"Ancient Confession Found: 'We Invented Jesus Christ'"

[Skwim]

"Biblical scholars will be appearing at the 'Covert Messiah' Conference at Conway Hall in London on the 19th of October to present this controversial discovery to the British public.

American Biblical scholar Joseph Atwill will be appearing before the British public for the first time in London on the 19th of October to present a controversial new discovery: ancient confessions recently uncovered now prove, according to Atwill, that the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ.

​

Atwill asserts that Christianity did not really begin as a religion, but a sophisticated government project, a kind of propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of the Roman Empire.

Was Jesus based on a real person from history? "The short answer is no," Atwill insists, "in fact he may be the only fictional character in literature whose entire life story can be traced to other sources. Once those sources are all laid bare, there's simply nothing left."

SOURCE and a lot more

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Right or wrong, I don't see it changing many minds.

 

[MoonWater]

Sounds like something out of a conspiracy theory to me. Still i'm curious to see what he has to say

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Whether or not a historical person existed which the Jesus myths were based on, the mythology of the figure itself is obviously an invention.

 

[ChristineES]

I've heard of this before. I, personally, don't buy it. Edited to add: I already know that doesn't surprise anyone.

 

[FranklinMichaelV.3]

Yeah I find this highly unlikely.

 

[ImprobableBeing]

If he has anything i suggest that he gets it published in a peer reviewed journal like the JRS.

My hunch is that he's got a book coming and wants to make some money.

 

[illykitty]

Okay first question popped into my mind reading this was then why were Christians persecuted and why did it take so long before Romans embraced it?

 

[sojourner]

I don't see anything on the web site that promotes these gentlemen as eminent bible scholars or Jesus scholars. I don't see anything other than a desire to cash in on a tide of anti-religion fervor, and the desire to promote a new book that has not been adequately peer-reviewed. When I see something to the contrary, I might treat it as being worth my time.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

I don't see anything on the web site that promotes these gentlemen as eminent bible scholars or Jesus scholars. I don't see anything other than a desire to cash in on a tide of anti-religion fervor, and the desire to promote a new book that has not been adequately peer-reviewed. When I see something to the contrary, I might treat it as being worth my time.

They aren't. I think this might be a publicity stunt?

It would be funny if the author actually believed this stuff.

 

[ImprobableBeing]

I don't see anything on the web site that promotes these gentlemen as eminent bible scholars or Jesus scholars. I don't see anything other than a desire to cash in on a tide of anti-religion fervor, and the desire to promote a new book that has not been adequately peer-reviewed. When I see something to the contrary, I might treat it as being worth my time.

He previously wrote Ceasar's Messiah and this seems to be a follow up with newly found evidence of his, possibly to answer some of the criticisms from peer review on that.

We shall see how it pans out.

 

[Falvlun]

Hopefully, the research is meatier than that indicated by the article. Here is the evidence that is being offered in support of this theory:

"I started to notice a sequence of parallels between the two texts," he recounts. "Although it's been recognised by Christian scholars for centuries that the prophesies of Jesus appear to be fulfilled by what Josephus wrote about in the First Jewish-Roman war, I was seeing dozens more. What seems to have eluded many scholars is that the sequence of events and locations of Jesus ministry are more or less the same as the sequence of events and locations of the military campaign of [Emperor] Titus Flavius as described by Josephus. This is clear evidence of a deliberately constructed pattern.

So, a "more or less" similar sequence of events and locations is clear evidence of Roman construction?

How could this go unnoticed in the most scrutinised books of all time? "Many of the parallels are conceptual or poetic, so they aren't all immediately obvious.

Ah, so we are using poetic language to prove stuff? Maybe previous scholars didn't notice the trend because they interpreted the conceptual language differently. Why should a particular interpretation be preferred over another? Pretty flimsy.

Doesn't look like a whole lot of concrete evidence to me-- especially not evidence that the Roman government made the whole thing up. It could perhaps be used to support the idea that some of the Jesus story was changed to fit pre-existing concepts about how it should have occurred.

Like so many of us non-religious folk are fond of saying "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." And I ain't seeing much extraordinary here.

 

[ImprobableBeing]

Hopefully, the research is meatier than that indicated by the article. Here is the evidence that is being offered in support of this theory:



So, a "more or less" similar sequence of events and locations is clear evidence of Roman construction?



Ah, so we are using poetic language to prove stuff? Maybe previous scholars didn't notice the trend because they interpreted the conceptual language differently. Why should a particular interpretation be preferred over another? Pretty flimsy.

Doesn't look like a whole lot of concrete evidence to me-- especially not evidence that the Roman government made the whole thing up. It could perhaps be used to support the idea that some of the Jesus story was changed to fit pre-existing concepts about how it should have occurred.

Like so many of us non-religious folk are fond of saying "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." And I ain't seeing much extraordinary here.

Well that seems thoroughly unimpressive.

 

[LuisDantas]

You know, this would explain much and make a whole lot of sense.

I kinda doubt good evidence could be found at this point in time, though.

 

[Sunstone]

I'll place my money on the bet Atwill was much more inspired by money than by scholarship. Still, I think his point that religions are often used as a means of turning people against their own best interests is a valid one.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'll place my money on the bet Atwill was much more inspired by money than by scholarship. Still, I think his point that religions are often used as a means of turning people against their own best interests is a valid one.

Ha! As if people need help in that regard.

 

[Sunstone]

Ha! As if people need help in that regard.

Oh, common now! We are hands down the smartest, wisest, bat-crazy ape the world has ever seen.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Oh, common now! We are hands down the smartest, wisest, bat-crazy ape the world has ever seen.

Hmm, I'm skeptical of that claim. I've never seen a bonobo do any of the stupid crap that people proudly post themselves doing all over Youtube.

 

[outhouse]

You know, this would explain much and make a whole lot of sense.

I kinda doubt good evidence could be found at this point in time, though.

It really doesnt explain anything that makes sense.

The movement was practiced and flourished throughout the Diaspora for Gentiles and Romans and Proselytes, it did not do well in Israel. Galilean trouble making Jews were not the target as Joe fails to posit with any credibility.

Think about it, if you were goingh after rebellious Jews in Galilee you would write in Aramaic and Hebrew, not to the Koine Greek speaking Roman citizens outside Israel.

It was also looked down upon by Romans once they figured out it wasnt just another Jewish sect. [After the first century]


To me this is a big fail and pathetic to even call him a scholar

 

[Awoon]

"Biblical scholars will be appearing at the 'Covert Messiah' Conference at Conway Hall in London on the 19th of October to present this controversial discovery to the British public.

American Biblical scholar Joseph Atwill will be appearing before the British public for the first time in London on the 19th of October to present a controversial new discovery: ancient confessions recently uncovered now prove, according to Atwill, that the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ.

​

Atwill asserts that Christianity did not really begin as a religion, but a sophisticated government project, a kind of propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of the Roman Empire.

Was Jesus based on a real person from history? "The short answer is no," Atwill insists, "in fact he may be the only fictional character in literature whose entire life story can be traced to other sources. Once those sources are all laid bare, there's simply nothing left."

SOURCE and a lot more

​

Right or wrong, I don't see it changing many minds.

Who gets all the money Christianity has in Banks?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Who gets all the money Christianity has in Banks?

I'm thinking that might the be topic of Atwill's next book.