On the Historicity of Jesus

On the Historicity of Jesus PDF Author: Richard Carrier
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781914490248
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This revised edition corrects the numerous typographical and other minor errors listed in "Typos List for On the Historicity of Jesus" at richardcarrier.info/archives/8551

Jesus from Outer Space

Jesus from Outer Space PDF Author: Richard Carrier
Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA)
ISBN: 1634312082
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
The earliest Christians believed Jesus was an ancient celestial being who put on a bodysuit of flesh, died at the hands of dark forces, and then rose from the dead and ascended back into the heavens. But the writing we have today from that first generation of Christians never says where they thought he landed, where he lived, or where he died. The idea that Jesus toured Galilee and visited Jerusalem arose only a lifetime later, in unsourced legends written in a foreign land and language. Many sources repeat those legends, but none corroborate them. Why? What exactly was the original belief about Jesus, and how did this belief change over time? In Jesus from Outer Space, noted philosopher and historian Richard Carrier summarizes for a popular audience the scholarly research on these and related questions, revealing in turn how modern attempts to conceal, misrepresent, or avoid the actual evidence calls into question the entire field of Jesus studies--and present-day beliefs about how Christianity began.

Proving History

Proving History PDF Author: Richard C. Carrier
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616145609
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

Book Description
This in-depth discussion of New Testament scholarship and the challenges of history as a whole proposes Bayes’s Theorem, which deals with probabilities under conditions of uncertainty, as a solution to the problem of establishing reliable historical criteria. The author demonstrates that valid historical methods—not only in the study of Christian origins but in any historical study—can be described by, and reduced to, the logic of Bayes’s Theorem. Conversely, he argues that any method that cannot be reduced to this theorem is invalid and should be abandoned. Writing with thoroughness and clarity, the author explains Bayes’s Theorem in terms that are easily understandable to professional historians and laypeople alike, employing nothing more than well-known primary school math. He then explores precisely how the theorem can be applied to history and addresses numerous challenges to and criticisms of its use in testing or justifying the conclusions that historians make about the important persons and events of the past. The traditional and established methods of historians are analyzed using the theorem, as well as all the major "historicity criteria" employed in the latest quest to establish the historicity of Jesus. The author demonstrates not only the deficiencies of these approaches but also ways to rehabilitate them using Bayes’s Theorem. Anyone with an interest in historical methods, how historical knowledge can be justified, new applications of Bayes’s Theorem, or the study of the historical Jesus will find this book to be essential reading.

Questioning the Historicity of Jesus

Questioning the Historicity of Jesus PDF Author: Raphael Lataster
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004408789
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 508

Book Description
This volume explains the inadequacy of the sources and methods used to establish Jesus’ historicity, and how agnosticism can reasonably be upgraded to theorising about ahistoricity when reconsidering Christian origins.

The Historical Jesus

The Historical Jesus PDF Author: Gary R. Habermas
Publisher: College Press
ISBN: 9780899007328
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description
Rev. ed. of: Ancient evidence for the life of Jesus. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Can We Trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus?

Can We Trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus? PDF Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1646980018
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Book Description
This book features a learned and fascinating debate between two great Bible scholars about the New Testament as a reliable source on the historical Jesus. Bart Ehrman, an agnostic New Testament scholar, debates Craig Evans, an evangelical New Testament scholar, about the historical Jesus and what constitutes "history." Their interaction includes such compelling questions as: What are sound methods of historical investigation? What are reliable criteria for determining the authenticity of an ancient text? What roles do reason and inference play? And, of course, interpretation? Readers of this debate—regardless of their interpretive inclinations and biases—are sure to find some confirmation of their existing beliefs, but they will surely also find an honest and well-informed challenge to the way they think about the historical Jesus. The result? A more open, better informed, and questioning mind, which is better prepared for discovering both truth and contrivance. The debate between Ehrman and Evans along with Stewart's introductory framework make this book an excellent primer to the study of the historical Jesus, and readers will come away with a deeper appreciation for the ongoing quest for the historical Jesus.

