For context: Carrier is one of two (2) PhD scholars with relevant credentials who believe in full-throated Jesus mythicism. The other is Robert Price, who Bart once debated here.
Jesus mythicism is kind of a fringe theory, even among atheist Bible scholars. Yes, consensus =/= evidence and authority does not a sound argument make.
That being said, a trend I see a lot (especially in the earlier days of r/atheism) is atheists who are new to historical studies latch onto Carrier without looking at the whole picture, and then write off the rest of critical Bible scholarship as a sham propped up by Christians.
I think anytime you’re getting into a new field in history / science / economics / etc., it’s best to learn the fundamentals & understand what the mainstream is and why before entertaining the more fringe ideas.
For context: Carrier is one of two (2) PhD scholars with relevant credentials who believe in full-throated Jesus mythicism. The other is Robert Price, who Bart once debated here.
Jesus mythicism is kind of a fringe theory, even among atheist Bible scholars. Yes, consensus =/= evidence and authority does not a sound argument make.
That being said, a trend I see a lot (especially in the earlier days of r/atheism) is atheists who are new to historical studies latch onto Carrier without looking at the whole picture, and then write off the rest of critical Bible scholarship as a sham propped up by Christians.
I think anytime you’re getting into a new field in history / science / economics / etc., it’s best to learn the fundamentals & understand what the mainstream is and why before entertaining the more fringe ideas.
Have you read “On the Historicity of Jesus” ?