Quote:So, we can't really be sure that Paul not being mentioned is significant.
Well, then you must ask yourself WHEN paul became significant to the story? Because if he brought the story to the Gentiles and the Gentiles know fuckall about it there is a hole in the story.
Quote:This idea means accepting that Jesus really existed.
Quite the opposite. It means that the idea of some jerkoff coming back to life 3 days after being killed pre-dates "jesus" by 30+ years at least and because no one wrote about them we have no idea how widespread this particular cult idea may have been.
It does not require a real "jesus" anymore than the Prometheus myth requires a real Prometheus. People willingly believe all sorts of stupid shit.