Earl Doherty

Last updated

Earl Doherty
Born1941 (age 81–82)
EducationB.A. in Ancient History and Classical Languages (institution and date not identified)
OccupationWriter
Known forAdvocate of the Christ myth theory
Website http://jesuspuzzle.com

Earl J. Doherty (born 1941) [1] is a Canadian author of The Jesus Puzzle (1999), Challenging the Verdict (2001), and Jesus: Neither God Nor Man (2009). Doherty argues for a version of the Christ myth theory, the thesis that Jesus did not exist as a historical figure. Doherty says that Paul thought of Jesus as a spiritual being executed in a spiritual realm. [2]

Contents

Education

Doherty has stated he has a bachelor's degree in Ancient History and Classical Languages, [3] but no completed advanced degrees. [4] [5] [6] His undergraduate studies gave him knowledge of Greek and Latin, to which he has added a basic knowledge of Hebrew and Syriac. [6]

Writings

Doherty was introduced to the idea of a mythical origin of Jesus by, among other things, the work of G. A. Wells, who has authored a number of books arguing a moderate form of the "Christ myth" theory. [6] In 1999, Doherty's book The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? was published by Canadian Humanist Publications. [7] He self-published a 2005 re-release of The Jesus Puzzle under his own imprint, Age of Reason Publications, [8] along with two other books. Challenging the Verdict (2001) is a critique of The Case for Christ, a book of Christian apologetics by author Lee Strobel. Jesus: Neither God Nor Man - The Case for a Mythical Jesus (2009) is a revised and expanded version of The Jesus Puzzle. In 2012, Doherty published The End of an Illusion: How Bart Ehrman's "Did Jesus Exist?" Has Laid the Case for an Historical Jesus to Rest.

Doherty asserts that Christianity began with a belief in a spiritual, mythical figure, that the Gospels are essentially allegory and fiction, and that no single identifiable person named Jesus lay at the root of the Galilean preaching tradition." Doherty argues in The Jesus Puzzle (2005) and Jesus: Neither God nor Man—The Case for a Mythical Jesus (2009) that Jesus originated as a myth derived from Middle Platonism with some influence from Jewish mysticism, and that belief in a historical Jesus emerged only among Christian communities in the 2nd century.

According to Doherty, none of the major Christian apologists before 180 AD, except for Justin and Aristides of Athens, included an account of a historical Jesus in their defenses of Christianity. Instead Doherty suggests that the early Christian writers describe a Christian movement grounded in Platonic philosophy and Hellenistic Judaism, reaching the worship of a monotheistic Jewish god and what he calls a "logos-type Son". Doherty further argues that Theophilus of Antioch (c. 163–182), Athenagoras of Athens (c. 133–190), Tatian the Assyrian (c. 120–180), and Marcus Minucius Felix (writing around 150–270) offer no indication that they believed in a historical figure crucified and resurrected, and that the name Jesus does not appear in any of them. [9]

The Jesus Puzzle

Doherty has used the title "The Jesus Puzzle" for four different works.

In all four of these works, Doherty presents views on the origins of Christianity, specifically promoting the view that Jesus is a mythical figure rather than a historical person. Doherty argues that Paul and other writers of the earliest existing proto-Christian Gnostic documents did not believe in Jesus as a person who incarnated on Earth in a historical setting. Rather, they believed in Jesus as a heavenly being who suffered his sacrificial death in the lower spheres of heaven at the hands of the demon spirits, and was subsequently resurrected by God. This Christ myth was not based on a tradition reaching back to a historical Jesus, but on the Old Testament exegesis in the context of Jewish-Hellenistic religious syncretism heavily influenced by Middle Platonism, and what the authors believed to be mystical visions of a risen Jesus.

