For People Who Think There Was No Historical Jesus

[Confused Ape]

As I said, when times get rough, people look for some sort of savior, and any guy with a half-assed claim might be given some acceptance. The best known at the time is Theudus (about 44CE) who was rallying the people to follow him (see Josephus).

But the Christian texts are very hard to get history right concerning this period because they need to join a Jesus and a Paul mythology and then try to apply it to make it a nice period piece. So if you can ignore the Christian history, there was a great struggle happening.

I looked Theudus up and found some mangled history in the Acts of the Apostles.

Acts 5:33-39 gives an account of speech by the 1st century Pharisee Gamaliel, in which he refers to two first century movements. One of these was led by Theudas (v 36) and after him another was led by Judas the Galilean (v 37). Josephus placed Judas at the Census of Quirinius of the year 6 and Theudas under the procurator Fadus[27] in 44-46. Assuming Acts refers to the same Theudas as Josephus, two problems emerge. First, the order of Judas and Theudas is reversed in Acts 5. Second, Theudas's movement comes after the time when Gamaliel is speaking.

So, maybe the Jesus myth was inspired by the Messianic craze and history was just mangled to fit. The Census of Quirinius provided an excuse for the journey to Bethlehem story.

The Census of Quirinius refers to the enrollment of the Roman Provinces of Syria and Iudaea (Judaea) for tax purposes taken in the year 6/7.

In Christianity, the Gospel of Luke connects the birth of Jesus to this census and states that it covered the entire Roman world and required individuals to return to the ancestral birthplaces.

Jesus's birth was then placed during the reign of wicked King Herod the Great because everyone would think him capable of massacring babies. Pilate happened to be Prefect at just the right time for Jesus's execution because who wants a divine Messiah wandering around preaching for decades?