Did Jesus Exist?

[pantheory]

On 10/4/2018 at 12:52 AM, LogicalFallacy said:

And I'm not just meaning was the man Jesus actually the son of God. I'm asking was there ever a man to begin with?

I found this interesting article which while not in depth as Carrier or Price is still a great intro to the question.

 

https://www.atheists.org/activism/resources/did-jesus-exist/

 

According to my readings there were a great number of Jewish preachers of the gospel, itinerant "holy men" in Israel and Judah for at least a century before and after the time of Jesus, the first and second centuries B.C and A.D.. Such men were like the figure John-the-Baptist of the bible; some assertedly prophesied, others preformed what was believed to be miracles, like Jesus, apocalyptic prophets and healers, some were charismatic and many were Monk-like in their self-denial and service to there fellow man. In other countries similar men were Buddhist monks, Hindu yogis, and later on Saints of the Christian world.

 

The Roman Emperor Constantine's mother (4th century) was a professed Christian and one hypothesis asserts that she wanted her son, a General and Roman Emperor,  to become a Christian too to save his immortal soul. At the time Christianity was considered just another sect of Judaism. The idea is that Constantine saw Christianity as a possible means to unite the religions of the Roman Empire proclaiming just one national religion that many might follow. Also likely he thought that it might be the means to better control the populace. For this the Council of Nicaea was established to put together the writings of the then-known Christian religion, considering much of which was still oral tradition.  All tradition was personalized into one imagined person, Jesus, also incorporating the old Hebrew testament to complete the story.

 

If so the character of Jesus was probably modeled after traditional prophets, healers, and "holy-men" over the preceding few centuries which by oral tradition were believed to have lived during the  first century AD and maybe backward in time up to five centuries, roughly the time of Buddha.

 

 

[Justus]

On 4/7/2019 at 5:32 PM, pantheory said:

The Roman Emperor Constantine's mother (4th century) was a professed Christian

 

While I don't know whether or not his mother professed to be a Christian, but I guess as the mother of God she could profess to be whoever she wanted to be.. Yet initially the term Christian only referred unto those who Jesus had chosen to serve in his ministry.  

Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?John 6:70
And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Acts 11:26
 

However,  as the Emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus held the title of Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus which  Divi Filius translates as Son of God. 

[Justus]

On 10/4/2018 at 2:52 AM, LogicalFallacy said:

 I'm asking was there ever a man to begin with?

No, there was only y chromosome Adam, mitochondrial  Eve and our most recent common ancestor.

[mwc]

On 4/12/2019 at 1:53 AM, Justus said:

 

However,  as the Emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus held the title of Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus which  Divi Filius translates as Son of God. 

     *gasp*  And which god was that?  Was it me?  Or someone even more obvious?

 

     <crosses fingers>please be me!  please be me! and not who I know it is...c'mon me.

 

          mwc