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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Bart D. Ehrman
Religion: Agnostic (formerly evangelical Christian)
Position: Explicitly affirms Jesus’s existence; considers denial of historicity a failure of historical method.

Paula Fredriksen
Religion: Jewish
Position: Strongly affirms Jesus as a historical Jewish apocalyptic preacher crucified by Roman authority.

Maurice Casey
Religion: Non-religious
Position: Forceful defender of Jesus’s historicity; wrote extensively rebutting mythicist arguments.

Géza Vermes
Religion: Jewish (born Jewish, converted to Catholicism under pressure from antisemitic persecution, later returned to Judaism)
Position: Affirms Jesus as a historical Jewish charismatic figure within Second Temple Judaism.

Michael Grant
Religion: Non-religious
Position: Rejects Jesus mythicism as historically indefensible using classical historical standards.

Gerd Lüdemann
Religion: Atheist (formerly Protestant)
Position: Accepts Jesus’s existence and crucifixion while rejecting resurrection and divinity.[/quote]

Grant might be the only non-religious historian here, but very little info about him.

The rest are all theologians and/or biblical scholars. Biased. 
[/quote]

People who study the region and time when Jesus is believed to have lived can't study Jesus because they're biased?

Keep digging that hole. You seem to be approaching the core.[/quote]

Strawman. These are not just people who study the region and time.

People who are deeply religious, including someone who was a priest, are biased.

The Bible is not an independent primary source. 
[/quote]

Nearly all sources from that period of time are biased. That isn't unique to the Bible. Ever read Herodotus? Do you think everything he wrote was true?

Please explain why people who do not believe in Christianity or the divinity of Jesus would be significantly biased towards concluding his historical existence.[/quote]

Because their entire perspective and knowledgebase is centered on the bible.

Historians outside of religious circles have an independent perspectives and primary sources. [/quote]

I don't care if Jesus-the-man existed or not.  He certainly wasn't the son of God, because God does not exist.

You can surmise, based on all available evidence that he, or anyone from that long-ago time, existed, but there's no way to prove that Jesus is the son of God.  In fact, a lot of people don't believe that at all.  Some of them are atheists and some of them are people of other religions, e.g., Muslims or Jews.[/quote]

Nobody knows if God exists.

You state constantly that God doesn’t exist.

The question of whether God exists is one of the oldest and most profound in human thought, spanning philosophy, theology, science, and personal experience. There is no definitive proof either way—neither empirical evidence that conclusively demonstrates God's existence nor disproof that rules it out entirely.

Science deals with the natural world and cannot directly address supernatural claims, as noted by many scientists and philosophers (e.g., the domain of science is testable hypotheses about the physical universe, while God is typically conceived as transcendent).[/quote]

There's no proof of the Loch Ness Monster either.  Or Johnny Appleseed.  Do you believe in them?  Neither Johnny nor Nessie offer everlasting life.  Maybe that's why not so many people believe in them.[/quote]

Most people would laugh at the idea of actually believing in Johnny Appleseed or the Loch Ness Monster.  They are clearly fictional characters. Plus they don/t do anything valuable for anyone - no living forever in heaven with them and seeing all your dead friends and relatives again.  If I ever see the Loch Ness Monster rise out of Loch Ness, I hope other people are there to see him too, Otherwise no one will believe me.  Meanwhile, people talk about God as if he's real.  As if they've seen him.[/quote]

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