bleedblue22 Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Hi I'm from a Methodist background and after reading the Bible(particularly the OT) I have pretty much decided it could not possibly have been inspired by an All-Knowing, All-Benevolent, and All-Powerful Being. Still, I do have some nagging thoughts about where the resurrection story of Jesus originated and how so many came to believe it being so contrary to traditional Judaism. I'm looking for some books to read regarding the historical Jesus and historical hypotheses that fit the facts better than the resurrection hypothesis or perhaps some solid books explaining the parallels between the stories of Jesus and other contemporary or previous "miracle workers/holy men" on whom these stories might have been borrowed from. Any recommendations would be appreciated! Thanks!
Guest Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 These are the books that helped me the most: Who wrote the New Testament? By Burton L Mack Who wrote the bible? Richard Elliot Friedman The history of god by Karen Armstrong The History of the devil by Gerald Messadie
Adam5 Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Biblical Nonsense: A Review of the Bible for Doubting Christians, by Dr Jason Long, is one of the best.
Fernweh Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Mistakes of Moses - Robert G. Ingersoll All of his works are public domain and can be read on Gutenberg.com
Storm Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 I have enjoyed reading the book "Doubting Jesus' Resurrection: What Happened in the Black Box" by Kris Komarnitsky. Its written by a layman and I found it engaging and I thought he does a good job explaining some of the problems with the resurrection.
Cousin Ricky Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 Richard Carrier, Proving History: Bayes's Theorem and the Quest for the Historical Jesus. This is the first of a two volume set, the second of which hasn't yet been published. Dr. Carrier is a professional historian. Earl Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus. The companion Web site. Something to ponder. Note that some mythicist claims seem to be little more than speculation, from the same pattern-seeking tendencies we have that led to the god hypothesis in the first place. The Amazon page for The Jesus Puzzle has links to other books on the subject. I consider the matter far from settled.
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted April 4, 2014 Super Moderator Posted April 4, 2014 "The god Virus" by Darrel W. Ray http://www.amazon.com/God-Virus-The-Religion-Infects/dp/0970950519
bleedblue22 Posted April 4, 2014 Author Posted April 4, 2014 Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I'll look into Richard Carrier and the book by Dr. Long. The other books look interesting to if I can find the time.
Blood Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 The Christian Myth by Burton Mack. Great, pulling-no-punches bitchslap to the joke that is "Biblical scholarship" from one of their own rank. Any of Carrier's recent videos have been really good. You could start here:
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