Show Me the Transitional Fossils!

Review of Jesus Mythicist Books

Gospel Fictions by Randel Helms

This is a must read for anyone fascinated by the symbolism and mythology in the gospel accounts. My favorite parts were:

* Comparison of a buddhist legend to Matthew's story of Peter walking on water. Apparently there was an old story about a disciple of Buddha who began meditating on the Buddha and walked on water. He came out of his meditation, saw the waves and became frightened, and sank. He then regained his meditation and was again able to walk on water. (p.81) This may sound incredible that the early Christians would have known about a Buddhist legend, however, Helms informs us that there were Buddhist missionaries telling this tale in the middle east as early as the second-century BCE.

* Comparison of Jesus' raising of Lazarus to an Osirus myth. Apparently "Lazarus" the greek form of the Hebrew "Eleazar" is similar to the Jewish form of Osirus (El-Osirus). Both Lazarus and Osirus are raised after 4 days, one in Bethany and the other in Anu (Which is semitized as "Beth-annu"). There are several other similarities between the stories, though I am not sure they are meaningful. The similarities presented here are intriguing, but not conclusive.

* Helms' incite (p.128) that the tearing of the temple curtain at Jesus' death is symbolic: The curtain was of the place called the Holy of Holies, where God was thought to dwell. When the temple curtain was torn, the division between man and God was broken. Helms doesn't quite put it like this, but this what I take from what he wrote.

Helms has many other fascinating viewpoints, and I can't list them all here. Overall he does a great job of showing how nearly all of the gospel stories come from the Old Testament. I give it a 90 out of 100.

The Historical Evidence for Jesus by G. A. Wells

The good aspects of Wells' book is that it is highly educational about why certain books of the bible are not accepted as authentic. His chapter on the "shroud of turin" is likewise very educational (if not a bit outdated, he wrote this in 1988 before carbon-14 tests had been done on the artifact).

Wells' thesis is not that the earliest Christians disbelieved in a historical Jesus, but that they did not believe Jesus had lived recently. As evidence for this, he cites the Apostle Paul's silence about Pilate and his complete silence about anything that would clearly place Jesus in the first century CE. To those who argue that Paul's silence would not matter because those to whom he was writing already knew about all this, he stresses how often Paul speaks of Christ's death by crucifixion.

There is, however, a critical problem with Wells' thesis: Paul's reference in Galatians 1:19 to James, the "brother of the Lord". On pages 167-174 Wells attempts to explain this. He cites a scholar writing in 1927 (!) who suggested that the phrase "brother of the Lord" might have referred to a "zealous sect" of Christians. He explains away the reference in Mark to Jesus' brothers as a pious lie intended to combat Docetism by giving Jesus brothers in order to emphasize his fleshly existence. He later argues that the only prominent James in the church was "James the son of Zebedee" and not anyone referred to as a brother of the Lord (the book of Acts never names James as a brother of the Lord). As further support for his position, he points us to Matthew 28:8-10, in which Jesus calls the disciples his 'brethren'.

I must say I don't find this completely convincing. I think that perhaps if one took Mark as being allegorical, then the argument could be strengthened. But Wells does not take this view, and so I do not find his particular formulation of mythicism to be convincing.

Overall I view Wells' case as being very weak, although his book was a decent read. I'd give it a 70 out of 100.

Don't forget that I'm still planning on reviewing Jesus: A Very Jewish Myth (I've already read it) and I'm also planning to review The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man by Robert Price as soon as I read it.

I've also tentatively decided not to enter the Jesus Mythicist contest, on the grounds that the preliminary research I've done has made me realize that I may not have the skills to interpret these ancient works.

Review of "More than a Theory"

My Review of Hugh Ross' book, "More than a Theory: Revealing a Testable Model of Creation", is finally available on Internet Infidels.

I must take issue with one thing: They deleted my introduction to the review. I emailed someone at II, and hopefully this will be fixed soon. In the meantime, I'm posting the introduction here:

This is a review of “More than a Theory” by Dr. Hugh Ross. Ross’ goal in writing this book is to present a “testable creation model”. My goal in writing this response is to challenge the arguments he makes and point out potential and/or actual problems with it. Although it would be impossible for me to point out all problems I see in his book, I think it would be pertinent to the evolution/creation debate to point out the most serious ones.

Solid Advice for Atheist Kids

Reading On Jesus Mythicism

I have decided to focus my attention on Jesus Mythicism, and will be reading books on the subject for the next few weeks. I just downloaded RG Price's book "Jesus: A Very Jewish Myth" and will be sure to write a review of it when I am done.

I also ordered "The Historical Evidence for Jesus" by GA Wells and it should be at my house next week. Finally, I'm bidding (at eBay) on Robert Price's book "The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man" so I may read that (if I win the auction).

Also, as of now I'm reading Randel Helms' "Gospel Fictions" which, although it does not advocate mythicism, still inadvertently supports mythicism by showing how much symbolism and fiction lie behind the gospel accounts.

Last but not least, I'm planning to read two books when they come out: The Jesus Puzzle (Second Edition) by Earl Doherty, which he informs me will be out in August/September of this year, and "On the Historicity of Jesus Christ" by Richard Carrier (no date set).

The Kalam Argument and Hilbert's Hotel

LukeProg over at Common Sense Atheism has written up a fascinating post about the Kalam Cosmological Argument.

If you're interested in philosophy his series is a must-read!!

Penn Says: From the Great Apes to Cyberspace