Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 10-09-2008, 03:46 PM

From an email from the Center for Inquiry:

Quote:

"Sources of the Jesus Tradition: An Inquiry"
Friday, December 5 – Sunday, December 7
Center for Inquiry Transnational
Amherst, New York

This conference is the inaugural meeting of The Jesus Project, launched in 2007 by the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion. The first conference will answer the challenge laid down by CSER Fellow and Jesus Seminar cofounder John Dominic Crossan to decide what counts as "evidence" of the Jesus tradition.

Speakers include:

Paul Kurtz
R. Joseph Hoffmann
Ronald A. Lindsay
Dennis R. MacDonald
Justin Meggitt
Robert M. Price
James Tabor
and many others!

Section topics include:

The "substratum" of the earliest gospel
The legitimate use of noncanonical sources in reconstructing the Jesus story
Argumentum ad analogium in Christ-myth theories
Historical, theological, and value-driven approaches to the gospels
Rules of exclusion and evidence: what counts as "data"?
To register for the conference, or for more information, call 1-800-458-1366.

Richard Carrier mentioned something about a conference in December, and I suspect that this is where he will be.

The Jesus Project website is still not updated, and the CFI website seems to be in the middle of a redesign.

I can only wonder about hosting a conference in Amherst NY in December.

Toto · 10-09-2008, 03:48 PM

Justin Meggit, in case you wondered, is

Quote:

Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religion and the Origins of Christianity, Institute of Continuing Education, and Fellow and Director of Studies in Theology and Religious Studies, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. Member of the Reykjavik Academy and Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion.

Tigers! · 10-09-2008, 09:45 PM

I am constantly amazed at how much time & effort people will spend talking about someone they believe never existed or if existed what not in the from commonly believed.

nanaimo · 10-09-2008, 09:47 PM

We care because the people who DO believe influence our lives greatly.

Vincent Guilbaud · 10-10-2008, 10:48 AM

Tigers said:

Quote:

I am constantly amazed at how much time & effort people will spend talking about someone they believe never existed...

Well, if you look at the entire time and money
spent by people on Christianity for the last 2,000 years,
you will see that the amount devoted to study the non-existence
of its supposedly hero founder is virtually null.

Yet, before the second century,
this legendary figure is unknown from any Jewish or Pagan records,
and even worst, he canno't be clearly found outside
any Christian record independant of Mark's Gospel.

bacht · 10-10-2008, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Quote:

"Sources of the Jesus Tradition: An Inquiry"
Section topics include:

The "substratum" of the earliest gospel
The legitimate use of noncanonical sources in reconstructing the Jesus story
Argumentum ad analogium in Christ-myth theories
Historical, theological, and value-driven approaches to the gospels
Rules of exclusion and evidence: what counts as "data"?
To register for the conference, or for more information, call 1-800-458-1366.

Is this a debunking exercise, a way to dismiss the mythicist pov?

Toto · 10-10-2008, 02:10 PM

I don't know that it will necessarily be "debunking." It is a valid issue: how many points of similarity between Jesus and Horus would it take to show influence?

bacht · 10-10-2008, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

I don't know that it will necessarily be "debunking." It is a valid issue: how many points of similarity between Jesus and Horus would it take to show influence?

sorry, I misunderstood

Toto · 10-10-2008, 03:03 PM

No problem.

I don't think that you need to worry about the Jesus Project being an exercise in debunking or bunking. Of the people mentioned above, Paul Kurtz and Ronald A. Lindsay appear to be there as representatives of the Center for Inquiry, but neither has any record on the historical Jesus. R. Joseph Hoffman wrote his thesis on Marcion. Dennis R. MacDonald is on the faculty of Claremont, and wrote a book claiming that Mark was based on Homer - but does believe in some sort of historical Jesus. Justin Meggitt is an academic; Robert M. Price has a long association with the Center for Inquiry and is on record as a Jesus-agnostic; James Tabor has come down firmly on the side of the existence of a historical Jesus, but seems to have made himself an outlier with his particular theories of the Jesus Dynasty.

Toto · 10-19-2008, 10:52 PM

Richard Carrier will be there

Quote:

I will be one of the speakers this December, along with Hoffmann, Gerd Lüdemann, Robert Eiseman, Dennis MacDonald, James Tabor, Hector Avalos, David Trobisch, Robert Price, and many others.

. . .

My talk, "Bayes Theorem for Beginners: Formal Logic and Its Relevance to Historical Method," will conclude the Saturday "Evidence and Methods" section (the last of three speakers between 9am-11:30am) on December 6 ....

This is a formal academic conference, so attendance is by paid registration only, and like other academic conferences, it's expensive. . .

The conference will cost $175, plus another $95 to get all the meals.

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10-09-2008, 09:45 PM	#3
Tigers! Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: On the wing, waiting for a kick Posts: 2,558	I am constantly amazed at how much time & effort people will spend talking about someone they believe never existed or if existed what not in the from commonly believed.

10-09-2008, 09:47 PM	#4
nanaimo Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 549	We care because the people who DO believe influence our lives greatly.

10-10-2008, 02:10 PM	#7
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	I don't know that it will necessarily be "debunking." It is a valid issue: how many points of similarity between Jesus and Horus would it take to show influence?

10-10-2008, 03:03 PM	#9
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	No problem. I don't think that you need to worry about the Jesus Project being an exercise in debunking or bunking. Of the people mentioned above, Paul Kurtz and Ronald A. Lindsay appear to be there as representatives of the Center for Inquiry, but neither has any record on the historical Jesus. R. Joseph Hoffman wrote his thesis on Marcion. Dennis R. MacDonald is on the faculty of Claremont, and wrote a book claiming that Mark was based on Homer - but does believe in some sort of historical Jesus. Justin Meggitt is an academic; Robert M. Price has a long association with the Center for Inquiry and is on record as a Jesus-agnostic; James Tabor has come down firmly on the side of the existence of a historical Jesus, but seems to have made himself an outlier with his particular theories of the Jesus Dynasty.

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