The End of an Illusion: How Bart Ehrman's "Did Jesus Exist?" Has Laid the Case for an Historical Jesus to Rest

368 Pages·2012·1.68 MB·English

by  Earl Doherty

THE END OF AN ILLUSION

How Bart Ehrman’s “Did Jesus Exist?”
Has Laid the Case for an Historical Jesus to Rest

Earl Doherty

This publication is an edition with minor revisions of a series
hosted on the Vridar blog March – August 2012

originally titled
“Earl Doherty’s Response to Bart Ehrman’s Case Against
Mythicism”
Age of Reason Publications
Ottawa Canada
To Neil
for all his support
despite our occasional
differing views

Copyright © 2012 by Earl Doherty. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, except for review
purposes or in a “fair use” context, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher.

Published in 2012 by Age of Reason Publications
CHAPTER SUMMARIES
________________________________________________________

Preface to the E-book edition

Chapter 1: Introduction
Anticipation of Ehrman’s book and initial reaction to it. Procedure in
this rebuttal. Ehrman’s Introduction: How did a humble non-divine
preacher become God? Problems with Ehrman’s answer. His recent
discovery of mythicism and an appeal to authority. Examining the term
“myth” and a “mythical Jesus” in the record. Calling on experts.
Demonizing agendas.

Chapter 2: An Introduction to the Mythical View of Jesus
Ehrman’s appeal to Schweitzer and the problems faced by both
Schweitzer and Ehrman. The logical improbability of Ehrman’s
reconstruction of an historical Jesus. Ehrman’s appeal to pre-Gospel
sources and his failure to notice the problems that will have for his own
reconstruction. Ehrman’s treatment of the history of mythicism and the
contradiction his observations present for common claims about mythicism
among mainstream scholars.

Chapter 3: Basic Mythicist and Historicist Positions
The argument from silence and the positive case for mythicism. Why is
Paul so silent on the historical Jesus? Paul’s “words of the Lord”.
Problematic Gospels and their basis in scripture. Dependence on Mark / no
variety in Passion story. The question of parallels with pagan salvation
myths. Uncertainty surrounding Jesus’ teachings.

Chapter 4: Preliminary Remarks
Probability in history and the burden of proof. Ideal evidence historians
want against what they actually have. Ehrman downplays the problems
with the (lack of) evidence. Unsuccessful comparison with Pontius Pilate.
Absence of eyewitness accounts. Late date of the gospels. Ehrman
overlooks problems with Luke’s Prologue. Ehrman overlooks scholarship
on origin of the Gospel of Luke. Ehrman fudges reference to the backbone
of New Testament scholarship (Markan priority).
Chapter 5: A Roman Trio
Pliny the Younger – Letter to Trajan: Information taken from
Christians. Is “Christ” a man or only a god? “Christo quasi deo” –
“as” or “as if”? Ancient quotes have no “quasi”.
Suetonius – Life of Claudius: “Chrestus” and the expulsion of
Jews. Misleading translation. Paul and Acts
Tacitus – Annals 15: “Christ” but no “Jesus”. Tacitus’ source:
archive or hearsay? “Procurator” vs. “Prefect”. The question of
authenticity. No Christian witness to martyrdom for the Great Fire.
No Roman witness after Tacitus. Sulpicius Severus (c.400) the first
witness.

Chapter 6: Jewish Sources
Philo of Alexandria
Josephus: the Testimonium Flavianum: entirely interpolation or an
authentic residue? Is an authentic residue “neutral”? Is the
Testimonium intrusive or a digression? Silence of Christian
commentators on the Testimonium before Eusebius. How could
Josephus have felt ‘positive’ or even neutral toward Jesus? Is the
Testimonium’s language the language of Eusebius? Changes to the
Testimonium and its location. The case of the Antiquities 20 reference
to “brother of Jesus, called Christ”.
The Jewish Talmud: Why are there no traditions about Jesus going
back to the 1st century?

Chapter 7: Telling the Gospels Like It Is
Should “faith documents” be treated as legitimate historical
sources? Are the Gospels independently based on oral tradition?
Matthew and Luke’s story is Mark’s story. Hearing about Nazareth
and Jesus. Should we trust accounts of George Washington but not
Jesus? Equating Luke and Plutarch, or Luke and Philostratus. Mark
as sole source for a life of an earthly Jesus. Luke and Matthew’s
“special material” (“L” and “M”). John’s dependence on the
Synoptics. Gospels of Thomas, Peter, Egerton as “independent
accounts”.

