Why Can’t Mythicists Be More Like Creationists?

Last updated on: August 14, 2010 at 3:10 pm by James F. McGrath

Why Can’t Mythicists Be More Like Creationists? 2010-08-14T15:10:00-04:00 James F. McGrath

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From the outset, when I’ve made the analogy between mythicism and various forms of creationism, I have emphasized that this is an analogy. Historical studies does not provide the degree of certainty that the natural sciences do. My point was simply to hopefully get people who call themselves freethinkers to realize that they were accepting views that run counter to the scholarly mainstream in one area while condemning those who do the same in another area, even using some of the same tactics in the process.

In one respect, mythicists differ significantly from most forms of creationism. Creationists have long been trying to establish scientific legitimacy for their views. The young-earth creationists used to try to get their young supporters to pursue legitimate degrees in biology, geology, or other natural sciences, until they realized that such studies led those who undertook them to change their views. Would that more mythicist young people would pursue degrees in history!

Young-earth creationists and intelligent design proponents also try hard to find some piece of research that they can get through the peer review process and into print in a mainstream scientific journal. Would that mythicists would submit their work to peer review to mainstream history journals! Optimist that I am, I still dare to hope that the feedback they received when their work was rejected might help them understand why mainstream historians would find fault with their claims.

So I’m appealing to mythicists to be more like creationists, and at least try to get their arguments past peer review. If you’re successful, it will provide evidence that those of us who work in the field of historical Jesus studies are indeed out of step with mainstream historiography. If you’re unsuccessful, perhaps the feedback you receive from the blind peer review process will give you a sense of what mainstream historians make of your claims. Either way, you stand to benefit, whereas if you don’t try, then there’s no use in complaining that your claims are not treated as academically serious, since you haven’t even tried to do things in the manner appropriate to academia.

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