If Jesus wasn’t a real historical figure, where did Christian theology come from?

[Anonymous]

“Research in the historical Jesus has taken several positive steps in recent years. …. the persistent trend in recent years is to see the Gospels as essentially reliable, especially when properly understood, and to view the historical Jesus in terms much closer to Christianity’s traditional understanding.”
━━ Prof Craig Evans, Arcadia Divinity College, Arcadia University, in What are They Saying about the Historical Jesus?

[Anonymous]

“[The following is beyond reasonable doubt from everyone’s point of view:] that Jesus was known in both Galilee and Jerusalem, that he was a teacher, that he carried out cures of various illnesses, particularly demon possession and that these were widely regarded as miraculous; that he was involved in controversy with fellow Jews over questions of the law of Moses; and that he was crucified in the governorship of Pontius Pilate.”
━━ A.E. Harvey, formerly at Oxford University, in Jesus and the constraints of history.

[Anonymous]

“So in one sense I think I’m not alone in feeling that to show the ill-informed and illogical nature of the current wave of “mythicist” proponents is a bit like having to demonstrate that the earth isn’t flat, or that the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth, or that the moon-landings weren’t done on a movie lot.”
━━ Larry Hurtado, Emeritus Professor, Edinburgh University, on Larry Hurtado’s Blog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“So in one sense I think I’m not alone in feeling that to show the ill-informed and illogical nature of the current wave of “mythicist” proponents is a bit like having to demonstrate that the earth isn’t flat, or that the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth, or that the moon-landings weren’t done on a movie lot.”
━━ Larry Hurtado, Emeritus Professor, Edinburgh University, on Larry Hurtado’s Blog.

I love that there are several of us pulling all this together. Thanks, PP!

[Anonymous]

“An ancient historian has no problem seeing the phenomenon of Jesus as an historical one. His many surprising aspects only help anchor him in history. Myth and legend would have created a more predictable figure. The writings that sprang up about Jesus also reveal to us a movement of thought and an experience of life so unusual that something much more substantial than the imagination is needed to explain it.”
━━ Emeritus Professor Edwin Judge, Ancient History Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, in the Foreword to the truth about Jesus by P Barnett.

[Anonymous]

“I think that the New Testament does provide prima facie evidence for the historicity of Jesus. It is clear, then, that if we are going to apply to the New Testament the same sort of criteria as we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we should not require independent confirmation of the New Testament’s claim that Jesus existed.”
━━ Jeffery Jay Lowder, writing on the Secular Web.

[Anonymous]

“Historical reconstruction is never absolutely certain, and in the case of Jesus it is sometimes highly uncertain. Despite this, we have a good idea of the main lines of his ministry and his message. We know who he was, what he did, what he taught, and why he died. ….. the dominant view [among scholars] today seems to be that we can know pretty well what Jesus was out to accomplish, that we can know a lot about what he said, and that those two things make sense within the world of first-century Judaism.”
━━ EP Sanders, Oxford & Duke Universities, in The Historical Figure of Jesus.

[Anonymous]

“The historical evidence for Jesus himself is extraordinarily good. …. From time to time people try to suggest that Jesus of Nazareth never existed, but virtually all historians of whatever background now agree that he did.”
━━ NT Wright, Oxford & St Andrews Universities, in the Guardian.

[Anonymous]

Keep going, pp with the quotes. I'm rooting for you.

[Anonymous]

“If one wishes to understand the historical Jesus and early Christianity one must understand first century Judaism. During this historic era the Roman occupiers of the land were particularly oppressive and there was much opposition to them particularly in the Galilee,” says Rabbi Moshe Reiss, PhD.

The stoic philosopher Mara bar Serapion, in a letter to his son dated about 73 CE, refers to the unjust treatment of “three wise men” Socrates, Pythagoras, and “the wise king” of the Jews. And the historian Tacitus, Roman scholar and senator, in his work The Annals of Imperial Rome, written about 116 CE, refers to Christ and his execution by Pontius Pilate: “Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”

According to scholars such as Rabbi Moshe Reiss, quoted above, it is very likely that “He had a typical Galilean Jewish education including studying the Hebrew Bible, the traditions of the people after the biblical period and he undoubtedly went to synagogue. One can safely assume his family as religious Jews kept the commandments; dietary laws, circumcision, tithing, laws of purity and the pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Jesus dressed like a Jew, prayed like a Jew, taught and argued in parables like a Jewish Rabbi and was crucified as were many first century Jewish radicals.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“I think that the New Testament does provide prima facie evidence for the historicity of Jesus. It is clear, then, that if we are going to apply to the New Testament the same sort of criteria as we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we should not require independent confirmation of the New Testament’s claim that Jesus existed.”
━━ Jeffery Jay Lowder, writing on the Secular Web.

This supports “most likely” existed.

“Prima facie”, which means gives the impression.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/prima-facie

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“If one wishes to understand the historical Jesus and early Christianity one must understand first century Judaism. During this historic era the Roman occupiers of the land were particularly oppressive and there was much opposition to them particularly in the Galilee,” says Rabbi Moshe Reiss, PhD.

The stoic philosopher Mara bar Serapion, in a letter to his son dated about 73 CE, refers to the unjust treatment of “three wise men” Socrates, Pythagoras, and “the wise king” of the Jews. And the historian Tacitus, Roman scholar and senator, in his work The Annals of Imperial Rome, written about 116 CE, refers to Christ and his execution by Pontius Pilate: “Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”

According to scholars such as Rabbi Moshe Reiss, quoted above, it is very likely that “He had a typical Galilean Jewish education including studying the Hebrew Bible, the traditions of the people after the biblical period and he undoubtedly went to synagogue. One can safely assume his family as religious Jews kept the commandments; dietary laws, circumcision, tithing, laws of purity and the pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Jesus dressed like a Jew, prayed like a Jew, taught and argued in parables like a Jewish Rabbi and was crucified as were many first century Jewish radicals.”

Again, Tacitus is a valid source but he doesn’t have direct knowledge. It’s still word of mouth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
“The historical evidence for Jesus himself is extraordinarily good. …. From time to time people try to suggest that Jesus of Nazareth never existed, but virtually all historians of whatever background now agree that he did.”
━━ NT Wright, Oxford & St Andrews Universities, in the Guardian.

What evidence?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I think that the New Testament does provide prima facie evidence for the historicity of Jesus. It is clear, then, that if we are going to apply to the New Testament the same sort of criteria as we should apply to other ancient writings containing historical material, we should not require independent confirmation of the New Testament’s claim that Jesus existed.”
━━ Jeffery Jay Lowder, writing on the Secular Web.

This supports “most likely” existed.

“Prima facie”, which means gives the impression.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/prima-facie

Good one. You found a single quote and picked out two words from it, ignoring the rest of the quote. And ignoring all the other quotes, and the linguistic and external evidence cited above.

As a classical scholar, you must know that's not how it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
“Historical reconstruction is never absolutely certain, and in the case of Jesus it is sometimes highly uncertain. Despite this, we have a good idea of the main lines of his ministry and his message. We know who he was, what he did, what he taught, and why he died. ….. the dominant view [among scholars] today seems to be that we can know pretty well what Jesus was out to accomplish, that we can know a lot about what he said, and that those two things make sense within the world of first-century Judaism.”
━━ EP Sanders, Oxford & Duke Universities, in The Historical Figure of Jesus.

Another point for “most likely”.