2022/02/15 by Christopher M. Hansen · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Religion and Society Interactions #Mormonism, Religion, and History #Christianity #Early Christianity #Historicism #Mythology #Argumentation theory #Philosophy #Judaism #Religious studies #Epistemology #History #Theology
paper · doi:10.1080/2222582x.2021.2001667
openalex publication_date 2022/02/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
In recent years a number of scholars (such as Richard Carrier and Robert Price) have published arguments in favour of a new model of the origination of Christianity from a mythological Jesus. Part of their argumentation has been to make the case for the concept of a pre-Christian Jesus who was worshiped, or a part of Judaism before Christianity ever arose. This article seeks to provide a new analysis of this topic, since there has been almost no academic literature published in response to the pre-Christian Jesus thesis in several decades. This article largely concludes that the concept, while interesting, is not convincing and would require far more substantial evidence to be considered a better alternative to historicist conceptions of early Christianity’s development.