(May 8, 2013 at 1:46 am)apophenia Wrote: Even if there was a historical Jesus, it would be impossible to reliably separate out those elements of the story that are likely factual from those parts which are distorted or completely fictional.
It is not impossible and you are displaying a vast amount of ignorance. Perhaps you find it impossible because you do not understand the difference between history and theology.
Firstly, Jesus existed. There is an overwhelming amount of historical evidence and academic literature on the subject. For example, there is a peer reviewed academic historical journal entitled: "", which PhD historians often source when writing about the historical Jesus in an academic setting or, indeed, authors who write non-fiction books on the history of Jesus.
The Bible is a theological representation of the life and significance of Jesus; it is series of books written by people who perceived Jesus from a theological perspective. A PhD historian would not use The Bible as historical evidence because it not a historically accurate and reliable account of Jesus, hence it has no credibility from an academic perspective.
