ApostateAbe

The list was too long to fit in one post, so allow me to continue it.

N/A

ApostateAbe

Here is a list of conspiracy theories that may just turn out to be true, if only a good political science journal would give it the time of day:
N/A

Toto

I don't think you get it, Abe.

I am not going through your list in detail, but we are sure that most of those fringe theories are false because they have been investigated.

To take one example, Holocaust Denial. It's a lunatic theory held by a small group of Nazi sympathizers who don't deserve the time of day, but Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman spent the time to nail down the physical evidence that shows that the Holocaust happened in Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? (or via: amazon.co.uk)

We know that astrology is nonsense because it has been investigated.

It is only when the proponents of fringe theories repeatedly fail to back up their cases, but persist in proposing a new examination of the evidence, that scientists refuse to listen.

The idea that Jesus Mythicism is too fringe to spend the time on is just a political ploy to avoid an uncomfortable theory.

ApostateAbe

No doubt about that. I figure that when MJ gets too popular or too dangerous to ignore, that is probably when the scholars will confront it directly, just like with chiropractic medicine. I really would prefer that New Testament scholars confront the fringe groups. I overheard Ehrman in a radio interview suggest that he would write a book on the subject of MJ, because he gets so many inquiries, and I thought to myself, "YES!" But, apparently, he never did, and he wrote a book on something else. They seem to have this attitude that their status is so important that to confront fringe theories would only give the fringe theories a lift in the public eye, and maybe that is true, but I think some fringe theories are so powerful that they can become popular with no help from the mainstream thinkers, and to ignore them is at the expense of the public.

Toto

I think it is the historical Jesus industry that is more like chiropractic. It is tied to the nineteenth century and has a spiritual core to it, although it pretends to be scientific.

ApostateAbe

Just like all of science?

Toto

No.

There is science that works, that is based on data, that still works when you don't believe in it.

ApostateAbe

Gotcha.

aa5874

I don't see the HJ theory on your list.

The HJ is a conspiracy theory.

This absurd theory proposes that Jesus of the NT described as the offspring of the Holy Ghost of God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who walked on water, was transfigured with the resurrected Moses and Elijah, was raised from the dead and ascended through the clouds was actually human but was not known to be human for at least 2000 years or that everybody forgot he was human or lied about him and then worshiped him as a God through falsehood or amnesia.

This theory proposes that Jesus, who claimed he was the truth and the life, was nothing at all like he was described in the NT or the Church writings and may have been really unknown and was deified in error or through some kind of mis-understanding.


Incredibly, one of his most revered follower, Peter, the 1st bishop of Rome, denied, multiple times, any association with Jesus, yet Peter in the NT claimed, most likely through falsehood, that Jesus was raised from the dead.

The HJ is a most absurd theory. Please put it on your list.

No Robots

I agree. I am inspired to confront mythicism by the work done to counter the arguments of those who claim that Shakespeare was not the person who wrote the works that go under his name; and by people like John McAdams, who works to debunk JFK conspiracy theorists. Even the 9/11 truthers get some serious inquiry, like Bob McKeown's piece on The Fifth Estate this week.

Conspiracy discussion over things like JFK distract from real and important inquiry into matters of vital public interest. Historian Harry Elmer Barnes thought it was foolish to spend time investigating the assassination of JFK when there is so much more important work to be done on the question of how the US government deliberately provoked Japan into declaring war in 1941, and allowed the attack on Pearl Harbour to take place.

Mythicism is dangerous because it feeds the public a lie. Worse, though, is that it may discourage genuine seekers from thinking that they might find something of value in the NT. Equally corrosive is the distorted view of history and skepticism that mythicism promulgates.