Not to diminish the voluminous argument set forth by the op, and others... I watched a few of Mr. Atwill's interviews and presentations on "Caesar's Messiah", and was totally unconvinced. It just isn't a compelling story, or reason for it other than selling a few books! Not to mention all the intangibles to sort through about Roman & Hebrew culture at that time. Just doesn't add up! "Hey! We'll stop feeding enemies of Rome to the Lions, and sell them a story!" uh-huh, yup
But, IMO what decisively throws out [every argument] about Jesus & the Gospel as being "made-up", is the institution of the Eucharist. It was totally foreign to any concept, about any religion in the world then or now! And, that was I'm sure by divine design. For anyone wanting actual evidence; there are thousand's of miracles, and many on record involving unexplained events involving the Holy Eucharist!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharistic_miracle
But, IMO what decisively throws out [every argument] about Jesus & the Gospel as being "made-up", is the institution of the Eucharist. It was totally foreign to any concept, about any religion in the world then or now! And, that was I'm sure by divine design. For anyone wanting actual evidence; there are thousand's of miracles, and many on record involving unexplained events involving the Holy Eucharist!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharistic_miracle
Quis ut Deus?
