Richard Carrier-On the Historicity of Jesus Wh by Carrier, Richard C. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Contents Preface ix -1- The Problem

1. Isn’t This Just Bunk? 1 2. The Debate Today 3 3. Myth versus History 7 4. Mythicists versus Historicists 8 5. The Aim of This Book 13 6. Summary of Remaining Chapters 14 7. Applying Bayes’s Theorem 14 8. Elements and Axioms 16

-2- The Hypothesis of Historicity ... 18

1. Myth from History 18 2. The Basic Problem 21 3. Hypothesis Formation and Prior Probability 27 4. The Minimal Theory of Historicity 31

-3- The Hypothesis of Myth ... 36

1. From Inanna to Christ 36 2. The Basic Problem 48 3. The Minimal Jesus Myth Theory 52

-4- Background Knowledge (Christianity) ... 56

1. A Romulan Tale 56 2. Background Knowledge 58 3. Elemental Definitions 60 4. Elemental Background Knowledge 65 5. Elements of Christian Origin 65 6. Elements of Christian Religion 96 7. Elements of Christian Development 146

-5- Background Knowledge (Context) ... 153

1. Elements of Political Context 153 2. Elements of Religious and Philosophical Context 164 3. Elements of Literary Context 214 4. Conclusion 234

-6- The Prior Probability ... 235

1. Heroes Who Never Existed 235 2. Determining Prior Probability 238 3. Using the Rank-Raglan Reference Class 239 4. The Causal Objection 244 5. The Alternative Class Objection 245 6. The Complexity Objection 246 7. Rapid Legendary Development 248 8. Conclusion 252

-7- Primary Sources ... 254

1. What Counts as Evidence? 254 2. Breaking Down the Evidence 256 3. The Epistles 260 4. The Gospels 264 5. Acts 270 6. Extrabiblical Evidence 271 7. The Problem of Compromised Evidence 275 8. The Role of Consequent Probabilities 278 9. Conclusion 279

-8- Extrabiblical Evidence ... 281

1. Jesus When? 281 2. The Socrates Analogy 289 3. Missing Evidence 293 4. Missing Christian Evidence 306 5. Clement of Rome 308 6. Ignatius of Antioch 315 7. Papias of Hierapolis 323 8. Hegesippus 326 9. Josephus and the Testimonia Flaviana 332 10. Pliny and Tacitus 342 11. Suetonius and Thallus 346 12. Missing Evidence: Contra Myth 349 13. Weighing the Evidence 356

-9- The Evidence of Acts ... 359

1. Acts as Historical Fiction 359 2. What Happened to the Body? 368 3. The Mysterious Vanishing Acts 371 4. The‘Trial Transcripts’of Paul 375 5. Stephen’s Trial Speech 381 6. The Possibility of‘Aramaic’Sources 383 7. Weighing the Evidence 385

-10- The Evidence of the Gospels ... 387

1. How to Invent a Gospel 387 2. What Is Myth? 389 3. Examining the Gospels 396 4. The Mythology of Mark 402 5. The Mythology of Matthew 456 6. The Mythology of Luke 469 7. The Mythology of John 487 8. Weighing the Evidence 506

-11- The Evidence of the Epistles ... 510

1. The Passion of Pliny the Elder 510 2. The Peculiar Indifference of Paul and his Christians 514 3. Epistles from the Pillars? 528 4. The Earliest Gospels 531 5. The Gospel in Hebrews 538 6. Things Jesus Said 553 7. The Eucharist 557 8. Things Jesus Did 563 9. Women and Sperm 575 10. Brothers of the Lord 582 11. Weighing the Evidence 592

-12- Conclusion ... 596

1. The Final Calculation 596 2. On Trying to Avoid the Conclusion 601 3. What We Should Conclude 606 4. The Last Desperate Objection 610 5. What Now? 616

- Bibliography 619 Scripture Index 661 Author Index 672 Subject Index 681 Cover