What were Jesus and early Christians like?

[Mudhammam]

Not at all. You just have to stick to what the evidence and the critical scholarship indicates and not bungled, erroneous crap from your brother. If your brother told you the evidence indicated that the gospels were all working off one single narrative, your brother was wrong. You should pay attention to people who know better than your brother. Clear?

And anyone should think you're included in that group why?

There's virtually no absolute agreement on most things in the humanities. Sorry, but if you want absolute agreement then mathematics and physics are down the hall and to your right. Here in history we work from the evidence we have and come to the argument to the best explanation; the one that explains the most evidence and requires the least suppositons. For about a century now pretty much every scholar on the planet has concluded that, using these parameters, it's most likely there was a historical Jesus. You think they're all wrong? Let's see you explain why.

I'm sure there was a historical Jesus. And a historical Bob and a historical George. Please tell me why I should think the Gospels relate any accurate historical information about this Jesus---or just stop babbling about the majority of scholars who can't seem to find any agreement over the basic facts other than that this man was born and died like thousands of other crucified victims.

Mark 1:9. Clear enough for you?

Right. One instance. Like I said. Do you read?

Then let's just say that after 30 years of studying this stuff in depth, reading the sources in the orignal language and taking all the critical scholarship into account, some dude responding to me with some half remmbered crap from his brother and something he doesn't quite remember that he didn't quite get around to saving but which sort of kind of said something or other doesn't exactly impress me.

In other words, you're about as qualified as my brother.

Clear?

Yep.

If you're going to respond again I advise you make sure you are very clear on what you're saying and why. Or just don't respond.

Here's a suggestion: go fuck yourself.

:-)