Malachi151

I had some technical difficulties that cut the production short, so I think I'm going to have to break it into 2 parts, but I also said a few things wrong and made some mistakes. There was also stuff that I left out that I meant to include.

Anyway, I'm going to be making a second pass at this tonight, so feedback would be helpful:

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/temp/christianity.htm

Ignore the thing that says to click to advance.

I'm probably going to break it down into a pre-Christian section and a Christian section.

youngalexander

In the technological backwater which I inhabit (Australia), I unfortunately cannot obtain broadband. Thus your presentation died after the Persian (3rd or 4th pg). Nevertheless, I get the general idea.

First I was wondering why you chose such a restricted format as audio with slideshow - or is this meant for a lecture/seminar presentation and you are only trialing it here?

It makes the information density necessarily limited and somewhat linear, altho presumably when it is working correctly we would be able to shuffle back and forth. I think that text, perhaps with bullet point and voice-over, and graphics would be more effective on the web. Also, given that the subject matter is bound to be a touch controversial (& even if it was not), how are you proposing to handle references?

The content was difficult to judge given my limited exposure and early exit. I'll give it another go later.

Roland

Nice job! It worked well for me. I watched it all the way through with no glitches. Is this from a lecture series?

Malachi151

Yeah, its part of a presentation I did before. I tried to record it and when I got to the end it didn't save my file, so I gave up for a bit. I have to break it up into two sections due to length, only the first part is what you saw. I'm going to try it again next week, at least part I, then I'll do part II later.

To anwser the other question: I have lots of articles on my website, I figured I would just try a different media for a change.

Aspirin99

I think it's great work. :notworthy:

I develop these types of Flash presentations for a living. I also own cowfly.com, which has these types of products. If I can ever be of technical assistance, please feel free to contact me.

Malachi151

Here is the un-narrated version of the latest updates to this presenation, though I have since changed by position of John in the timeline towards the end to put it more in line with traditional scholarship.

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/temp/christianity.htm

I'm now working on a narrated version again.

ynquirer

Though a dissenter, my opinion may still be of some help. After visiting your website, my impression is that the MJ looks like appealing to many people, not on account of evidence that supports the theory, but simply because it is provocative.

Your presentation, for instance, indulges in an astonishing lack of self criticism. In particular, it falls short of serious discussion of sources and takes for granted much unwarranted hearsay. I missed several discussions on Josephus and I’m not opening a new one in here, but what you say in relation to Suetonius and Tacitus does not hold water. Neither Suetonius’ Life of Claudius nor his Life of Nero says or even suggests that Christ was a slave. Not only does Tacitus’ Annals 15:44 discusses the Christians’ beliefs but also gives news of Christus’ life and death at the time of Pontius Pilate - some call such news evidence.

No less disappointing is failure to discuss contradictions among mythicists themselves. For example, some mythicists contend that Paul is a later invention. You, however, rely on a historical Paul to deny historicity to Jesus. Why Paul is historical while Jesus is not? A modicum of objectivity would require giving notice, however short, of the mess the mythicist camp has grown to be, instead of sending the message that everything is as clear as you say it is.

To end with, the visual comparison of Christian images with pagan ones is tendentious, to say the least. Of course, they do not prove what you mean to imply they do. Even if pagan paintings or sculptures were used as template for Christian art, it does not follow that the religious notion was a replica as well. You would need a plausible theory of the dependence of religion on art to reach a valid conclusion that way. Many youngsters in Western countries wear T-shirts with Che Guevara’s face; according to your visual proposal, a future researcher will be quite right to infer that they are Communists. Actually, Che Guevara’s image has been appropriated, as a symbol, by the consumption society, the true opposite of his beliefs.

Malachi151

I'm not sure how you can comment, since what it up now doesn't have any commentary with it.

#1) I don't treat "Paul" as either historical or ahistorical. Someone wrote the letters. I meary say that these are the firstion mentions of Jesus Christ, and that the author of these letters says that he never saw Jesus.

#2) I say that I don't agree with Earl Dhoerty's view that Paul describes a "non-human" Jesus.

#3) I never say that Suetonius, says that "Christ was a slave", I say that the quote by Suetonius appears to be referring to a Jewish slave that was alive and stirring up trouble at that time, that it doesn't refer to "Jesus" at all.

#4) There is nothing in the Tacitus quote to lead one to believe that the source of information about "Christus" comes from anywhere other than Christian themselves or the public hearsay about them, it certianly does not suggest that Tacitus had any authoritative account of the execution of Jesus, which would be the only thing that could be called evidence.

#5) The imagery certianly does provide information about the popular impressions people have of Christianity, as well as the type of world that Christianity came into.

Wait for the narrated version, I'm almost done.

lpetrich

Seems too wide-ranging and scattershot, and it does not use the visual medium well enough. I would prefer concentrating on something closer to home, like Lord Raglan's Mythic-Hero Profile or Earl Doherty's "Jesus Puzzle" case. And having something more visually interesting, like the early-Xianity timeline in The God Who Wasn't There. That one has a very cute way of representing Jesus Christ -- with a rectangular grid of film snippets. So you should think of how you can put the medium to use in a similar fashion.

Like illustrate Matthew and Luke being assembled from Mark and "Q"

Or illustrate Lord Raglan's Mythic-Hero profile in cartoon form, and then show how well Jesus Christ fits.

Or illustrate how various writers learned more and more about the Jesus Christ story over the decades, as illustrated in this table. One could have a timeline with lines starting at various times showing when various authors were aware of various features of Jesus Christ.

Malachi151

Okay, here is my second attempt at part 1 of this:

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/temp/ocjmpart1.htm

I wish I could get the sound a little more clear and stable.