I read the humanist paper + it says nothing new. Basically tries to rubbish all first century references to Christ with generalisations + ignores figures like Justin Martyr. Speaking of whom it is odd how so many people so close to the event were prepared to die for this ‘mythological’ idea...
My comment on Josephus was not the two (obviously disputed, why wouldn’t they be) references to Christ, but rather the references to Herod the Great - or is he another myth?
Try reading ‘Evidence that demands a verdict’, or ‘More than a carpenter’, by J McDowell.
Thanks for the debate.
“it is odd how so many people so close to the event were prepared to die for this ‘mythological’ idea...”
My recollection is that a large number of Jews died for their religion at Masada. Does this too strike you as odd? In the present day, we’ve seen thousands willing to die for al Qaeda. I don’t think one can draw any strong inferences about the validity any any religious beliefs based on observations about the willingness of individuals to die for a cause.