Reason Jesus must have been a real person

[Bahana]

What it really comes down to is how reliable is the gospel of Mark. Carrier and others argue that there are so many symbolic and mythic elements in there that it's not history. Other scholars disagree and think there are some facts you can get about him from Mark and other sources. I'm not entirely convinced by the mythicists but it doesn't matter either way because I don't think Mark is very reliable.