mythicism – Freethought Nation

The Mythicist Position and Astrotheology

N. B.
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The Mythicist Position: “Mythicism represents the perspective that many gods, goddesses and other heroes and legendary figures said to possess extraordinary and/or supernatural attributes are not “real people” but are in fact mythological characters. Along with this view comes the recognition that many of these figures personify or symbolize natural…

N. B.
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Below is a talk by “countermissionary” and “Jewish apologist” Rabbi Tovia Singer regarding “Jesus mythicism” or the opinion that Jesus Christ is a mythical figure. Initially, I thought Singer would adhere to the typical “historical Jesus” party line, proffering “proofs” that have been rebutted for centuries. I was pleasantly surprised…

What people are saying about the work of D.M. Murdock/Acharya S

N. B.
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Over the decades that I’ve been writing about and teaching what is called “Jesus mythicism,” many educated people who have studied my work have made supportive comments. While my detractors like to toss out defamatory claims, the one thing most of them have in common is that they have never…

Dutch theologian and banned pastor: ‘Christ in Egypt’ is a ‘fantastic book!’

N. B.
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A Dutch theologian who was banned recently from appearing in a local Reform Church for saying that Jesus is a myth drawn from Egyptian religion has stated that he has studied my book Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection. Rev. Dr. Edward van der Kaaij ruffled many feathers when he…

The belief Jesus was “pure spirit” was prevalent in early Christian history

N. B.
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“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” 2 John 1:7 (RSV) “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ…

What is a mythicist?

N. B.
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Just as declaring oneself an atheist does not make one automatically an expert in religion, seeing Jesus as a myth does not make someone an automatic expert in Christian origins. There are many people calling themselves “mythicists” – i.e., someone who views various biblical/supernatural figures as mythical, not historical –…

Bart Ehrman errs again – this time about virgin births

N. B.
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In a blog from December 2014, New Testament scholar and ex-evangelical Christian Bart Ehrman tries his hand at comparative religion and mythology, which is clearly not his forté. Indeed, Ehrman demonstrates abundantly his non-expertise in the subject by making blatantly false claims, so we must wonder why he is pretending…

N. B.
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Hi there – Tomorrow, December 21st, I will be doing a radio program hosted by Mythicist Milwaukee, beginning at 8:00 PM EST/7:00 PM CST/5:00 PM PST/1:00 AM GMT. The show can be heard live here: http://www.riverwestradio.com/ Scroll down to the audio box or “bambuser,” where you will see our program,…

The Great Jesus Debate goes mainstream

N. B.
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The Great Jesus Debate is now in the MSM at The Washington Post. Unfortunately, the article by Raphael Lataster cites the snippy Richard Carrier, as well as Bart Ehrman and Maurice Casey, all of whom have attacked and defamed me rather viciously. Of course, there is no mention of their…

Bart Ehrman caught in lies and libel?

N. B.
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In Did Jesus Exist? (p. 24), New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman quotes my book The Christ Conspiracy and refers to an image of a bronze sculpture of a cock, commenting in brackets (except for my “sic”): “’Peter’ is not only ‘the rock’ but also ‘the cock’ or penis, as the…

What is more logical, rational and scientific?

N. B.
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A. Believing there was a supernatural Jewish man 2,000 years ago who was born of a virgin, battled with Satan in a desert, cured the blind with spit, raised the dead, walked on water, multiplied fishes and loaves, transfigured on a mount, resurrected from death and flew off bodily into…

A skeptical life raft in a sea of supernaturalism

N. B.
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If there’s one thing we can say about Michael Sherlock, it’s that he is quotable–and he loves to make “meme” images with his quotes, which others enjoy sharing. His book The Gospel of Atheism and Free Thought According to Sherlock is no less quotable. When I first heard the title,…

Jesus Christ is a mythical figure

N. B.
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The “Jesus Christ” of the New Testament is a fictional compilation of characters, not a single historical individual. A compilation of multiple “people” is no one. When the mythological and midrashic layers are removed, there remains no historical core to the onion. The evidence reveals that the gospel story is…

