Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER to all those celebrating.

James McGrath has a roundup post on relevant topics: Talpiot Tomb/Good Friday-Easter/Passover Round-Up.

The Jesus Discovery/Talpiot (Talpiyot) Tombs story has moved into the realm of the surreal with the confusion over the face of Jesus on one of the ossuaries. See Mark Goodacre at the NT Blog and make sure to read the update: Face of Jesus spotted in Ossuary 2, Talpiot Tomb B.

Background to the whole story is here and here and links.

Also, a relevant essay for the day: The Jesus debate: Man vs. myth (John Blake, CNN Belief Blog). Excerpt:

On this Easter Sunday, millions of Christians worldwide will mark the resurrection of Jesus. Though Christians clash over many issues, almost all agree that he existed.

But there is another view of Jesus that’s been emerging, one that strikes at the heart of the Easter story. A number of authors and scholars say Jesus never existed. Such assertions could have been ignored in an earlier age. But in the age of the Internet and self-publishing, these arguments have gained enough traction that some of the world’s leading New Testament scholars feel compelled to publicly take them on.

Most Jesus deniers are Internet kooks, says Bart D. Ehrman, a New Testament scholar who recently released a book devoted to the question called “Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth.”

He says Freke and others who deny Jesus’ existence are conspiracy theorists trying to sell books.

“There are people out there who don’t think the Holocaust happened, there wasn’t a lone JFK assassin and Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.,” Ehrman says. “Among them are people who don’t think Jesus existed.”

The article gives a pretty balanced treatment, by which I mean that it shows both sides of the argument and that one side is goofy. In fact, there isn't really an academic argument: the SBL, SNTS, BNTS, etc. annual conferences do not have "Did Jesus Exist?" sessions, because specialists who actually publish peer-review publications etc. agree that Jesus existed and don't see anything to debate.

What we can know about the historical Jesus is quite another matter, one about which there is much debate among specialists. For some related reflections see here, here, here, here, here, here, and follow the many links.

And in answer to the question posed in the article, yes, it matters if Jesus existed. Because history matters.