My blog

[TimOneill]

@TimOneill, I was hoping you might visit this forum. I learned a lot from your visit to ex-Christian.net a few months ago.

Thanks. The Mods on that forum decided that the ex-Christians there were delicate little flowers who couldn't be challenged to rethink whatever ideas they had arrived at to replace their former faith, however whacky. I got tired of being scolded simply for asking supposed rationalists to actually think critically about their ideas. In fact, I have contributed to Christian forums less wrapped in cotton wool than that place. Let's hope discussion on this forum can be more robust.

What's your best guess about the historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity? Here is a link listing various theories for convenience:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/theories.html

I'm convinced that the Apocalyptic Prophet interpretation makes the most sense by far. It's the most parsimonious read of the evidence and the least driven by other, modern ideological agendas. It's also the majority position of critical scholars, especially non-Christian scholars but also including some Christian ones, e.g. Dale Allison, whose work on this subject is excellent.

The divisions in that list are fairly artificial though. Very little of what Vermes said is in any way incompatible with the apocalyptic prophet idea. Vermes put his emphasis on other aspects of Jesus' Jewish context and its reflection in what is reported about him, but he agreed that Jesus' message had a profound and important eschatological (ie "the end is nigh!") element. I don't agree with Crossan et al and the "Jesus Seminar" guys on Jesus as a kind of hippy "sage" (or "Jesus of California" as a mate of mine calls that school), but some of what they say is valid and is also compatible with Jesus as an apocalyptic. Ditto for Horsley and Jesus as a prophet of social change. These are not mutually exclusive positions.

But I reject the Jesus of Faith of Christian conservatives like Wright. And the Jesus Myth fringe is also weak and usually ideologically driven.

Also, do you have an opinion of this book or author ("Jewish Gospels" by Boyarin)? I find the idea that Christianity existed before Jesus very interesting, but I prefer investing my limited brain-power on reputable books.
https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/2012/03/0...sh-gospel/

I haven't read it, but other scholars of Second Temple Judaism find it pretty unimpressive. See this critical review by Jewish Studies scholar Peter Schäfer for details.