Watts & Co. |year=1900 }} (Reprinted (2004) Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing {{ISBN|0766187683}})
* {{cite book |author-link=John M. Robertson |last=Robertson |first=John M. |title=A Short History of Christianity |url=https://archive.org/details/ashorthistorych00robegoog |location=London |publisher=Watts & Co. |year=1902 }} (Reprinted (2004) Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing {{ISBN|0766189090}})
* Robertson, John M. ''Pagan Christs''. Watts, 1903.
* {{cite book | last =Robertson | first =Archibald | author-link =Archibald Robertson (atheist) | year =1946 | title =Jesus: Myth or History? | publisher =Watts & Co. | location =London | series =[[Thinker's Library|Thinker's Library, No. 110]] | url =https://archive.org/stream/jesusmythorhisto035413mbp#page/n126/mode/1up }}
* {{cite book |last=Roloff |first=Jürgen |author-link=:de:Jürgen Roloff |editor=Strecker, Georg |title=Jesus Christus in Historie und Theologie: Neutestamentl. Festschrift für Hans Conzelmann zum 60. Geburtstag |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqsAAAAAMAAJ |year=1975 |publisher=Tübingen |language=de |isbn=978-3-16-137872-0 |pages=143–166 |chapter=Der mitleidende Hohepriester. Zur Frage nach der Bedeutung des irdischen Jesus für die Christologie des Hebräerbriefes }}
* [[Bertrand Russell|Russell, Bertrand]]. ''Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects''. Touchstone, 1967.
<!-- S -->
* {{cite book |last=Sandeen |first=Ernest R. |title=The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism 1800–1930 |url=https://archive.org/details/rootsoffundament0000sand |url-access=registration |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1970 |isbn=978-0226734675 }}
* {{cite book|first=Albert|last=Schweitzer|author-link=Albert Schweitzer|title=The Quest of the Historical Jesus|title-link=The Quest of the Historical Jesus|publisher=Fortress|year=2001|orig-year=1913}}
* [[Alan F. Segal|Segal, Alan F.]] [http://www.slate.com/id/2132974/entry/2132989/ "Jesus and the Gospel—What Really Happened?"], ''Slate'', December 21, 2005.
* {{Citation |last=Sheehan |first=Thomas |year=1986 |title=The First Coming: How the Kingdom of God Became Christianity |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0394511986 |url=https://archive.org/details/firstcominghowth00shee }}
* {{Citation | last =Stendahl | first =Krister | year =1963 | title =The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West | journal =The Harvard Theological Review | volume =56 | issue =3 | pages =199–215 | url =http://www.scotthahn.com/s/01Stendahl.pdf | doi =10.1017/S0017816000024779 | s2cid =170331485 }}
* Sloyan, Gerard Stephen. ''The Crucifixion of Jesus: History, Myth, Faith''. Fortress, 1995.
* {{Citation | last =Smith | first =A. D. Howell | year =1943 | title =In Search of the Real Bible | journal =Nature | volume =152 | issue =3862 | pages =522 | url =https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.46389/2015.46389.In-Search-Of-The-Real-Bible#page/n97/mode/1up | series =[[Thinker's Library|Thinker's Library, No. 98]] | bibcode =1943Natur.152..522H | doi =10.1038/152522a0 | s2cid =4138005 | doi-access =free }}
* [[Mark S. Smith|Smith, Mark S.]] ''The Ugaritic Baal Cycle''. Brill, 1994.
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Murray J.|editor=Harding, Mark|editor2=Nobbs, Alanna|title=All Things to All Cultures: Paul Among Jews, Greeks, and Romans|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pQz5AAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-6643-1|pages=1–33|chapter=Paul in the Twenty-First Century}}
* [[Friedrich Solmsen|Solmsen, Friedrich]]. [http://jstor.org/stable/2708550 "George A. Wells on Christmas in Early New Testament Criticism"], ''Journal of the History of Ideas'', volume 31, issue 2, 1970.
* Soukup, Elise [http://www.newsweek.com/2005/06/26/film-imaginary-friend.html "Imaginary Friend?"], ''Newsweek'', June 26, 2005.