Is Jesus History?

Is Jesus History? PDF Author: John Dickson
Publisher: The Good Book Company
ISBN: 1784984574
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Book Description
An exploration of the historicity of Jesus and whether he is relevant today What can we really know for sure about the past? Can anything be trusted as reliable historical fact? What can we really know for sure about the past? Can anything from ancient history be regarded as €˜fact’? In particular, how seriously can we take the historical sources for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? Did he really even live in first-century Galilee and Judaea, or is he a figure of legend? In this timely book, historian Dr John Dickson unpacks how the field of history works, giving readers the tools to evaluate for themselves what we can confidently say about figures like the Emperor Tiberius, Alexander the Great, Pontius Pilate, and, of course, Jesus of Nazareth. He presents the evidence, methods, and conclusions of mainstream scholars-both Christian and not-and asks some pertinent contemporary questions, without offering any pushy answers: If Jesus really did exist, what are we to make of his own claims and those of his followers, and what would any of it mean for us today?

The Historical Jesus in Context

The Historical Jesus in Context PDF Author: Amy-Jill Levine
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 140082737X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 455

Book Description
The Historical Jesus in Context is a landmark collection that places the gospel narratives in their full literary, social, and archaeological context. More than twenty-five internationally recognized experts offer new translations and descriptions of a broad range of texts that shed new light on the Jesus of history, including pagan prayers and private inscriptions, miracle tales and martyrdoms, parables and fables, divorce decrees and imperial propaganda. The translated materials--from Christian, Coptic, and Jewish as well as Greek, Roman, and Egyptian texts--extend beyond single phrases to encompass the full context, thus allowing readers to locate Jesus in a broader cultural setting than is usually made available. This book demonstrates that only by knowing the world in which Jesus lived and taught can we fully understand him, his message, and the spread of the Gospel. Gathering in one place material that was previously available only in disparate sources, this formidable book provides innovative insight into matters no less grand than first-century Jewish and Gentile life, the composition of the Gospels, and Jesus himself.

Did Jesus Exist?

Did Jesus Exist? PDF Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062089943
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 449

Book Description
In Did Jesus Exist? historian and Bible expert Bart Ehrman confronts the question, "Did Jesus exist at all?" Ehrman vigorously defends the historical Jesus, identifies the most historically reliable sources for best understanding Jesus’ mission and message, and offers a compelling portrait of the person at the heart of the Christian tradition. Known as a master explainer with deep knowledge of the field, Bart Ehrman methodically demolishes both the scholarly and popular “mythicist” arguments against the existence of Jesus. Marshaling evidence from within the Bible and the wider historical record of the ancient world, Ehrman tackles the key issues that surround the mythologies associated with Jesus and the early Christian movement. In Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth, Ehrman establishes the criterion for any genuine historical investigation and provides a robust defense of the methods required to discover the Jesus of history.

The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith

The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith PDF Author: C. Stephen Evans
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019826397X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Book Description
The New Testament contains a story about Jesus of Nazareth which has always been understood by the Church to be historically true. It is an account of the life, death, and resurrection of a real person, whose links with history are firmly signalled in the creeds of the early church. Contemporary historical scholarship, on the other hand, has called into question the reliability of the church's version of this story, and thereby raised the question as to whether ordinary people can know its historical truth. In this book, a leading philosopher of religion argues that the historicity of the story still matters, and that its religious significance cannot be captured by the category of "non-historical myth." The commonly drawn distinction between the Christ of faith and the Jesus of history cannot be maintained. The Christ who is the object of faith must be seen as historical; the Jesus who is reconstructed by historical scholarship is always shaped by commitments to faith. Evans looks carefully at contemporary New Testament studies, and the philosophical and literary assumptions upon which it rests, to show that this scholarship does not undermine the confidence of lay people who believe that they can know that the church's story about Jesus is true. His accessible and controversial study will interest all thoughtful Christian readers. -- Publisher description.
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