User:Jbolden1517/CM/Chart
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The goal of this page is to create a chart for the Christ myth theory article. This is a community page, if you have input feel free to edit
The chart is now in the article and has had several direct edits. This page should be considered defunct.
Chart
The chart below describes the Christ myth theory and contrasts it with conservative Christianity and mainstream scholarship to help clarify the points of dispute. All 3 columns represent broad positions, generalizations and averages and there are exceptions to each point for virtually every author.
| class="wikitable" |
| Orthodox Christianity |
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| Jesus was both man and God incarnate in a hypostatic union Nicene Creed, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.iv.iii.html 381 version with comparison to 325 apostle's creed] {{cite book
| last = S | first = Acharya | authorlink = Writings of D.M. Murdock | title = The Christ Conspiracy | publisher = Adventures Unlimited Press | date = 1999 | location = Canada | pages = 12–23 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KnIYRi3upbEC&pg=PA12-IA4 | isbn = 0-932813-74-7}} | Jesus was a man who came to be seen as God{{Cite book | title=Jesus Under Fire | editor = Michael J Wilkins, J P Moreland | first=Scot | last=McKnight | chapter=Who is Jesus? An Introduction to Jesus Studies | pages=144 | year=1996 | publisher=Zondervan | isbn=0-310-21139-5}} | Jesus was a God who came to be seen as a man [http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/puzzle13.htm Putting the Jesus Puzzle Together in 12 Easy Pieces] Earl Doherty |
| Gospels are a historical record written by or based on Jesus' followers See Biblical inerrancy for an extended discussion
| Gospels are later works based on materials written by or based on Jesus' followers{{Cite book | title=Jesus Under Fire | editor = Michael J Wilkins, J P Moreland | first=Scot | last=McKnight | chapter=Who is Jesus? An Introduction to Jesus Studies | pages=73–8 | year=1996 | publisher=Zondervan | isbn=0-310-21139-5}} | Gospels are works composed theologically containing little or anything that occurred in an earthly sense.Doherty(1999) Chapter 22, The Gospels as Midrash and Symbolism see also online [http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/partthre.htm The Evolution of Jesus of Nazareth]Wells(1996) Chapter 5, The Gospel of Mark: History of Dogma?Murdock (1999) Throughout the book, especially p 12-23 |
| The book of Acts is an accurate record of early Christian development{{Citation
| last = Pope Pius X | author-link = Pope Pius X | title = Pascendi Dominici Gregis ( | journal = Vatican | date = September 8, 1907 | url = http://www.vatican.edu/holy_father/pius_x/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_19070908_pascendi-dominici-gregis_en.html}} See Biblical inerrancy for an extended discussion| The book of Acts is propaganda but the basic story of the Jerusalem church spreading out under Paul is correct See Acts_of_the_Apostles#Historicity for further details Fashioning Jewish identity in medieval western Christendom, Robert Chazan page 48 [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZYAZ8LdudfgC&pg=PA48 online]{{cite book | last = McKenzie | first = Steven L. | authorlink = | title = How to Read the Bible | publisher = Oxford University Press US | date = 2005 | location = NY, NY 10016 | pages = 64–5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hYfweIriBSsC&pg=PA64 | doi = | id = | isbn = 0195161491}} | The book of Acts is almost entirely fiction, Christianity came out of Alexandria {{Citation | last = Doherty | first = Earl | author-link = Earl Doherty | title = Tracing the Christian Lineage in Alexandria | url = http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/supp05.htm }} |
| The first Christians practiced the "Judaism" of the old testament in Palestine
| The first Christians were Pharisees or Essenes in PalestineAsserts Pharisees,{{cite book | last = Theissen | first = Gerd | authorlink = | coauthors = Annette Merz | title = The historical Jesus | publisher = Fortress Press | date = 1998 | location = Great Britain | pages = | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZU97DQMH6UC&pg=PA141 | doi = | id = 9780800631222 | isbn = 0800631226}} {{cite book | last = Maccoby | first = Hyam | authorlink = Hyam Maccoby | title = The Mythmaker | publisher = HarperCollins | date = 1986 | location = San Fransisco | pages = 29–44 | isbn = 0-76070-787-1 }} | Christianity emerged from Hellenistic Judaism most likely in Alexandria. {cite web | last = Doherty | first = Earl | authorlink = Earl Doherty | title = Tracing the Christian Lineage in Alexandria | date = | url = http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/supp05.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = March 29, 2009}}{{cite book | last = Friedlander | first = Moritz | authorlink = | title = Der vorchristliche judische Gnosticismus | publisher = Gottengen: Vandenhoeck & Roprecht reprint Farnborough: Gregg International | date = 1898 (1972) | isbn = }} see also Pearson (1990) Chapter 1 |
| Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy spirit.{{cite book
| last = Machen | first = J Gresham | authorlink = John Gresham Machen | title = The Virgin Birth of Christ | date = November 1987 | publisher = James Clarke Company | pages = 1 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qG7f9wT1uqIC&pg=PA1 | isbn = 0227676300}} {{cite encyclopedia | title = Virgin Birth | encyclopedia = Baker's Evangelical Dictionary | url = http://bible.crosswalk.com/Dictionaries/BakersEvangelicalDictionary/bed.cgi?number=T718 | accessdate = March 24, 2009}} | Jesus was likely born of Mary, the virgin birth was a later add on, with authors split as to the reason. {{cite book | last = Horrell | first = David G. | authorlink = | title = An introduction to the study of Paul | publisher = T. & T. Clark Publishers | date = 2006 | pages = 63–5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hQS6SDqDga4C&pg=PA63 | Jesus was associated with savior God's who are frequently have unusual births, so he was born of a virgin |
| Jesus is the Logos of God through whom all things were made.