Doherty says that the Jesus myth was given a historical setting only by the second generation of Christians, somewhere between the 1st and 2nd century. He further says that even the author of the Gospel of Mark probably did not consider his gospel to be a literal work of history, but an allegorical midrashic composition based on the Old Testament prophecies. In the widely supported two-source hypothesis, the story of Mark was later fused with a separate tradition of anonymous sayings embodied in the Q document into the other gospels. According to Doherty, the Q-authors may have regarded themselves as "spokespersons for the Wisdom of God," with Jesus being the embodiment of this Wisdom. [10] In time, the gospel-narrative of this embodiment of Wisdom became interpreted as the literal history of the life of Jesus. Doherty denies any historical value of the Acts of the Apostles, and refers to works by John Knox, Joseph B. Tyson, J.C. O'Neill, Burton L. Mack and Richard Pervo in dating Acts into the 2nd century and regarding it as largely based on legend. [13]

In 2009, Doherty self-published a revised edition of his book, with a new title of Jesus: Neither God nor Man, expanded by incorporating the rebuttals to criticisms received since 1999 and accumulated on his website. [14]

Reception

Among authors sympathetic to the view that Jesus never existed, Doherty's work has received mixed reactions. The Jesus Puzzle has received favorable reviews from fellow mythicists Robert M. Price and Richard Carrier. [15] Frank Zindler, former editor of American Atheist , in a review of The Jesus Puzzle described it as "the most compelling argument against the historical Jesus published in my life-time". [16]

George Albert Wells, who now argues a more moderate form of the Christ myth and who rejects Doherty's view that the mythical Jesus of Paul did not also descend to Earth, [17] has nonetheless described The Jesus Puzzle as an "important book". [18] R. Joseph Hoffmann considers that there are "reasons for scholars to hold" the view that Jesus never existed, but considers Doherty "A 'disciple' of Wells" who "has rehashed many of the former’s views in The Jesus Puzzle (Age of Reason Publications, 2005) which is qualitatively and academically far inferior to anything so far written on the subject". [19] Doherty has responded that his work owes very little to Wells. [20]

Writers who do not necessarily support the hypothesis that Jesus did not exist have found merit in some of Doherty's arguments. Hector Avalos has written that "The Jesus Puzzle outlines a plausible theory for a completely mythical Jesus." [21]

Bart Ehrman, an expert on textual criticism of the NT and Early Christianity, has dismissed Jesus, Neither God nor Man as "filled with so many unguarded and undocumented statements and claims, and so many misstatements of fact, that it would take a 2,400-page book to deal with all the problems... Not a single early Christian source supports Doherty's claim that Paul and those before him thought of Jesus as a spiritual, not a human being, who was executed in the spiritual, not the earthly realm." [2]

In a book criticizing the Christ myth theory, New Testament scholar Maurice Casey describes Doherty as "perhaps the most influential of all the mythicists", [22] but one who is unable to understand the ancient texts he uses in his arguments. [23]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

George Albert Wells was an English scholar who served as Professor of German at Birkbeck, University of London. After writing books about famous European intellectuals, such as Johann Gottfried Herder and Franz Grillparzer, he turned to the study of the historicity of Jesus, starting with his book The Jesus of the Early Christians in 1971. He is best known as an advocate of the thesis that Jesus is essentially a mythical rather than a historical figure, a theory that was pioneered by German biblical scholars such as Bruno Bauer and Arthur Drews.

The historicity of Jesus is the question of whether or not Jesus of Nazareth historically existed. The question of historicity was generally settled in scholarship in the early 20th century, and the idea that Jesus was a mythical figure still is and has been considered a fringe theory in academic scholarship for more than two centuries, but has gained popular attention in recent decades due to the growth of the internet.

The term "historical Jesus" refers to the life and teachings of Jesus as interpreted through critical historical methods, in contrast to what are traditionally religious interpretations. It also considers the historical and cultural contexts in which Jesus lived. Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that Jesus was a historical figure, and the idea that Jesus was a mythical figure has been consistently rejected by the scholarly consensus as a fringe theory. Scholars differ about the beliefs and teachings of Jesus as well as the accuracy of the biblical accounts, with only two events being supported by nearly universal scholarly consensus: Jesus was baptized and crucified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ myth theory</span> Fringe theory claiming that a historical Jesus did not exist

The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substantiality. Alternatively, in terms given by Bart Ehrman paraphrasing Earl Doherty, it is the view that "the historical Jesus did not exist. Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity."

