jjramsey

You are presuming that Jewish literature wouldn't be in Greek, but this is in fact false. The books of the Maccabees, for example, are written in Greek. Josephus, who is Jewish, also wrote in Greek.

Jehanne

If New Testament professional historians reject the Jesus Myth argument to the same degree that biologists reject Intelligent Design, why have professional historians not responded in the same manner to the Jesus Myth proponents like the biologists have responded to the ID proponents?

jgibson000

Actually the claim is about Jesus not the Christ and if it is analogous with anything its with the confession/proclamation of a belief in who among rival claimants to the title of president, actually is.

Jeffrey Gibson

jgibson000

Please point out to me when and how often proponents of MJ have published their claims and arguments in mainstream rather than vanity presses or have set up journals to do so, have had PhDs lecture about it in private and public schools, have published letters to the editor about it in news papers large and small, have managed to get nespaper editors and news commentators to write editorials about it, have spoken about it on talk shows and got air time for it, have lobbied their representatives to make laws about it, and have brought the issue before courts and school boards as something that the state should mandate to be taught in history classes as an alternative to the Christian story?

The reason historians and biblical scholars have not taken much if any time to address the claims of MJers is the same reason that science teachers don't take much if any time to respond, if they are aware of them, to flat or hollow earthers or to proponents of orgone energy or to a Ptolemaic view of the solar system or physicists to "creators" of perpetual motion machines or doctors to those who claim that blood letting or crystals are the keys to curing disease and that demons cause it.

Jeffrey Gibson

Solo

Paul transparently describes his conversion in 2 Corinthians 12, as an ecstatic experience of "man in Christ" he knew "fourteen years ago". There can be little doubt that the reference is to himself, and to mental and bodily states now commonly associated with temporal lobe seizures experienced by epileptics or bipolars during "peaks" of hypermanic episode. Paul's articulation of his conversion experience and other references to his condition in his letters indicate bipolarity rather than epilepsy, although the lines between the two are now getting pretty blurry.

I agree that Paul does not lie about anything; he simply interprets his radically changed condition after his inaugural hyper-high in theological terms, as signs and revelations from above.

Solo

Has anyone noticed that in the synoptics all the nature miracles (with the exception of the Matthean coin in the fish'es mouth) have all something to do with night, early morning, or "sleepiness" ? Anyone ? No, I think there is a more surprising explanation for most of the NT miracles.

S.C.Carlson

You mean, like that season of "Dallas"?

Jehanne

This is simply not true! You can find responses to "flat Earthers" and those who hold to the Ptolemaic view from professional astronomers!

jgibson000

And you can find responses, albeit occasion ones, to the MJers from professionals in Biblical studies as well if you look.

The question is: do you find many professional astromeners doing what you say they do with a great deal of frequency, and are they actually spending a great deal of their "responses" refuting flat earthers and Ptolemy?

I think you are confusing discussions and outlining of these ideas within the context of a history of science with someone taking the ideas of a flat earth or Ptolemai views as live options that have not yet been addressed, let alone as an attempt to refute and rebut them.

In any case, can you cite these "responses" you refer to so that we can see for ourselves what they are?

Jeffrey Gibson

Toto

I would like a list of the professionals who have responded to MJers in any way.

Flat-earthism is not a serious modern belief, but you do find at least one professional astronomer who debunks ideas like "the moon landing was faked" - Phil Plait at www.badastronomy.com

There is no comparable site that carefully lays out facts that would show that there was a historical Jesus. There are apologetic sites that recycle a lot of arguments that have not worked in debates here.