The Myth of Jesus with David Fitzgerald - Episode 01

David Fitzgerald has been called “one of the busiest atheist activists in the Bay Area.” In addition to serving on the board of San Francisco Atheists and CFI-SF, he has also been the Director/Co-Founder of both the world’s first Atheist Film Festival and Evolutionpalooza!, San Francisco’s oldest annual Darwin Day celebration.

0:00 Satanic Preface with opening remarks by Scott Heftler, Ph.D. 
2:52 Introducing David Fitzgerald, his origin story and the plurality of Jesus
5:35 Raphael Lataster — will Raphael be a guest speaker on a future episode?
11:02 David's writing style — very deliberate and intention
12:28 Introducing Bart Ehrman and our GoFundme
17:31 Is there any way to distinguish a Mythicist from a non-Mythicist.
26:15 What did saving mean for the mystery cults? And for the pro-Christians what did saving mean?
27:33 What was the ultimate plan of this "descending" Jesus?
29:42 David describes the dionysian influence on the Christ myth.
30:55 The Constantine controversy
32:28 The borrowing of ideas is a Good thing. 
38:25 "Back then, being a literalist ... " (SCOTT)
48:47 To control or not to control? That is not the question. 
50:42 The idea of Jesus as an avatar/re-incarnation of Yahweh (the name we can not say) and the inspiration for Jesus.
55:36 This wisdom of Socrates? What is it "Good" for?
57:01 Clarification of all that "sex stuff". 
1:06:21 We are novel seeking queerants? It's human nature! — And the book of Ester — "lot's of sex in it."
1:13:32 Contradictions in faith
1:15:43 Do you think the son of man character is primary like Bart Ehrman?
1:18:18 My last question and the crossing of the rubicon. Myth or historically accurate?
1:21:14 Miracle mockery including the Shroud of Turin.
1:22:33 Watching the bio pick with Tom Hanks and Mr. Rogers

In addition, he is an author and historical researcher who has been actively investigating the Historical Jesus question for over eighteen years. He has a degree in history and was an associate member of CSER (the former Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion). He lectures around the world at universities, churches and national secular events, and also speaks to religious groups. David lives in San Francisco with his wife—writer, producer and movie actress Dana Fredsti.

They have a new science-fiction trilogy, TIME SHARDS, from Titan books. David’s latest book is Jesus: Mything in Action (the follow-up book to his NAILED: Ten Christian Myths that Show Jesus Never Existed at All) and the newest addition to his new series, The Complete Heretic’s Guide to Western Religion.

A Short List of Topics David is Eager and Qualified to Talk About:

“Jesus: Mything in Action” Argues why the “Real Jesus” of secular historians is just as mythical as the “Jesus of Faith” – and why the argument matters to atheists, no matter if Jesus really existed or not.
“Sexy Violence! Violent Sex! The Weird-ass Morality of the Bible” IS every sperm sacred? Was Paul gay? Where’s MY concubines? The latest presentation from David Fitzgerald asks these and other important biblical morality questions. A hard-hitting and hilarious investigative report on how the Bible is even more twisted than you already thought (note: As you may guess, this talk gets a little racy & contains strong language)
“The Complete Heretic’s Guide to Western Religion: Mormonism” – Drags all the skeletons out from Joseph Smiths' closet.
David can also put together humorous and informative presentations on most of the other topics in the CFI Bureau Topics and Sub-topics lists.
Watch below as David gives his presentation titled “The Ten Thousand Christs and the Evaporating Jesus”:

********************************
Welcome to my channel, where my passion for philosophy drives every discussion, reflection, and exploration. Whether you're here to dive deep into ancient wisdom, explore modern interpretations, or broaden your intellectual horizons, you're in the right place.

I am thrilled to share my journey in philosophy with you, especially through my latest work, Plato Re-Imagined, which I co-authored with Dr. Martine Diepenbroek, a Classics & Ancient History Research Fellow from the University of Johannesburg. This book is more than just a scholarly endeavor; it represents a bridge between ancient philosophical traditions and contemporary thought, offering fresh insights into Plato's timeless dialogues.

If you want to go even deeper, I invite you to explore our companion course, available exclusively through planksip® Academy. This course is designed to challenge your understanding, encourage critical thinking, and bring the wisdom of the past into meaningful conversation with the present.

#googleplanksip

[JLFAN]

An old (American) Indian once put it this way: "I am going to tell you a story; it didn't happen, but it's true."

[Cat_Woods]

It's really sad how few of the commenters on this video paid attention to what was said in it or investigated their own claims. Thanks for the episode. I hope there are a lot more.

[onedaya_martian]

In the travels through the YouTube "atheist" websites, this presentation is like reaching the summit of a hill and finding the vista truly amazing. Simply marvellous discussion showing that religious stories in general and the bible in particular is an allegorical expository for the querent in all of us (thank you for new word).
One of the most delightful conversations I have had the pleasure of listening too !! My sincere appreciation !!!

