Vorkosigan

It's irrelevant whether it was a known literary form, so long as it can be demonstrated that the Christians actually did it. Which has been done by many authors. For a good overview, see Helms' Gospel Fictions.

Vorkosigan

Llyricist

Not sure if it will work for you but this is results page I got from a search for "doherty" in thread titles of this forum:
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/search.php?searchid=135380

Vorkosigan

Well, then.....check out our reading list, and surge forward! I suggest starting with one of the recommended introductions to the New Testament writings (I personally am particularly fond of Koester's). Websites like Kirby's www.earlychristianwritings.com and Goodacre's New Testament Gateway should be considered mandatory.

Keep in mind that Doherty's views of Christian origins are not accepted by anyone in the NT scholar mainstream. As Toto pointed out, Doherty's ideas hinge on a certain dating not only for the letters of Paul, but also the other Christian epistles, and to a certain extent, the gospels as well. If all are second century forgeries, the idea that Jesus began as a mythical godman is probably gone, and so is any clue about what the origins of Christianity really were.

Vorkosigan

katiov

One of those rare situations in which I am annoyed with my parents for not bringing me up Christian! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, by the way.

Steven Carr

It is really not hard to find Christian apologists who will say that this is unique to Christianity, that that is unique to Christianity, and that some other thing is also unique to Christianity etc.

The fact that something would be unique to Christianity, if it had happened, is not a valid argument that it did not actually happen.

sodium

I think your basically right in that it isn't hard to believe that there might be some unique things about Christianity, and in fact, Doherty does make a case that the writers were basing the Gospel on scripture in this instance.
p 227 of 2nd printing.
I think this implies (if not outright states) that Jews would commonly compose new narratives based on scripture in the manner that the Gospels seem to have been at least partly constructed based on scripture. But I haven't been able to find any examples. Are there any?

Ted Hoffman

I wouldnt say so considering that the Gospels all derive from Mark (thus, they are basically 'one') and then considering the ratio of Pauline epistles as a percentage of the NT.

Secondly, Doherty shows the development of a HJ over time from Son of God (as in Daniel 7) to Historical Jesus of Nazareth.

Specifically, he shows that early christian documents refer to a son of God like Shepherd of Hermas, Didache, 1 Clement and Odes of Solomon.
He proceeds to show that the early christian apologists (before the year 180) with the exception of Justin Martyr, fail to mention a HJ in their defence of Xstianity against the pagans.

So the silence is not just in Paul.

Early writers dont clearly mention a HJ (ie. seem to depend on oral tradition) and a HJ becomes stronger with time.

A rough trend can be as follows:

Son of God/Logos (up to 150)

Shepherd of Hermas, 1 Clement, Didache, Tatian (Diatessaron), Athenagoras, Epistle to Diognetus

Vague references of a HJ (up to c.170)

Aristides, Theophilus, Ignatius

A HJ (up to 180)

Justin Martyr, Marcion (ignore the Docetic flavour), Minucius Felix?

A HJ drawn from the Gospels (post 180)

Irenaeus, Tertullian...Eusebius

So, there is a trend, and I think this is a major plus.

Ted Hoffman

Robert Price sir.

Price is open to a HJ, but I know he doesn't attempt to come up with an explanation like Funk who talks of reverse christology in Honest to Jesus. He clearly leans towards inexistence of Jesus and for Jesus as a literary creation of Mark with his employment of mythic-hero archetype to dismiss for example the birth narratives and numerous pericopes, he provides support for a MJ hypothesis.

What Price emphasizes in Incredible Shrinking son of Man is that the gospels are unreliable as history and based on MA and DC, the gospels can be disposed in toto as non-historical.

Price even states: "The hypothesis of some kind of informational bridge between a Historical Jesus and the creation of the Gospels becomes unnecessary. Bruno Bauer believed Mark had invented Jesus just as Mark Twain created Huck Finn" Robert Price, Incredible Shrinking son of Man, p. 30

Price has endorsed Doherty's book and one can read his comments in the blurb. I would think publication of Doherty's articles in Journal of Higher Criticism also speaks volumes about credibility of the theory.