Varieties of Jesus Mythicism: Did He Even Exist?

by John W. Loftus, Robert M. Price

To most people on the planet, the existence of Jesus is a “Of course he did!” They take it for granted that he existed simply because it reaffirms their faith. But to the rest of us who don't believe in a supernatural Jesus, the question of the historicity of Jesus is not simple. There are thousands of different ideas about to what extent the Jesus tales were based on a real man, or men, or woman… Did Jesus even exist, and if not, what best explains the rise of such a character in the New Testament?

That is where John W. Loftus and Robert M. Price come in. Each with decades of experience in the fields of theology and Christian history, Loftus and Price have compiled essays from some of the top authorities on Jesus mythicism to establish the world's first academic catalogue of mythicist beliefs. Experts who provided chapters include David Fitzgerald, Joseph Atwill, Michael Lockwood, and more!

The question is no longer simply, "Did Jesus even exist?" In this compilation, you'll find yourself questioning everything about the Christ story and how it truly began.

Genres: Atheism

449 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 18, 2021

Reviews

[Eric Wojciechowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I were to write a book on Jesus Mythicism, I’d make it as solid a case as I could. I’d start with essays on the Gospels and Paul’s Epistles. Then move on to Hebrews and the Catholic Letters and Revelations and everything else. I’d have essays on everything about Jesus outside the Bible, like analysis of Josephus and Tacitus and Pliny. I’d make the case that Jesus probably started as an imagined heavenly being, higher than the angels, who was with god in the beginning and committed his sacrifice in the lowest plains of heaven, not on earth. I’d make this case to set the record straight on what Christianity was in the beginning, not what it became and has been with us ever since. Any work on Jesus Mythicism should be to set the record straight.

Imagine if there was a widespread belief in the gods of Greece: Zeus, Athena, etc. Imagine if a couple billion people believed Homer’s Iliad was history. Or, at the very least, heavily mythologized history. But nonetheless, that there was a Zeus and Athena and Apollo even if they weren’t as miraculous and Homer recorded it. Knowing what we know now, that’d be rather ridiculous and we’d do our best to wrestle the historicity from Homer and restore it to what it really is. Well that’s what us Jesus mythicist are trying to do: Restore an understanding of Christianity to its origins.

I’m afraid this book isn’t the best case for that. Nor do I think it’s a worthy entry in the cannon of “must read” Jesus Mythicism literature. Aside from the chapters by David Fitzgerald and Robert M. Price (which are summaries of their own work, represented in better places), I’m afraid the rest of the entries are not worth the time. Instead of showing the New Testament and early Christian writings are better understood as representing an imagined Jesus, several essays go off on tangents trying to explain Jesus with magic mushrooms and Buddhism and astrology. There’s a chapter trying to show the Gospel of Mark was originally a stage play.

As I said above, any work on Jesus Mythicism should be to set the record straight. There’s more entries in this book encouraging more speculation than solid research. If we’re trying to correct the historical record on Christian origins and beliefs, this book could be derailing it, not helping. Despite what Robert M. Price says in this volume about letting “a hundred flowers bloom”, I think cutting the weeds out is more important at this point, especially if Mythicism wants to be taken more seriously by more academics.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

The latest (presumably the last, along with the simultaneously published “God and Horrendous Suffering”) of Loftus’ [8?] anthologies of christianity-related topics. In my opinion while this has some particularly interesting essays, it may be the weakest of his anthology collections. And the weakness is mostly a result of being compared with his previous anthologies. I particularly recommend the essays of Robert Price, R.G. Price, and David Fitzgerald, as well as a few of the others which are quite interesting as well. Unlike Loftus’ other anthologies, Varities has a co-editor, the always special Robert Price. This collection succeeds in demonstrating the wide range of glaring issues that make the historicists arguments problematic at best. But the collection of essays is of rather mixed quality (though it they were largely of interest to me).

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average overall with some good essays (Fitzgerald, RG Price, Atwell, Price) and some I didn't care for.