[fepeerreview]

11:30 Already promoting his next book and it's not even written yet, "The Enchilada We Call Christianity".
I'd order it!

[PoeLemic]

Thank you for sharing this knowledge and this content. I am such a Big Fan of David Fitzgerald. I really love his books and his thoughts. I rank him right up there with the best of the mythicists of our generation. However, I wish that the future episodes would be more organized. Have an outline for multiple topics on the same thought train. Get on one topic and then develop it. This is wonderful, but it's a large number of different pieces of things that need to be discussed, analyzed, and really developed. Not that I don't like this, but it seems like an overview for an entire semester of classes. This was the Intro Lecture class. But, please, go to one topic for another episode, then have DF organize his points. Go at them -- one-by-one -- instead of just a brain-dump of these topics. That's the only complaint that I would make about this video. But, hopefully, the next episodes will correct this shortcoming.

[Stupidityindex]

Mind blowing how humans are affected by fiction, & now we have a Mike Johnson.

[johnnehrich]

If we look at the main characters in modern fiction, we often find the author based his or her protagonist on a real person, but it isn't based on their actions, etc., it is their character. Sherlock Holmes is based on Dr. Joseph Bell, Conan Doyle's mentor in medical school (i.e, not a detective). Miss Marple and Vera are based on the different authors' elderly relative. Children's stories like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan get their first name from an actual child the author knew, but not the surname and certainly not the story line.

In most of these cases, the reference to a real live person is so tenuous that we don't consider there was historical Holmes, Marple, Stanhope, Pan, etc.

In the case of Mark, he apparently started with the same mythical celestial Jesus that was killed and rose again, as Paul was writing about. Did he have access to Paul's letters themselves or was he just aware of this one sect's beliefs. I do think he took the name of Peter and James from early leaders of the church, but personally I think he recast them in different roles. Paul's Peter may have been a successful Jewish businessman and Mark got a kick out of casting him as a lowly fisherman. He may have purposely kept Paul out as Paul was a bully "know-it-all" and laughed about having his Jesus "give the keys to the Kingdom" to his Peter.

So Mark started with the name of his main character and with the climactic finish. He may have know some charismatic itinerant preacher but this guy may or may not have been named some variant of "Jesus." And he needn't have been crucified. Paul may have even based the circumstanced of Jesus in terms of his ministry on what he had heard of John the Baptist (who seems to have been a real person).

The all-important crucifixion could not have happened in the way Mark and the others tell it, so it seems to bare little resemblance to some actual guy's demise.

Then Mark spins his tale on modernized fables from the Old Testament with a few Greek legends thrown in. What I've seen of the thorough study of the Gospels, these writers seem to have only a passing knowledge of the holy land and get things wrong or off kilter. And the rigid structure Mark and the others use in the verses would hardly go in the order he describes. Scholars try to distill out any drops of a historical person and there doesn't seem to be any, whatsoever.

[andrewisjesus]

The third century isn't 300 years later.
Christianity emerges around the second century which is 100-199 ; so the third century is 200-299; and the nostic stuff is early 200s. Not to mention we don't have any manuscripts from prior to the 3rd and 4rd century

[tonymessinajr]

have you ever read about the 6 anti-slavery efforts by Jefferson, while in elected office, to put an end to slavery? 3 anti-slavery actions were actually adopted, but nobody knows it though, can you or anyone else name one or any of them? my work on this is titled "Jefferson: The Opprobrium of Slavery". it includes 10 letters of Jefferson talking about the subject in great detail.

[JamesRichardWiley]

Happy, optimistic, well adjusted, normal, functioning, atheists.
What a great idea.

[shanejohns]

Why is the playlist playing them in reverse order?

[cooljledge]

Thanks for this. I enjoy the history of it. Don't really have a dog in this hunt. Refer to myself as secular because I am not a theist or anti-theist.

[toddcott]

My Labrador is called Jesus. He is the son of dog.

[samuelpope]

Anyone that insists they know for a fact there was a historical Jesus is lying or deluded. There might have been but it's really remarkable how little we really know about the dude given the notarity of the cult he started. Given this state of affairs the only thing we can say with certainty is that when it come to communication god really sucks.

[yeshuagl]

About more than 50% of this video consists of chitchat about things or persons, Bart Earhman, Raphael Latester, other than the myth of Jesus. What a waste of time.

[paddymeboy]

'One of the busiest atheists in the bay area' - just wow!

[Shytot-]

Where ignorance is bliss religions thrive.

[JLFAN]

If Jesus was a nonhistorical person (like Moses), then wouldn't his sexuality be irrelevant?

[whippet]

King David was a Hyksos Egyptian Pharaoh Divid of the Lower Kingdom, monotheistic, practiced circumcision and adhered to dietary laws.

[oreopagus]

David Fitzgerald's bio says he has a degree in history. That's it? From where? What type of history degree?