Why do people think Jesus didnt exist? A theory
Reasons for disbelief:
Even for the religiousforums, there have been an unusual number of posts on whether or not Jesus was a historical person. Often and on during my time here I have seen the same issue crop up, die out, then sometime later crop up again. At the moment, however, there are three active threads on this subject, which is sort of unusual. And once again I find myself addressing the same points, often with the same people.
In addition to simply engaging in the various debates, I started thinking about the phenomenon as a whole. After all, this forum is hardly the first time I have come across large groups of people believing Jesus never existed, no matter how many articles, books, monographs, etc, I cite. They almost invariably will never read them, and my ability to get all the points across can only amount to summaries which can be easily rejected.
So I began to wonder what exactly is behind this widespread phenomenon, particularly when it is contrasted with the view of all the people in the best position to know (biblical scholars, NT scholars, scholars of ancient Judaism, classicists, etc). And I came up with the following ideas:
The most obvious reason is that a lot of people arent Christian. However, this isnt an adequate explanation. First, a great many scholars who have worked in one way or another in historical Jesus research arent Christian either. Second, there are a lot of Christians who would write off another historical figure as mythical if similar evidence were given. Finally, there are many Christians who dont view the NT as having any historical value anyway: it is true because it is Gods word.
The real reasons have a lot more to do with several related issues or trends or whatever within the modern world. One obvious place to begin, given that we are talking about history, is how most people view the genre history, and what they believe it is. Even within the past fifty to a hundred years, global literacy rates have risen enormously in many places which were largely illiterate. Not to get into politics, but in industrialized nations (or more particularly, nations with public education) virtually everyone knows how to read. Also, even for those people who hate reading, through school most have been forced to read history books.
There is an obvious and vast gulf between history written today and the gospels. Im not just talking about extremely erudite books and monographs written by professors of history. Even the popular conspiracy theory books on how Bill Clinton and his wife had people murdered or Bush engineered 9/11 so that he could go to war are, despite their reliance on hearsay, rumor, and enormous speculation, far more recognizable to the modern mind as history.
Along with this widespread knowledge of what history is (or ought to be) often comes a complete lack of how history was written in the past, particularly the ancient past. Most of the laypeople who read about ancient Rome, for example, dont ever actually read the primary sources. They dont know what biographies or histories looked like back then. Even those who have actually read some classical sources generally only read the most famous, and generally in translation. This makes it quite difficult, if not impossible, for most people to look at the gospels in relation to other works of ancient history.
Coinciding with the above is the widespread knowledge of who Jesus is and even where his story comes from. Christianity is the largest religion in the world, has been a driving force for centuries upon centuries, was and is a missionary religion, and youd have to look pretty long and hard to find somehow who hadnt heard of Jesus and the bible. There are a few other figures from antiquity that most people know about, e.g. Socrates or Plato, but far fewer of these actually are aware of where our information on Socrates or Plato come from.
Then there is the change in culture and belief since the so-called Enlightenment, the rise of science, and the rise of a particular world-view often dominated by what science can confirm. Even for the religious, particularly for the largest religions, science and scientific evidence are very important; just not when it comes to faith (unless it is someone elses faith).
All these factors combine in an interesting way. First, without knowing the nature of ancient history or the sources we have, but being aware of the gospels as religious texts filled with implausible to impossible stories, it is easy to write them off as completely mythical, and (given what appears to be very little evidence outside of Christian sources) therefore conclude that Jesus never existed.
Reasons for disbelief:
Even for the religiousforums, there have been an unusual number of posts on whether or not Jesus was a historical person. Often and on during my time here I have seen the same issue crop up, die out, then sometime later crop up again. At the moment, however, there are three active threads on this subject, which is sort of unusual. And once again I find myself addressing the same points, often with the same people.
In addition to simply engaging in the various debates, I started thinking about the phenomenon as a whole. After all, this forum is hardly the first time I have come across large groups of people believing Jesus never existed, no matter how many articles, books, monographs, etc, I cite. They almost invariably will never read them, and my ability to get all the points across can only amount to summaries which can be easily rejected.
So I began to wonder what exactly is behind this widespread phenomenon, particularly when it is contrasted with the view of all the people in the best position to know (biblical scholars, NT scholars, scholars of ancient Judaism, classicists, etc). And I came up with the following ideas:
The most obvious reason is that a lot of people arent Christian. However, this isnt an adequate explanation. First, a great many scholars who have worked in one way or another in historical Jesus research arent Christian either. Second, there are a lot of Christians who would write off another historical figure as mythical if similar evidence were given. Finally, there are many Christians who dont view the NT as having any historical value anyway: it is true because it is Gods word.
The real reasons have a lot more to do with several related issues or trends or whatever within the modern world. One obvious place to begin, given that we are talking about history, is how most people view the genre history, and what they believe it is. Even within the past fifty to a hundred years, global literacy rates have risen enormously in many places which were largely illiterate. Not to get into politics, but in industrialized nations (or more particularly, nations with public education) virtually everyone knows how to read. Also, even for those people who hate reading, through school most have been forced to read history books.
There is an obvious and vast gulf between history written today and the gospels. Im not just talking about extremely erudite books and monographs written by professors of history. Even the popular conspiracy theory books on how Bill Clinton and his wife had people murdered or Bush engineered 9/11 so that he could go to war are, despite their reliance on hearsay, rumor, and enormous speculation, far more recognizable to the modern mind as history.
Along with this widespread knowledge of what history is (or ought to be) often comes a complete lack of how history was written in the past, particularly the ancient past. Most of the laypeople who read about ancient Rome, for example, dont ever actually read the primary sources. They dont know what biographies or histories looked like back then. Even those who have actually read some classical sources generally only read the most famous, and generally in translation. This makes it quite difficult, if not impossible, for most people to look at the gospels in relation to other works of ancient history.
Coinciding with the above is the widespread knowledge of who Jesus is and even where his story comes from. Christianity is the largest religion in the world, has been a driving force for centuries upon centuries, was and is a missionary religion, and youd have to look pretty long and hard to find somehow who hadnt heard of Jesus and the bible. There are a few other figures from antiquity that most people know about, e.g. Socrates or Plato, but far fewer of these actually are aware of where our information on Socrates or Plato come from.
Then there is the change in culture and belief since the so-called Enlightenment, the rise of science, and the rise of a particular world-view often dominated by what science can confirm. Even for the religious, particularly for the largest religions, science and scientific evidence are very important; just not when it comes to faith (unless it is someone elses faith).
All these factors combine in an interesting way. First, without knowing the nature of ancient history or the sources we have, but being aware of the gospels as religious texts filled with implausible to impossible stories, it is easy to write them off as completely mythical, and (given what appears to be very little evidence outside of Christian sources) therefore conclude that Jesus never existed.