* {{cite book | last =Stanton | first =Graham | author-link =Graham Stanton | year =1989 | title =The Gospels and Jesus | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn =978-0192132413 | url =https://archive.org/details/gospelsjesus00stan_0 }}
* {{cite book | last =Stanton | first =Graham | author-link =Graham Stanton | year =2002 | orig-year =1989 | title =The Gospels and Jesus | edition =2 | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn =978-0199246168 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=K6K8My855lkC }}
* [[Rodney Stark|Stark, Rodney]]. ''Discovering God''. HarperOne, 2007.
* {{cite book | last =Stark | first =Rodney | year =1997 | title =The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries | publisher =Princeton University Press & Harper | isbn =978-0060677015 | url =https://archive.org/details/riseofchristiani00star }}
* Stark, Rodney. ''What Americans Really Believe''. Baylor University Press, 2008.
* [[Victor J. Stenger|Stenger, Victor J.]] ''God: The Failed Hypothesis''. Prometheus, 2007.
* {{cite book| last =Stout| first =Stephen O.| year =2011 | title =The Man Christ Jesus: The Humanity of Jesus in the Teaching of the Apostle Paul | publisher =Wipf and Stock | location =Eugene, Oregon | isbn =978-1-61097-287-1}}
<!-- T -->
* {{Citation | last =Taylor | first =Mark | year =2014 | title =1 Corinthians: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture | publisher =B&H Publishing | isbn =978-0805401288 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=-fLUBQAAQBAJ&q=%22Paul+expands+on+the+fourth+element%22&pg=PA374 }}
* [[Robert Taylor (Radical)|Taylor, Robert]] ''Syntagma of the Evidences of the Christian Religion''. Richard Carlile, 1828.
* [[Robert Taylor (Radical)|Taylor, Robert]] ''The Diegesis; Being a Discovery of the Origin, Evidences, and Early History of Christianity''. Richard Carlile, 1829.
* ''The New York Times''. [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/05/14/101391619.pdf "Abolition of History"], May 14, 1904.
* ''The New York Times''. [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/02/06/102035055.pdf "Jesus Never Lived, Asserts Prof. Drews"], February 6, 1910.
* {{cite book|last1=Theissen|first1=Gerd|last2=Merz|first2=Annette|title=The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZU97DQMH6UC&pg=PA83|year=1998|publisher=Fortress Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=978-0-8006-3122-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Theissen|first1=Gerd|author-link1=Gerd Theissen|last2=Winter|first2=Dagmar|title=The Quest for the Plausible Jesus: The Question of Criteria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qB5ulgKx4OUC&pg=PA5|year=2002|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-22537-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Thomas L.|author-link=Thomas L. Thompson|title=The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bSkxEucWDAC|year=2005|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0465085774}}
* {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Thomas L.|title=The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David|year=2007|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-7867-3911-0}}
* {{cite web |last=Thompson |first=Thomas L. |author-link=Thomas L. Thompson |title=Is This Not the Carpenter's Son?: ''A Response to Bart Ehrman'' |url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/tho368005.shtml |website=The Bible and Interpretation |access-date=March 27, 2017 |date=July 2012 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Thompson |editor1-first=Thomas L. |editor2-last=Verenna |editor2-first=Thomas S. |title='Is this Not the Carpenter?': The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus |year=2012 |publisher=Equinox Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-84553-986-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4SQZwEACAAJ }}
* Thrower, James. ''Marxist-Leninist "Scientific Atheism" and the Study of Religion and Atheism''. Walter de Gruyter, 1983.
* {{cite book|last=Tuckett|first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher M. Tuckett|editor=Bockmuehl, Markus|title=The Cambridge Companion to Jesus|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vSehrtQpcYcC&pg=PA121|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-79678-1|chapter=Sources and methods|pages=121–137}}
<!-- U -->
* Ulansey, David. ''The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries''. Oxford University Press, 1991.