<i>The God Who Wasnt There</i> 2005 film by Brian Flemming

The God Who Wasn't There is a 2005 independent documentary written and directed by Brian Flemming. The documentary questions the existence of Jesus, examining evidence that supports the Christ myth theory against the existence of a historical Jesus, as well as other aspects of Christianity.

<i>The Jesus Mysteries</i> 1999 book by Freke and Gandy

The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God? is a 1999 book by British authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, which advances the argument that early Christianity originated as a Greco-Roman mystery cult and that Jesus was invented by early Christians based on an alleged pagan cult of a dying and rising "godman" known as Osiris-Dionysus, whose worship the authors claim was manifested in the cults of Osiris, Dionysus, Attis, and Mithras.

Criticism of the Bible concerns the factual accuracy of the claims and the moral tenability of the commandments made in the Bible, the holy books of Christianity, Judaism, and other religions. Devout Christians have long regarded their Bible as the perfect word of God. In addition to concerns about ethics in the Bible, about biblical inerrancy, or about the historicity of the Bible, there remain some questions of biblical authorship and as to what material to include in the biblical canon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bart D. Ehrman</span> American biblical scholar (born 1955)

Bart Denton Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books, including three college textbooks. He has also authored six New York Times bestsellers. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Carrier</span> American historian & philosopher (1969-)

Richard Cevantis Carrier is an ancient historian. He is long-time contributor to skeptical websites, including The Secular Web and Freethought Blogs, Carrier has published a number of books and articles on philosophy and religion in classical antiquity, discussing the development of early Christianity from a skeptical viewpoint, and concerning religion and morality in the modern world. He has publicly debated a number of scholars on the historical basis of the Bible and Christianity. He is a prominent advocate of the theory that Jesus did not exist, which he has argued in a number of his works. Carrier's methodology and conclusions in this field have proven controversial and unconvincing to most ancient historians, and he and his theories are often identified as fringe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert M. Price</span> American biblical scholar (born 1954)

Robert McNair Price is an American New Testament scholar who argues in favor of the Christ myth theory – the claim that a historical Jesus did not exist. Price is the author of a number of books on biblical studies and the historicity of Jesus.

Radical criticism is a movement around the late 19th century that, typically, denied authentic authorship of the Pauline epistles. This went beyond the higher criticism of the Tübingen school which held that a core of at least four epistles had been written by Paul of Tarsus in the 1st century.

Thomas L. Thompson is an American-born Danish biblical scholar and theologian. He was professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen from 1993 to 2009. He currently lives in Denmark.

<i>Did Jesus Exist?</i> (Wells book) 1975 book by George Albert Wells

Did Jesus Exist? is a 1975 book written by the modern German language teacher and amateur historian George Albert Wells who speculated on the evidence of Jesus Christ. Wells argues there was no historical evidence of Jesus existing. A revised second edition was published in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acharya S</span> American Christ myth theorist (1960–2015)

Dorothy Milne Murdock, better known by her pen names Acharya S and D. M. Murdock, was an American writer supporting the Christ myth theory that Jesus never existed as a historical person, but was rather a mingling of various pre-Christian myths, Sun deities and dying-and-rising deities.

<i>The Quest of the Historical Jesus</i> Book by Albert Schweitzer

The Quest of the Historical Jesus is a 1906 work of Biblical historical criticism written by Albert Schweitzer during the previous year, before he began to study for a medical degree.

Frank R. Zindler is an American atheist who served as interim president of the atheist organization American Atheists in 2008.

The Christ Myth, first published in 1909, was a book by Arthur Drews on the Christ myth theory. Drews (1865–1935), along with Bruno Bauer (1809–1882) and Albert Kalthoff (1850–1906), is one of the three German pioneers of the denial of the existence of a historical Jesus.

<i>Did Jesus Exist?</i> (Ehrman book) 2012 book by Bart D. Ehrman

Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth is a 2012 book by Bart D. Ehrman, a scholar of the New Testament. In this book, written to counter the idea that there was never such a person as Jesus of Nazareth at all, Ehrman sets out to demonstrate the historical evidence for Jesus' existence, and he aims to state why all experts in the area agree that "whatever else you may think about Jesus, he certainly did exist."

