Reply to What am I if I think Jesus was the best moral teacher ever but am indifferent re his divinity?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you can understand his writing, then I'll suggest this - http://www.bu.edu/arion/files/2010/10/Wells_21Sept2010_Layout-1.pdf

similar sentiments found here - The Evolution of God (Wright)

You simply have a belief in a belief system.  That is all.  [/quote]

So an unpublished, probably not peer-reviewed manuscript? Way to knock it out of the park, big guy or big gal.

But hey, I'll read it this afternoon. As I mentioned, I love this stuff.

(And I'm totally capable of reading it because I have an advanced degree and many published, peer-reviewed papers of my own. Say a conservative 30 of my own published, peer-reviewed papers on economics issues, so many that I've lost count and can't be bothered to do a tally on my cv. But don't let that stop you insulting my intelligence, if that's the only card you have to play....)[/quote]

yeah

Well, it's from here - http://www.bu.edu/arion/

about - http://www.bu.edu/arion/about/

Here you go, hon:

e-Journal Details
Title:	Arion
Abbrev:	ARION A JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND THE CLASSICS
Abbrev:	ARION ( UNIVERSITY WIRE )
Alternative:	Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics
Alternative:	Arion (Boston)
ISSN:	0095-5809
[b]Peer-Reviewed:	Yes[/b]

It's not that hard to find out this information yourself, especially if you're such a scholar.  [/quote]

OK I read the manuscript. (Pro tip: if you link to a manuscript, people will think it's, you know, a manuscript even if it looks like someone might have been starting to lay it out.)

It's hard to know what to say about this. It's not really a new theory. Rather, it seems to be a rehash of what the author learned about Plato, the Roman pantheon and early Christians during his time at Oxford. (I googled him. Hard to figure out his non-relationship with academia now, but that doesn't mean he's not smart.) So basically, yes. It's well known that Christianity came into being during the rational Roman occupation. While Judaism and Islam arose in more tribal cultures although both benefited from the exchange of ideas by being in trade routes. I first heard this historical synthesis in college a while back and none of this is new, although he expresses it well.

Did you read the paper? Your author says zero, zilch, nada to support your contention that Jesus never existed and some mysterious somebody simply created Jesus to control the masses. Nor does it show a direct link to anybody in the Roman pantheon (not a whisper of Horus' golden you-know-what = immaculate conception).

Instead it describes the very interesting ways in which Jesus was a *break* from the pantheon. Once again, I'm with you that religion can, in the wrong hands, be used to control others. But in terms of the origins of Christianity, this paper doesn't support you.

What this paper also doesn't do in 27 pages is talk about the direction of transmission. Did Christianity grow because Jesus' message appealed to an audience that was ready for monotheism and fewer rules about sacrifice, eating, clothing, et cetera? That wouldn't discredit anything about Jesus or his message. Or did the "somebody" you think "created" Jesus realize they could better "control the masses" with a new synthesis and they seized that opportunity? If so, still waiting to learn who you think this somebody is.

I started skimming-it's long--but pretty sure I didn't miss anything that would have supported your claims. (FWIW, even the author points out that some early Romans thought Christianity's monotheism wasn't strict enough because of the Trinity.)

Interestingly, the author concludes by saying there are two ways of knowing, rational and spiritual, and that we'd be worse off without both. I have no idea what his belief system is even after combing his website, and I suspect none. But that's food for thought. He also doesn't insult anybody in 27 pages, also something for you to ponder.[/quote]

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