<!-- V -->
* {{Citation | last=Van Eck | date=2015 | title=Memory and historical Jesus studies: Formgeschichte in a new dress? | journal=HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies | volume=71 | issue=1 | pages=10 | url=https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/2837/5725 }}
* {{cite book|last=Van Voorst|first=Robert E.|date=2000|author-link=Robert E. Van Voorst|title=Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4368-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwzliMSRGGkC}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Van Voorst|first=Robert E.|year=2003|author-link=Robert E. Van Voorst|editor=James Leslie Houlden|editor-link=Leslie Houlden|encyclopedia=Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17kzgBusXZIC|volume=2: K–Z|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-856-3|title=Nonexistence Hypothesis|pages=658–660}}
* {{Citation | last =Vermes | first =Geza | year =2001 | title =The Changing Faces of Jesus | publisher =Viking}}
* {{Citation | last =Vermes | first =Geza | year =2008a | title =The Resurrection | place =London | publisher =Penguin}}
* {{Citation | last =Vermes | first =Geza | year =2008b | author-link =Géza Vermes | title =The Resurrection: History and Myth | publisher =Doubleday | location =New York | isbn =978-0-7394-9969-6}}
* [[Constantin-François Chassebœuf|Volney, Constantin-François]]. [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1397 ''The Ruins, or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires and the Law of Nature''], Davis, 1796.
<!-- W -->
* Waite, Charles B., ''History of the Christian Religion to the Year Two Hundred''. Kessinger, 2003.
*{{cite journal |last=Wallace-Hadrill |first=D. S. |year=2011 |title=Eusebius of Caesarea and the Testimonium Flavianum (Josephus, Antiquities, XVIII. 63f.) |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |volume=25 |issue=4 |page=353 |doi=10.1017/S0022046900049435|s2cid=163661254 }}
* Walsh, George. ''The Role of Religion in History''. Transaction, 1998.
* [[B. B. Warfield|Warfield, Benjamin B.]] "Book review of The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus by Arthur Drews", ''The Princeton Theological Review'', volume 11, issue 2, 1913.
* {{cite book |last1=Watson |first1=Francis |title=The Cambridge Companion to Jesus |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0521796781 |page=168}}
* {{cite book|last = Weaver|first = Walter P.|title = The Historical Jesus in the Twentieth Century, 1900–1950|year = 1999|publisher = Trinity Press International|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1CZbuFBdAMUC|isbn = 978-1563382802}}
<!-- Wells -->
* {{cite journal | last1 =Wells | first1 =G. A.| year =1969 | title =Stages of New Testament Criticism|journal = Journal of the History of Ideas|volume = 30|issue = 2|pages =147–160|jstor = 2708429|doi = 10.2307/2708429}}
* {{cite book|last=Wells|first=G. A.|date=1971|title=The Jesus of the Early Christians|url=https://archive.org/details/jesusofearlych00well|url-access=registration|publisher=Pemberton|isbn=978-0301710143}}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | date =1975 | title =Did Jesus Exist?|publisher=Prometheus|title-link=Did Jesus Exist? (Wells)}}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | date =1982 | title =The Historical Evidence for Jesus|publisher=Prometheus}}
* {{cite book |last=Wells |first=G. A. |year=1986 |orig-year=1975 |title=Did Jesus Exist? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PPaktAEACAAJ |edition=2nd revised, corrected and expanded |publisher=Pemberton |isbn=978-0301860015 }}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | year =1987 | title =J.M. Robertson (1856–1933): liberal, rationalist, and scholar |publisher=Pemberton |isbn=978-0-30187-002-1}}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | year =1989 | title =Who Was Jesus? A Critique of the New Testament Record |publisher=Open Court Publishing }}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | year =1996 | title =The Jesus Legend |publisher=Open Court Publishing}}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | year =1999 | title =The Jesus Myth | url =https://archive.org/details/jesusmyth00well | publisher =Open Court Publishing | isbn =978-0-8126-9392-8 }}