Jesus Christ, Sun of Righteousness

N. B.
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I’m excited to let you know about my brand-new video – hot off the presses! Please like, comment and share my video on Youtube! Here’s a great review: “Because I am an astronomer and a student of the Bible, it is glaringly obvious to me that Jesus is merely another…

An exchange with a Christian fundamentalist

N. B.
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I recently became aware that a Christian fundamentalist, “DS,” was circulating a blog by another rabid fanatic – whom I shall call “BS” – that smeared me with all manner of vile calumny, based on Bart Ehrman’s trashy and libelous Did Jesus Exist? book. This fundie – a man, of…

Bigotry in the nonbelieving and mythicist fields

N. B.
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I’m essentially the lone female scholar of notoriety in the field of mythicism, and I can guarantee you that my treatment is not unlike the first woman sports announcer in the locker room, the first female stock trader, or any number of “firsts” in which women have been harangued relentlessly.…

Martyr for mythicism: Rev. Robert Taylor

N. B.
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When the Church of England’s Rev. Robert Taylor (1784-1844) began preaching Bible mythicism – the view that significant biblical figures are mythical, not historical – from his popular pulpit during the 1820s, he was subjected to a sustained campaign of abuse that lasted for many years. He was convicted twice…

Christian book admits Jesus mythicism is having unprecedented influence

Acharya S
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In January 2013, biased New Testament scholar Maurice Casey published an anti-mythicist rant called Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths? The book contemptuously misrepresents my work in a string of ad hominem attacks and fallacies. Of course, I’ve addressed a significant portion of his arguments already, but he’s willfully…

Mainstream scholarship: Abraham and Moses mythicism is respectable

Acharya S
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Note how this Wiki article reports that modern scholars question the historicity of the biblical story of the Israelite patriarch Joseph, using comparative religion/mythology: “Modern day scholars believe the historicity of the events in the Joseph narrative cannot be demonstrated. Hermann Gunkel, Hugo Gressmann and Gerhard von Rad identified the…

Mythicist book about Bart Ehrman and the Christ myth

Acharya S
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The collaborative rebuttal of Bart Ehrman’s book Did Jesus Exist? is available both in Kindle and hard copy. This one-of-a-kind volume is entitled Bart Erhman and the Quest of the Historical Jesus of Nazareth: An Evaluation of Ehrman’s Did Jesus Exist? (Cranford, NJ: American Atheist Press, 2012). The book includes…

Dawkins tweets Jesus mythicism

Acharya S
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On April 10, biologist and atheist writer Dr. Richard Dawkins tweeted about comparisons among Jesus, Dionysus, Horus and Krishna, posting an image from the film “Zeitgeist” that included Attis and Mithra. He asks: Comparisons often made of Jesus with Horus, Dionysus, Krishna etc. Any real scholars out there confirm each…

Robert M. Price: What I think of Acharya S/D.M. Murdock

Robert M. Price
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About a decade ago, I wrote a harsh review of a book called The Christ Conspiracy by one Acharya S. The book set forth the Christ Myth theory, of which I am also an adherent, but it took a very different approach. I felt the need to distance myself from…

Pope admits donkeys and cattle in nativity scene are a ‘myth’

Acharya S
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As are the rest of this cast of characters. Sounds like the pope took a swig of truth serum recently. He has also admitted the dating of 0 AD/CE does not represent the “real” year of Christ’s birth. What is the world coming to? Next he’ll be calling Christ the…

Richard Dawkins questions Jesus’s existence in Playboy magazine

Acharya S
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Below is a quote from Richard Dawkin’s interview in the September 2012 edition of “Playboy,” in which he questions the existence of Jesus Christ as a historical figure. It’s nice that Dawkins has apparently been appraised of Earl Doherty’s important work on the Pauline epistles, but there is MUCH more…

A conversation on the Caesar’s Messiah thesis

Acharya S
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UPDATE: As concerns the “news” about this thesis rocketing around the net, forgive me if I’m a bit skeptical. This “announcement” is a paid press release, which is significant because it’s not a news item that anyone’s investigated. Rather than some newly discovered confessional document, I’m imagining Joe’s found a…

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