Chapter 8: The Existence of Non-Existent Sources
Downplaying what scholarship knows. Oral tradition hypothesis
fails the prediction test. How one story became four. Luke’s and
Matthew’s special sources. Insupportable claims for Mark and John.
Evolution of Jesus. Who invented Jesus?

Chapter 9: Form Criticism and the Sources of the Gospels
The Fallacy of Form Criticism. The Written Evidence of Common
Patterns Versus the Oral Tradition Hypothesis. Literary Construction
out of Scripture, not Oral Traditions. Traditions in Thomas and Q—
not independent. The Path to Jesus is Paved with Good Assumptions.
How Ehrman Dates the Sources to the Day After Jesus. The Aramaic
Origins of (Some) Oral Traditions. Aramaic originals? An Aramaic
Son of Man?

Chapter 10: Listening to the Sounds of Silence
Does anyone on the early Christian scene deny the existence of the
Gospel Jesus? Ignatius’ letters the first to show support for the Gospel
story. Does 1 John reveal the first dispute over an historical Jesus?
Should we expect Celsus to be a New Testament exegete? Trypho’s
“groundless report”. Silent rabbis on Jesus’ non-existence. Why do
2nd century apologists not attack the Christ cult of Paul as a heresy?
The process of transition from a heavenly to earthly Christ. The Logos
religion of the 2nd century apologists. Revisiting Josephus and
Tacitus.

Chapter 11: Three Voices on the Historical Jesus: No.1 – Papias
Papias’ Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord as revealed by
Eusebius. Papias’ uncertain chain of oral transmission. Had Papias
read any Gospels? Papias’ “Mark” and “Matthew”: not the canonical
Gospels, and not read by Papias. Papias quotes nothing from any
version of our Gospels. The bizarre things Papias gives as sayings of
the Lord. By c.125, no written Gospels have reached the bishop of
Hieropolis in Asia Minor

Chapter 12: Three Voices on the Historical Jesus: No.2 – Ignatius
of Antioch
Are the Ignatian letters forgeries? What does “truly” mean for
Ignatius? Ignatius knows no Gospels in 110 CE or later. Rumors
of an allegorical tale interpreted as history. No teachings of Jesus, no
miracles, no apostolic tradition. Why did docetism arise in Ignatius’
time? Two reactions to the historical Jesus. A Christ myth in
Ignatius’ Ephesians.

Chapter 13: Three Voices on the Historical Jesus: No.3 – 1
Clement (with Addendum on the Epistle of Barnabas)
Issue of authenticity of 1 Clement. Does 1 Clement know any
Gospels? Christ speaking out of scripture. Clement knows of the
Passion through Isaiah 53. Christ’s sacrificial ‘blood’ and ‘flesh’
belong in the mythical dimension. Prophecy in scripture not
fulfilled in history. Epistle of Barnabas: still lacking a written
Gospel. Barnabas points to scripture as his source. New
Testament math: 0 + 0 = ? A progression from mythical to
historical.

Chapter 14: The Non-Pauline Epistles: I
Apostles with no connection to an historical Jesus. Pilate in the
2nd century epistle 1 Timothy. 1 Peter knows a suffering Christ
through Isaiah 53. Christ “hung on a tree”. The “flesh” and
“body” of Christ and his “likeness” to men. The epiphany of Jesus
in 2 Peter. Reading an historical Jesus into the epistles of John.
No historical Jesus in Revelation.

Chapter 15: The Epistle to the Hebrews – I
God speaking through a Son in a new reading of scripture.
Hebrews’ Son a heavenly entity like the Logos. Hebrews 101: a
sacrifice in a heavenly sanctuary. An event of revelation at the
start of the sect. No words of Jesus on earth to be found. Another
motif of “likeness” to humans. “In the days of his flesh”: not
Gethsemane. Christ “out of Judah”. Hebrews’ sacrifice in
heaven. Taking on a “body” in the scriptural world.