* {{cite journal|last=Wells|first=G. A.|date=September 1999b|title=Earliest Christianity|journal=New Humanist|volume=114|issue=3|pages=13–18|url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/g_a_wells/earliest.html|access-date=January 11, 2007}}
* {{cite book |last=Wells |first=G. A. |year=2000 |chapter-url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/g_a_wells/holding.html |chapter=A Reply to J. P. Holding's 'Shattering' of My Views on Jesus and an Examination of the Early Pagan and Jewish References to Jesus |title=The Secular Web |publisher=[[Internet Infidels]] |access-date=August 3, 2010 }}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A.| year =2004 | title =Can We Trust the New Testament?: Thoughts on the Reliability of Early Christian Testimony|publisher=Open Court Publishing|isbn=978-0-8126-9567-0}}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | year =2007 | chapter=Jesus, Historicity of | title=The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief |editor= T. Flynn | publisher=Prometheus }}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | year =2009 | title =Cutting Jesus Down to Size: What Higher Criticism Has Achieved and where it Leaves Christianity|publisher=Open Court Publishing|isbn=978-0-8126-9656-1}}
* {{cite magazine|last1=Wells|first1=George A.|date=August 12, 2011|title=Is There Independent Confirmation of What the Gospels Say of Jesus?|magazine=[[Free Inquiry]]|volume=31|issue=5|url=https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/9059}}
* {{cite magazine|last1=Wells|first1=George A.|date=May 24, 2012|title=Ehrman on the Historicity of Jesus and Early Christian Thinking|magazine=[[Free Inquiry]]|volume=32|issue=4|url=https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/8854}}
* {{cite book | last =Wells | first =G. A. | year =2013 | title =The Jesus Legend |publisher=Open Court Publishing }}
<!-- Wh -->
* [[Richard Whately|Whately, Richard]]. [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18087 ''Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Buonaparte''], Warren F. Draper, 1874; first published 1819.
* [[Joseph Wheless|Wheless]], Joseph. [http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/forgery_in_christianity ''Forgery In Christianity'']. Knopf, 1930.
* White, L. Michael. ''From Jesus to Christianity''. HarperCollins, 2004.
* Wood, Herbert George. ''Christianity and the Nature of History''. Cambridge University Press, 1934.
* [[N. T. Wright|Wright, N. T.]] "Jesus' Self Understanding," in Davies, Stephen T. et al. ''The Incarnation''. Oxford University Press, 2004.
<!-- Y -->
* [[Edwin M. Yamauchi|Yamauchi, Edwin M.]] [http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html "Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History?"], ''Christianity Today'', March 15 and 29, 1974.
* {{cite book|last=Young|first=Frances M.|author-link=Frances Young|editor=Mitchell, Margaret M.|editor2=Young, Frances M|title=Origins to Constantine|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UTfmw_zStsC|volume=Cambridge History of Christianity: 1|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-81239-9|pages=1–34|chapter=Prelude: Jesus Christ, foundation of Christianity}}
<!-- Z -->
* Zwartz, Barney. [http://www.theage.com.au/national/australians-not-so-sceptical-about-jesus-survey-finds-20090406-9uuu.html "Australians not so sceptical about Jesus, survey finds"], ''The Age'', April 7, 2009.
