Reason Jesus must have been a real person

[Dancefortwo]

Christopher Hitchens, for example, has said he thinks Jesus was a real person and there must be some background to the myth of the Resurrection because there's no way an author would make women so important to the story (ie, Mary Magdalene finding the empty tomb, etc).

No, Hitchens was wrong on that mainly because he does not seem to understand what was going on.

First off, there are not 4 gospel stories, there is only 1.  The so-called "mark."  The others are later expansions or re-writes of the basic story.  For what ever reason, "mark" set his story in the early first century AD during the prefecture of Pontius Pilate which ended in 37 AD when he was removed from office by then Governor of Syria Lucius Vitellius Veteris.  So we have the terminus ad quem for the story.  Mark was initially composed in Greek, for a Greco-Roman audience probably in Antioch, Syria.  The "when" is just as much of a problem.  Xtians try to insist that it was written in 70 AD because of the Little Apocalypse but that is merely the earliest possible date.  It could just as easily have been written near 130 AD when Hadrian got the great idea of leveling the ruins of Jerusalem to build them a new city, which he called Aelia Capitolina.  Either way, it does not matter.  Because of the existence of 5 different endings for mark....apparently later xhristards couldn't stand the original ending...it is clear that the original story ended at 16:8.

Mark 16:8 King James Version (KJV)

8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

(In case your forgot.)

Whoever wrote "mark" had to explain why, some 40-100 years later, depending on point-of-view, people were just hearing this story.  His solution was to have a bunch of silly women be the witnesses who disobeyed orders and kept silent.  It's always the woman's fault as the republicunts are trying to prove with Kavanaugh!

Plus, whoever wrote Mark didn't know his way around Palenstine so it's doubtful he ever lived or visited there.  His geographical errors are confusing and just plain wrong.    Also the last few lines of Mark were written and  added sometime after 325 ACE.    None of this story makes any sense.