Chapter 16: The Epistle to the Hebrews – II
First smoking gun: 8:4 – a denial that Jesus had been on earth.
Platonic parallels between heaven and earth. Christ could not be a
priest in the same sphere as the earthly priests. Second smoking gun:
10:37 – “the coming one” has not yet been to earth. 9:27-8 – a
“second coming” or a sequence of events? Jesus “suffered outside
the gate”. Jesus “passing through the heavens”. The inauthenticity
of the epistle’s postscript.

Chapter 17: Jesus Traditions in the Acts of the Apostles
Ehrman accepts Acts as reliable history. Acts as a second
century product. Judas treated as an historical figure. More
Aramaic tradition? The speeches in Acts. Adoptionism: When
Jesus becomes God’s son. Tracing the sequence of ideas about
Jesus. Syncretizing two separate movements.

Chapter 18: The Pauline Epistles – I
Born of woman, born under the Law: authentic to Paul? Jesus
ministering to the Jews. A missing equation: Paul’s Christ = the
Gospel Jesus….Romans 1:3 – “of David’s seed kata sarka”.
“Brother(s) of the Lord”: a preliminary look. “The Twelve”.
Paul’s “Lord’s Supper” a revelation. “Betrayed by Judas” or
“handed over” by God? Delivered up “at night”. 1 Thessalonians
2:14-16: “the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus”.

Chapter 19: The Pauline Epistles – II
“Words of the Lord”: from earth or heaven? Why doesn’t
Paul quote Jesus more extensively? The epistles exclude an
historical Jesus. Paul’s conversion chronology. Paul’s crash course
on Jesus from Cephas and James. How much interpolation in Paul?
Surveying the counterarguments. Ehrman answering G. A. Wells
on the silence in Paul. Why did Paul not use Jesus’ miracles to
prove the imminence of the kingdom?

Chapter 20: “Key Data” in Proving Jesus’ Historicity – I: Brother
of the Lord
The meaning of “brother” in the epistles. Brethren of a sect?
Who is “the Lord”? Question begging as methodology. Why not
“brother of Jesus”? Separating Cephas and James. G. A. Wells: a
Jewish messianic group? More grammar: genitive vs dative.
Josephus’ James. Ehrman on Robert Price. “Brother of the
Lord” as a marginal gloss.

Chapter 21: “Key Data” in Proving Jesus’ Historicity – II: A
Crucified Messiah, Pt.1
The conflict between messianic expectation and result.
Assumptions based on the Gospels and Acts. Why did Paul
persecute the early church? Paul’s gospel vs. Ehrman’s view of
early church beliefs. Christ as “curse” for being “hanged on a
tree”. Paul switching horses in mid-stream. A new view of
Christian origins. The traditional Jewish Messiah. Jesus as lower
class Galilean peasant. Who would make up a crucified Messiah?

Chapter 22: “Key Data” in Proving Jesus’ Historicity – II: A
Crucified Messiah, Pt.2
Jesus and David Koresh. Was a crucified criminal believed to
be the messiah? Ehrman’s “story” of a resurrection. A story
missing in Q and the epistles. Did Jews invent a crucified
messiah? Did Jews anticipate a suffering messiah? The sources
and nature of Paul’s new messiah. Ehrman’s summary of his
evidence with summary responses.

Chapter 23: A Problematic Record
Admitting to problematic Gospels. Gospel authors unknown.
Fallacious analogies: Obama, Clinton, Hitler, Washington.
Discrepancies and contradictions in the Gospels. Radically
different pictures of Jesus. How much of the Gospels is fictional?
Form criticism and the argument of Robert Price. The criterion of
dissimilarity: is it applicable in the Gospels?

Chapter 24: The Gospels as Interpretive Paraphrases of the Old
Testament
The Gospels constructed out of scriptural midrash. Jesus’
passion modelled on a traditional Jewish story. The Gospel of the
Old Testament according to Robert Price. The Gospel Jesus as a
new Moses. A Jesus miracle modelled on Elijah. What does the
midrashic Gospel Jesus symbolize? Fictional episodes vs. the
genuine article. Thomas L. Thompson and intertextual
dependency. What did Paul mean by “receiving” and “passing
on”? Putting one’s trust in Luke and John.

Chapter 25: Is Jesus Based on Pagan Precedents?
A cult of parallels between Christianity and the Mysteries.
Comparing Jesus with Apollonius of Tyana. Kersey Graves as