{{refend}}

====Web sources====
{{reflist|group=web|refs=
<!-- C -->
<ref group=web name="Carrier.2016">{{cite web|ref={{harvid|Carrier (February 13, 2016)}}|last1=Carrier|first1=Richard|author-link1=Richard Carrier|title=Can Paul's Human Jesus Not Be a Celestial Jesus?|url=http://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/9710|website=Richard Carrier Blogs|access-date=June 14, 2017|date=February 13, 2016}}</ref>
<ref name="Carrier.Zechariah.6" group=web>{{cite web|last1=Carrier|first1=Richard|author-link1=Richard Carrier|title=Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt: Should We Still Be Looking for a Historical Jesus?|url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/08/car388028.shtml |website=The Bible and Interpretation |access-date=October 6, 2017|year=2014b}}</ref>
<!-- D -->
<ref group=web name="Davies2012">Philip Davies, [http://www.bibleinterp.com/opeds/dav368029.shtml ''Did Jesus Exist?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923184812/http://www.bibleinterp.com/opeds/dav368029.shtml |date=September 23, 2015 }}</ref>
<ref group=web name="Doherty.2011.Godfrey">{{cite web|last1=Godfrey|first1=Neil|title=Interview with Earl Doherty|url=http://vridar.org/2011/04/02/interview-with-earl-doherty/|website=Vridar|access-date=September 15, 2017|date=April 2, 2011}}</ref>
<!-- E -->
<ref name="Ehrman.2014.angel" group=web>{{cite web|ref={{harvid|Ehrman (June 7, 2014)}}|last1=Ehrman|first1=Bart D.|author-link1=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Christ as an Angel in Paul|url=https://ehrmanblog.org/christ-as-an-angel-in-paul-2/|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|access-date=May 9, 2017|date=June 7, 2014}}</ref>
<ref name="Ehrman.2015" group=web>{{cite web|ref={{harvid|Ehrman (September 28, 2015)}}|last1=Ehrman|first1=Bart D.|title=Early Christian Docetism|url=https://ehrmanblog.org/early-christian-docetism/|website=The Bart Ehrman Blog|access-date=November 2, 2017|date=September 28, 2015}}</ref>
<!-- L -->
<ref group=web name="Lataster2014">{{cite news|last=Lataster|first=Raphael|title=Did historical Jesus really exist? The evidence just doesn't add up.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/18/did-historical-jesus-exist-the-traditional-evidence-doesnt-hold-up/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=May 2, 2018|date=December 18, 2014}}</ref>
<!-- P -->
<ref name="Price2009" group=web>{{cite web|ref={{harvid|Price review|2009}}|last1=Price|first1=Robert|title=Bruno Bauer, Christ and the Caesars, reviewed by Robert M. Price|url=http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/reviews/bauer_christ_caesars.htm|date=2009|access-date=November 19, 2016}}</ref>
}}

== Further reading ==
;Mainstream methodology
''Journals''
* [https://brill.com/configurable/contentpage/journals$002fjshj$002fjshj-overview.xml ''Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus''], BRILL
''Surveys''
* {{Citation | editor-last1 =Holmén | editor-first1 =Tom | editor-last2 =Porter | editor-first2 =Stanley E. | year =2011 | title =Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus (4 Vols) | publisher =BRILL | url =https://brill.com/view/title/17737| isbn =9789004210219 |ref=none }}
* {{Citation | editor-last =Evans | editor-first =Craig A. | year =2014 | title =The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus | publisher =Routledge |ref=none }}
* [https://www.logos.com/product/37043/eerdmans-historical-jesus-studies-collection ''Eerdmans Historical Jesus Studies Collection (5 vols.)'']
''History''
* {{Citation | last =Weaver | first =Walter P. | year =1999 | title =The Historical Jesus in the Twentieth Century: 1900–1950 | publisher =A&C Black |ref=none }}
''Criteria for Authenticity''
* {{Citation | last =Porter | first =Stanley E. | year =2004 | author-link =Stanley E. Porter | title =Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research | publisher =Bloomsbury | isbn =978-0567043603 |ref=none }}
* {{Citation | editor-last1 =Charlesworth | editor-first1 =James H. | editor-last2 =Rhea | editor-first2 =Brian | editor-last3 =Pokorny | editor-first3 =Petr | year =2014 | title =Jesus Research: New Methodologies and Perceptions—The Second Princeton-Prague Symposium on Jesus Research, Princeton 2007 | publisher =Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |ref=none }}
''Demise of Authenticity and call for Memory Studies''
* {{Citation | editor-last1 =Keith | editor-first1 =Chris | editor-last2 =Le Donne | editor-first2 =Anthony | year =2012 | title =Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity | publisher =Bloomsbury Publishing |ref=none }}
* {{Citation | last =Kirk | first =Alan | year =2018 | title =Memory and the Jesus Tradition | publisher =Bloomsbury Publishing |ref=none }}
''Criticism''
* James Dunn (2005), ''A New Perspective on Jesus: What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed'', Baker Academic

;Proponents
<!--
Please add only VERIFIABLE items here: that the book speaks about CMT must be clearly stated:
 - either in its wikipedia article
 - or in a footnote to a reliable independent secondary source
-->
* [[George Albert Wells]] (1975), ''[[Did Jesus Exist? (Wells)|Did Jesus Exist?]]''
