James McGrath on "Jesus mythicism"

JAMES MCGRATH has an essay in The Christian Century taking on "Jesus Mythicism." James puts a lot of effort in his blog on refuting this particular brand of nonsense and the article summarizes some of the main points against it.

Fringe view
The world of Jesus mythicism
Nov 07, 2011 by James F. McGrath

Scholars disagree about how Jesus understood his life and his mission. Countless labels have been applied to him: cynic sage, apocalyptic prophet, rabbi, exorcist, Messiah. But everyone agrees that he existed, right?

Historians and religion scholars do. But a surprising number of people hold the view that the existence of Jesus is a myth: he is not just a heavily mythologized historical figure, but pure or nearly pure fabrication from start to finish. Jesus mythicists have a substantial web presence, and their views have been promoted in films such as Religulous and Zeitgeist.

It might seem best to ignore such fringe claims. But as we know from debates over evolution and other subjects, views that no expert finds persuasive can still have an impact on public discourse, education and much else.

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