Jesus Mythicism - Nazareth to Nicaea (Episode 1)

The Nazareth to Nicaea vodcast discusses the historical Jesus, the Christ of Faith, and everything in between. We look at the many texts and traditions, the stories and artifacts, the heroes and heretics of the christological controversies. We cover the debates, the doubts, and the dissenters about all things related to Jesus and the early church.

This episode examines the topic of "Jesus Mythicism" the belief that Jesus did not exist. I give 9 reasons why I doubt Jesus mythicism.

Otherwise keep up with me on:

Twitter: @mbird12

Recommended Reading
Justin Meggitt, ‘“More Ingenious than Learned?” Examining the Quest for the Non-Historical Jesus,’ NTS 65 (2019): 443-60.
M. David Litwa, How the Gospels Became History: Jesus and Mediterranean Myths (New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 2019).
S. Byrskog, ‘The Historicity of Jesus: How Do We Know That Jesus Existed?’, Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus (ed. T. Holmén and S. E. Porter; vols.; Leiden: Brill, 2010) 2183-2212.
Daniel Gulotta, “A Response to Richard Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt,” JSHJ (2017): 310-46.
Maurice Casey, Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths? (London: Bloomsbury, 2014).
Bart Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth (New York: Harper Collins, 2013).

#HistoricalJesus #Christology #Atheism #Apologetics #History #Theology #Church

[HegelsOwl]

Wow. Thanks so much for this. This sort of thing is long overdue.

[nicholassaastano]

Thanks Dr. Bird for this. Christians need to bd equiped with this. Im asked alot of questions of stuff they watch on youtube.at my work. From USA.

[davidgillespie]

“Christology so low they could win a limbo contest against a leprechaun”🤣🤣

[studiodemichel]

I'm sure Paul met (or attended one of His "lectures") Jesus, as a student of Gamaliel or a zealous Pharisee. Perhaps he even witnessed the crucifixion and hailed it as a good thing. I'm am very certain that He later met the glorified Jesus on the road to Damascus, and was blinded by the Glory of Him. One thing common to many textual and historic critics, is the ignoring the role of God in the production and preservation of the New Covenant texts. They criticize, also, on the fact that the earliest witnesses, like Jesus, were expecting an imminent return, which never happened. I believe we all will witness the second coming immediately upon our physical death, when we enter eternity and the Judgement. "For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." I believe I will experience the parousia either when I am awake (alive) or at my death (sleep). That is an expectancy of imminently, like the early church. "“But concerning that day and hour (parousia or death/sleep) no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” If we believe that we enter eternity and the perousia at the moment of death (which is often described as sleep), it really does occur within "this generation." Think about it. When we sleep, while alive, we have no consciousness of time. Death, if it be like sleep, we will awake into the parousia. "For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep." AND "...obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him." AND “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates."

[louisvanwyk]

@4:11 - Man, that is some deep stuff going on there

[joeyking]

You did not mention the peer-reviewed works of Dr. Richard Carrier and Dr. Rafael Lataster which came to the conclusion that Jesus probably did not exist. Why not? You mentioned Dr. Ehrman's non-peer reviewed book. Taoism formed without it's mythical founder, Lao Tzu. There was no Vishnu or Krishna to found Hinduism. There probably was no Patanjli to found yoga. Zoroaster was the mythical founder of Zoroasterism. Seems to me that mythical founders are the norm, not the other way around.

[HegelsOwl]

You know, of course, none of the arguments for historicity establish a formal condition.

[oreopagus]

One of your references is Richard Carrier. I heard him speak at a local event sponsored by atheists. One assumption piled upon another. Carrier is part of the POINT ONE PER CENT (.1 %) of folks with a legit ancient history degree who will not admit Jesus of Nazareth was a real person who lived in the first-century AD. He is in denial.

[Peejayk]

Mike: It looks like you haven’t read Richard Carrier’s book (on the Historicity of Jesus) and alternative view to explain this- until you do those mythical claims you cite in this video are very random. And here’s a fun fact that will wet your appetite: Mythicism actually supports early and prePauline christology!

[scottbignell]

I'm not a Christian, and I agreed with most of this. There are enough unknowns and oddities in the earliest texts (not to mention the vast amount of early Christian forgeries) to warrant asking the question of Jesus's existence, however I find that when one shifts the question from 'Did Jesus exist?' to 'How did Christianity begin?', then the most straight forward explanation is that there was a Historical Jesus.

[theoskeptomai]

One fact that Christians (none that I have ever encountered) never address is that there are no firsthand eyewitness accounts of this Jesus when, if the events as depicted in the gospels were true, one would reasonably expect there to be such.

Second, Christians never account for the fact that there are no known contemporary historian accounts that were written _about_ this Jesus.

[matthewsmolinsky]

Debate Dr. Carrier, he will destroy your arguments.

[xtremeactionrentals]

I don't think its professional to attack people's character and mannerism's as a method to establish your perspective as the correct one. its a fallacy as well and i lost respect for this youtuber after that point. focus on facts, evidence and statistics.