* [[Earl Doherty]] (1999), ''[[The Jesus Puzzle]]''; republished (2009) as ''Jesus: Neither God nor Man—The Case for a Mythical Jesus''; [https://thebibleisnotholy.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/the-jesus-puzzle.pdf online]
* {{cite book |editor1=John W. Loftus|editor2=Robert M. Price |title=Varieties of Jesus Mythicism: Did He Even Exist? |date=November 18, 2021 |publisher=Hypatia Press |isbn=978-1839191589}}
* Robert M. Price (2003), ''The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man''
* Robert M. Price (2011), ''The Christ-Myth Theory and Its Problems''
* {{cite book| last =Price | first =Robert M. | year =2018 | title =Bart Ehrman Interpreted | publisher =Pitchstone Publishing |ref=none }}
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Thompson|editor-first1=Thomas L.|editor-last2=Verenna|editor-first2=Thomas S.|year=2012|title="Is this Not the Carpenter?": The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus |publisher=Equinox |isbn=978-1-84553-986-3 |url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/carp358009.shtml |ref=none }}
* {{cite book|last=Brodie|first=Thomas L. |year=2012 |title=Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus: Memoir of a Discovery |publisher=Sheffield Phoenix Press |isbn=978-1-9075-3458-4 |ref=none }}
* {{cite book|first=Richard |last=Carrier |author-link=Richard Carrier |year=2014 |title=On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt |publisher=Sheffield Phoenix Press|isbn=978-1-909697-35-5 |ref=none }}

;Scholarly critics
* [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|G. W. F. Hegel]], ''[[Life of Jesus (Hegel)|Das Leben Jesu]]'', Bern, 1795
* {{cite book | last =Van Voorst | first =Robert E. | year =2000 | author-link =Robert E. Van Voorst | title=Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence | publisher =Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing | isbn =978-0-8028-4368-5 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=lwzliMSRGGkC |ref=none }}
* {{cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart D.|year=2012|title=Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|isbn=978-0-06-220460-8|title-link=Did Jesus Exist? (Ehrman) |ref=none }}
* {{cite book|last=Casey |first=Maurice |author-link=Maurice Casey |year=2014 |title=Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths? |publisher=Bloomsbury T & T Clark |isbn=978-0-5672-9458-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTFiAgAAQBAJ |ref=none }}

== External links ==
{{sister project links|auto=1|s=Portal:Christ myth theory}}

;Overview
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051202111117/http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcno.htm Religious Tolerance] General outline of range of views on Jesus from classical Christian to Jesus a mere man and Jesus entirely mythical
* [https://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/05/demolishing-the-historicity-of-jesus-a-history Demolishing the historicity of Jesus – A History] – List of Contemporary and Early proponents of Christ Myth Theory.
* ''[https://www.mythicistpapers.com/timeline-of-jesus-mythicism/ A timeline of Jesus mythicism]''

;Proponents
* Richard Carrier (2012), ''[https://www.richardcarrier.info/Historicity_of_Jesus.pdf So...if Jesus Didn't Exist, Where Did He Come from Then?]''

;Scholarly critics
* Larry Hurtado (December 4, 2017), [https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2017/12/04/mythical-jesus-the-fatal-flaws/ ''"Mythical Jesus": The Fatal Flaws'']

{{Christ myth theory|state=expanded}}
{{Jesus footer}}
{{The Bible and history}}

[[Category:Christ myth theory| ]]
[[Category:Historicity of religious figures]]
[[Category:Fringe theories]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory]]
[[Category:Historical perspectives on Jesus]]
[[Category:Historicity of the Bible]]
[[Category:Biblical criticism]]
[[Category:Atheism activism]]