Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Jesus mythicism, yet again

Jesus mythicism, yet again

Last updated on: April 12, 2020 at 2:48 pm by Dan Peterson

Jesus mythicism, yet again 2020-04-12T14:48:09-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bethlehem today. The two towers attached to the Church of the Nativity are visible in the distance against the sky. To the far right stands the minaret of a mosque.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I published this article in the Deseret News on Christmas Day 2014. So, for obvious reasons, it’s couched as a Christmas column. Nonetheless, since it is relevant to the question of the genuine historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth, which was raised by a reader earlier today, I reproduce it here:

Jesus wasn’t born on Dec. 25. Pretty much everybody knows that. But the precise date of his birth scarcely matters, compared to the sheer fact that he was, in fact, born.

The notion that Jesus is merely mythical, that no historical Jesus ever actually existed, has gained surprising traction among non-scholars over the past decade or two, especially in certain vocally atheist circles.

In an early-2014 interview published on the Christian Agnostic blog, Princeton Theological Seminary’s Dale Allison, one of the most prominent New Testament scholars now working, suggested that “the recent resurgence of the mythical point of view … may be driven in part by the Internet. In the past, most of the gatekeepers of the discipline — acquisitions editors — wouldn’t have been interested in the topic. The Internet, for better and worse, has changed this. It’s now possible for a movement to make itself felt independently of the big publishers.”

He’s surely right. As he also is, I suspect, in commenting that, “if I may presume to speak for the scholarly community, my guess is that most New Testament scholars are more annoyed than anything by the renewed debate.”

That annoyance is plainly visible in Maurice Casey’s 2013 book “Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths” (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, March 2014). Casey, who was an emeritus professor of New Testament languages and literature at Britain’s University of Nottingham when he died in May following a lengthy illness, had been, as he himself said, completely irreligious since his 20th year. Nonetheless, he devoted his last book — which has been gently described as “feisty” and “spirited” — to countering the claim that Jesus is an invented fictional character.

And I’ve already written in this space about the prolific New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman, a James A. Gray distinguished professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (see “An agnostic’s argument that Jesus did exist“). Although he describes himself as “an agnostic with atheist leanings,” he was astonished to realize, only recently, how widespread the view has become that Jesus is myth, not history, and felt himself compelled to write a book firmly answering yes to the question “did Jesus exist?”

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of course, are blessed with modern revelation confirming both Jesus’ historical existence and his divinity. We’re not left to sift through fragmentary, disputed ancient texts hoping to draw provisional inferences. The Book of Mormon, for example, corroborates many of the details of Jesus Christ’s life, including his miraculous birth, miracles, atoning death and resurrection.

Among the fundamental beliefs separating Christianity from its Jewish and Muslim sister faiths is the conviction that the Lord of heaven became incarnate (literally, “enfleshed”) and dwelt among us — “that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). “For God so loved the world,” testifies the Gospel of John, “that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“Christ shall come among the children of men,” prophesied Alma, “to take upon him the transgressions of his people” (see Alma 34:8).

“And behold, he shall be born of Mary. … And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:10-12).

It’s in view of this unique Christian doctrine that Orson Scott Card’s statement, which occurs in a brief but profound personal essay published just this past week onmormoninterpreter.com, should be understood:

“So to me, as a boy thinking about Christmas, it seemed that … what really mattered about Jesus was not that he was the Son of God, but that he was One of Us. It is not his difference from ordinary mortals that we should be celebrating, it’s his similarity.”

At that first Christmas, deity became human, fully human, so that humanity might have a path to the divine. “He descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:6).

A very joyous Christmas to all!

Previous Post

April 11, 2020

Thoughts for Holy Saturday

Next Post

April 11, 2020 Extrabiblical References to Jesus?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

The Old Testament prophet Joel spoke of "wonders in the heavens and the earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke before the great and terrible day of the Lord." (Joel 2:30) Which one of the disciples quoted him in the book of Acts?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John Andrew James Peter