<i>The Pagan Christ</i> 2004 book by Tom Harpur

The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light is a 2004 non-fiction book by Canadian writer Tom Harpur (1929–2017), a former Anglican priest, journalist and professor of Greek and New Testament at the University of Toronto, which supports the Christ myth theory. Harpur claims that the New Testament shares a large number of similarities with ancient Egyptian and other pagan religions, that early Church leaders fabricated a literal and human Jesus based on ancient myths and that we should return to an inclusive and universal religion where the spirit of Christ or Christos lives within each of us.

References

  1. ↑ Library of Congress authority file, accessed April 18, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Ehrman, Bart (2012). Did Jesus Exist?. pp. 252–258.
  3. ↑ Jesus, Neither God nor Man, 2009, Preface p. ix: "I will end here on a personal note that was lacking in the original book [1999, reprint 2005]. My formal education consisted of a B.A. with Distinction in Ancient History and Classical Languages, (Greek and Latin, the former being essential in any research into the New Testament). Unfortunately, I was forced to suspend my M.A. program due to health reasons and did not return."
  4. ↑ Jesus, Neither God nor Man, 2009, Preface p. ix: "Unfortunately, I was forced to suspend my M.A. program due to health reasons and did not return."
  5. ↑ Ehrman, Bart D (2012). Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. New York: HarperCollins. p. 17. ISBN   978-0-06-220460-8.
  6. 1 2 3 Doherty, Earl. "The Jesus Puzzle: Main Articles - Preamble" . Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  7. ↑ Doherty, Earl (2005) [1999]. The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ?. Ottawa: Age of Reason Publications. ISBN   0-9689259-1-X.
  8. ↑ "Age of Reason Publications website". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Doherty, Earl. "The Jesus Puzzle", Journal of Higher Criticism, volume 4, issue 2, 1997.
  10. 1 2 Doherty, Earl (Fall 1997). "The Jesus Puzzle: Pieces in a Puzzle of Christian Origins". Journal of Higher Criticism . 4 (2).
  11. ↑ Doherty, Earl. "The Jesus Puzzle: Was There No Historical Jesus?" . Retrieved 2 July 2009.
  12. ↑ Doherty, Earl (1999). The Jesus Puzzle: A Novel About the Greatest Question of Our Time.
  13. ↑ Doherty, Earl. "Jesus: Neither God nor Man". p. 470.
  14. ↑ Doherty, Earl. "Jesus: Neither God nor Man"..
  15. ↑ Carrier, Richard (2002). "Did Jesus Exist? Earl Doherty and the Argument to Ahistoricity". The Secular Web. Archived from the original on 5 July 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  16. ↑ Zindler, Frank R. (2000–2001). "The Christ Myth Revisited". American Atheist. 39 (1). Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  17. ↑ Wells, G. A. (September 1999). "Earliest Christianity". New Humanist. 114 (3): 13–18. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  18. ↑ Wells, G. A. (2004). Can We Trust the New Testament?. Peru, Illinois: Open Court. p.  202. ISBN   0-8126-9567-4.
  19. ↑ Hoffmann, R. Joseph (2006). "Maurice Goguel and the 'Myth Theory' of Christian Origins". In Goguel, Maurice (ed.). Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History?. Translated by Frederick Stephens. New introduction by R. Joseph Hoffmann. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. pp. 15, 39 n. 31. ISBN   1-59102-370-X.
  20. ↑ "Puzzle ? Vous êtes sur le bon site – Découvrez ou redécouvrez des puzzle".
  21. ↑ Avalos, Hector (2007). The End of Biblical Studies. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. pp.  197. ISBN   978-1-59102-536-8.
  22. ↑ Casey, Maurice (2014). Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths?. London: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 2. ISBN   978-0-56759-224-8.
  23. ↑ Casey, Maurice (2014). Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths?. London: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 16. ISBN   978-0-56759-224-8.
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