Minimalist

That tells me that Paul wasn't married.

Antipope Innocent II

Paul says he wasn't. Which kind of scuppers the whole "Jewish men/Rabbis had to be married" idea. So do all the other examples of unmarried Jewish holy men in this period.

Not that pesky stuff like evidence ever bothers the kooks and Magdalene Obsessives.

An idealised Essene who cavorts with "sinners", touches the "unclean" and breaks the Sabbath? Sorry, that doesn't work at all. The Jesus depicted in the gospels does and says things that would have given the Essenes nightmares.

Still, I was thinking the other day that I normally see a new totally implausible Jesus Myth theory here at least once a week but I hadn't found one this week. And then you present this one. Thanks.

youngalexander

Wot a fun thread. Eric Idle is in town for Spamalot and I'm in a very Pythonesque mood - keep it up!
Oh, I dunno!

You're a bitter, bitter man A-I||.

Antipope Innocent II

Nah! Quite a merry sort of chap actually. Or at least wry, shading into slightly cynical, and amused. I love reading stuff like The Templar Revelation and Holy Blood, so I must have a sense of humour. It's not like you can take that stuff seriously.

And some of the JM ideas I delight in discovering here have the same sort of entertainment levels.

Minimalist

Too bad you don't have any facts for a HJ, though. Kind of puts a crimp in your argument.

wordy

I'm bad at giving new mythic suggestions. What about this one.

Those who wrote the story about jesus had at least some sympathy for "midrash" readingof old testament. Jesus is a midrash constuct out of OT.

Here is another. He is based on some "Cynic" readings. He act a bit like Cynics did. He is drastic in same style as they are.
I just guess.

Antipope Innocent II

Yeah, isn't ancient history a bitch?! The evidence is so wobbly for all kinds of things. People who don't like that should stick to physics or engineering. Lots of hard facts there and no brain-hurting equivocal arguments.

Yellum Notnef

You are definitely a grouch with a chip on your shoulder regardless of how merry you'd like to portray yourself.

Why is it so important to you that Jesus was historical?
There is so little evidence for an HJ that I just can't understand why you so viciously defend it if you aren't a believer. I don't get it and you're not the only here with this agenda lately. There are several recent angry arrivals here who shower scorn on anyone who doesn't think the evidence leads to a straight up traditional Christian Jesus (sans super powers, of course).

elemental

Is that a good reason to believe he wasn't married? Weren't most men then expected to be married? Especially as some Christians refer to him as having been a rabbi? The bible doesn't talk about him ever taking a shit either, it's taken for granted. Maybe being married was as well.

But I shouldn't be answering, I was never a Christian and I don't believe anything about him really.

Antipope Innocent II

If that helps, go ahead and think it.

It's not important in the slightest. I just happen to think that's the most reasonable explanation of how the stories about him arose. If someone actually came up with a good MJ argument that explained those stories better, I'd be happy to accept it. The ones I've seen so far range from the strained to the contrived and right over into the barking mad.

Likewise if (somehow) someone actually managed to prove he didn't exist, I'd have no problem with that at all. A non-existent Jesus means about as much to my life as a historical one - ie not much.

Because I'm not a big fan of people adopting poor historical arguments for the sake of ideology. At the risk of getting another scolding from Toto about generalising, it still strikes me as being pretty damn obvious that a lot of the motivation for holding the MJ position is more to do with an anti-Christian bias than clear-eyed, objective analysis. I'm equally vigorous (not "vicious" thanks) it tackling similar biased thinking with Holocaust Deniers and fringe archaeology loons. I also think atheists etc should know better - we're meant to be the smart ones.

I hold a position and argue it my way. Feel free to do the same. That's not an "agenda", it's my prerogative. And yours. Enjoy.

Oh please grow up. There are all kinds of people on various sides of this issue that argue in all kinds of ways. So long as no-one is flaming, where's the problem with that? There is none. You argue your way and I'll argue mine.

Have a great day.