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Questioning the Historicity of Jesus
Why a Philosophical Analysis Elucidates the Historical Discourse
Series: - Value Inquiry Book Series, Volume: 336
- Philosophy and Religion, Volume: 336
- Value Inquiry Book Series Online, Volume: 336
Author:
This volume moves beyond the mainstream scholarly scepticism over the Christ of Faith and considers if there is sufficient evidence to establish the existence of the more mundane Historical Jesus. Using the logical tools of the analytic philosopher, Lataster finds that the relevant sources are unreliable as historical documents, and that the key method of those purporting that the Historical Jesus existed is to appeal to sources that do not exist. Considering an ancient hypothesis suggesting that Jesus began as a celestial messiah that certain Second Temple Jews already believed in, and was later allegorised in the Gospels, Lataster discovers that it is more reasonable to at least be agnostic over Jesusâ historicity.
Raphael Lataster, Ph.D. (2017), University of Sydney, is an associate lecturer at that university. He has published monographs and articles on Godâs existence and Jesusâ existence, including The Case Against Theism (Springer, 2018).
âForeword
âAcknowledgments
âIntroduction
â1Which Jesus?
â2A Debate among Atheists
â3The Problem
â4The Philosopherâs Probabilistic Approach
â1Ehrmanâs Dual Approach towards the Gospels
â1A (Mostly) Wonderful Start
â2The Gospels and the Folly of the Hypothetical Source
â2Beyond the Gospels
â1The Problem of Paul
â3Caseyâs Superfluous âScholarshipâ
â1Poisoning the Well
â2âMethodâ
â3Why the Gospels Ought to Be Trusted, but Only When We Feel like It
â4After the Case
â5Even Worse than Ehrman: Offensive and Facetious
â6Crossanâs Brief Attempt
â4Inadequate Methods
â1History Concerns What Probably Happened
â2Criteria for Authenticity
â3Faith and Inconsistency
â4A Bayesian Alternative
â5The Criteria vs. Bayes
â5Inadequate Sources
â1The Silence of the Primary Sources
â2âOtherâ Christian Sources
â3(Non-Christian) Extrabiblical Sources
â4Josephus
â5Tacitus
â6Thallus (and Phlegon)
â7Pliny, Suetonius, and Mara Bar Serapion
â8The Talmud
â9The Less Interesting Books of the New Testament
â10The Canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts, and John
â11Markâs Burden
â12The Genre of the Gospels
â13Burridgeâs Take on the Gospelsâ Genre
â14Markâs Failure
â6The Problem of Paul
â1The Docetic/Marcionite Jesus
â2The Earliest Witnessâ Sources
â3Paulâs Minimal, Unquotable Jesus
â4Paulâs Cosmic Christ
â5Philoâs Pre-Christian and Pre-Pauline âCelestial Jesusâ
â6The Evolution of Jesus
â7Fictitious Founders
â8The Revelation of/from Paul
â9Agnosticism is Rational
â7Prior Probabilities
â1The Problem
â2The Hypothesis of Historicity
â3The Hypothesis of Myth
â4Background Knowledge (Christianity)
â4.1Elements of Christian Origin
â4.2Elements of Christian Religion
â5Background Knowledge (Context)
â5.1Elements of Political Context
â5.2Elements of Religious and Philosophical Context
â5.3Elements of Literary Context
â6The Prior Probability
â8Consequent Probabilities
â1Primary Sources
â2Extrabiblical Evidence
â3The Evidence of Acts
â4The Evidence of the Gospels
â5The Evidence of the Epistles
â9Calculations
â1Carrierâs Calculations
â2Alternative Calculations
â3Devilâs Advocate
âConclusions
â1The Glory of Agnosticism
â2Mainstream Scholars Already Agree with Us
âBibliography
âIndex
âAcknowledgments
âIntroduction
â1Which Jesus?
â2A Debate among Atheists
â3The Problem
â4The Philosopherâs Probabilistic Approach
Part 1: The Case for Historicity
â1Ehrmanâs Dual Approach towards the Gospels
â1A (Mostly) Wonderful Start
â2The Gospels and the Folly of the Hypothetical Source
â2Beyond the Gospels
â1The Problem of Paul
â3Caseyâs Superfluous âScholarshipâ
â1Poisoning the Well
â2âMethodâ
â3Why the Gospels Ought to Be Trusted, but Only When We Feel like It
â4After the Case
â5Even Worse than Ehrman: Offensive and Facetious
â6Crossanâs Brief Attempt
Part 2: The Case for Agnosticism
â4Inadequate Methods
â1History Concerns What Probably Happened
â2Criteria for Authenticity
â3Faith and Inconsistency
â4A Bayesian Alternative
â5The Criteria vs. Bayes
â5Inadequate Sources
â1The Silence of the Primary Sources
â2âOtherâ Christian Sources
â3(Non-Christian) Extrabiblical Sources
â4Josephus
â5Tacitus
â6Thallus (and Phlegon)
â7Pliny, Suetonius, and Mara Bar Serapion
â8The Talmud
â9The Less Interesting Books of the New Testament
â10The Canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts, and John
â11Markâs Burden
â12The Genre of the Gospels
â13Burridgeâs Take on the Gospelsâ Genre
â14Markâs Failure
â6The Problem of Paul
â1The Docetic/Marcionite Jesus
â2The Earliest Witnessâ Sources
â3Paulâs Minimal, Unquotable Jesus
â4Paulâs Cosmic Christ
â5Philoâs Pre-Christian and Pre-Pauline âCelestial Jesusâ
â6The Evolution of Jesus
â7Fictitious Founders
â8The Revelation of/from Paul
â9Agnosticism is Rational
Part 3: The Case for Mythicism
â7Prior Probabilities
â1The Problem
â2The Hypothesis of Historicity
â3The Hypothesis of Myth
â4Background Knowledge (Christianity)
â4.1Elements of Christian Origin
â4.2Elements of Christian Religion
â5Background Knowledge (Context)
â5.1Elements of Political Context
â5.2Elements of Religious and Philosophical Context
â5.3Elements of Literary Context
â6The Prior Probability
â8Consequent Probabilities
â1Primary Sources
â2Extrabiblical Evidence
â3The Evidence of Acts
â4The Evidence of the Gospels
â5The Evidence of the Epistles
â9Calculations
â1Carrierâs Calculations
â2Alternative Calculations
â3Devilâs Advocate
âConclusions
â1The Glory of Agnosticism
â2Mainstream Scholars Already Agree with Us
âBibliography
âIndex
Those dissatisfied with the crypto-theological conclusions of parochial New Testament scholars and are ready for a âfreshâ approach, the sort of minimalism now widely accepted in Old Testament research.