| Jesus was a normal human being, who had no part in the creation of the universe{{Citation | last = Bromling | first = Brad | date = March 1995 | title = Jesus: Truly God and Truly Human | journal = Apologetics Press :: Reason & Revelation| volume = 15[3] | pages = 17–20 | url = http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/263}} | Jesus is the Logos of Yahweh, and the Logos was the mechanism certain Hellenistic Jews attributed to the creation. |
| Jesus rose in the 3rd day after his crucifixion in fulfillment of the scriptures.
| Jesus died on the cross but his followers continued to have spiritual experiences and saw his resurrection as being fulfilled. He may also have believed during his life he would rise. | Jesus is a creation of scriptures and thus fulfills them. Further his broader type (corn god) dies and rises again. {{cite book | last = Allen | first = Grant | authorlink = | title = The Evolution of the Idea of God | publisher = Henry Holt | date = 1897 | location = New York | pages = 378–408 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NwsTYIivPdEC&pg=RA1-PA377 | isbn = }} {{cite book | last = Graves | first = Robert | authorlink = Robert Graves | title = The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth | publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux | date = 1948 | location = United Kingdom | pages = 157–9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4TWYmloRL0YC&pg=PA157 | isbn = 0374504938}} |
| Jesus would not fulfill the military mission during his life but, He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
| Jesus did not see the messiah as having a military role and reinterpreted these passages spiritually. He did however believe that God would provide miracles to fulfill the military function of the messiah. | Salvation was understood in a non material sense by Jewish Gnosticism and this carried through to early Christianity. When later the title messiah was applied apocalyptic literature featuring Jesus (for example Revelations) was created.{{cite book | last = Case | first = Shirley Jackson | title = The Historicity of Jesus | publisher = University of Chicago Press | date = 1912 | location = Chicago | pages = 148 | isbn = 9780598688019 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=drlKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA148 }} |
| Non canonical works are generally 2nd and 3rd century written by heretics under the influence of Satan.Saint Irenaeus Adversus Haereses [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/irenaeus.html online]
| Non canonical works are generally 2nd and 3rd century written by heretics under the influence of Hellenism. They should not be treated as informative of anything other than alternate fringe views. | Non canonical works represent different strands of Christianity and give us insights into the multiplicity of forms of early Christianity. They are authentic and should be given weight in the study of early Christianity. The Truth at the Heart of 'The Da Vinci Code' Elaine Pagels San Jose Mercury News. [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5422879 online]For example: His Gospel was presumably the collection of sayings in use among the Pauline churches of his day. Of course the patristic writers say that Marcion mutilated Luke's version; but it is almost impossible to believe that, if he did this, so keen a critic as Marcion should have retained certain verses which made against his strong anti-Judaistic views. G. R. S. Mead, Fragments of a Faith Forgotten [http://www.webcom.com/~gnosis/library/meadmarcion.htm] |
| Progression of beliefs:{{cite book
| last = Urban | first = Linwood | title = A Short History of Christian Thought (rev and expanded) | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 1995 | isbn = 0195093488 }} {{cite book | last = Mack | first = Burton L. | authorlink = Burton L. Mack | title = Who Wrote the New Testament?: The Making of the Christian Myth | publisher = HarperOne | date = 1996 | location = San Francisco | pages = | url = | doi = | id = {{cite book | last = Carmichael | first = Joel | title = The Birth of Christianity: Reality and Myth | publisher = Dorset Press | date = 1992 | isbn = 0880297387 {{cite book | last = Wilson | first = A.N. | authorlink = A. N. Wilson | publisher = Ballantine Books | date = 1993 | location = New York | pages = 239–56 | isbn =0449908070 }}
| Progression of beliefs: {{cite book | last = Bauer | first = Walter | authorlink = Walter Bauer | title = Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum (Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity) | publisher = J.C.B.Mohr | date = 1934 (english 1964) | location = Germany (English from Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins) | url = http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Resources/Bauer/ | isbn = 0962364274}}
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| Comparative mythological elements are historic fact. The existence of pre-existing myth is the result of demonic imitationJustin Martyr, [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm First apology] Ch 20-5 or divine foreshadowingC.S. Lewis, Miracle [http://www.geocities.com/athens/forum/3505/LewisJoy.html online discussion].
| Myths of all types were added on to embellish Jesus' biography..{{cite book | last = Wilson | first = A. N. | authorlink = A. N. Wilson | title = Paul, The Mind of the Apostle | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company (April 1998) | chapter = The School of Paul | date = 1998 | location = New York | pages = 229–39 | isbn = 0393317609}} | Hellenistic Judaism was a synthetic religion and had absorbed myths of all types, hence Jesus biography was constructed from myths of all types |
| Ideas originated in traditional Christianity
| Ideas originated in liberal Christianity{{cite web | last = Boa | first = Kenneth [http://www.kenboa.org/ Kenboa.org] | title = Letting Go:Liberal Christianity-Retreating from the Faith | url = http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=3864 | accessdate = March 29, 2009 }} | Ideas originated among the anti-religious: atheists, freethinkers, deists Van Voorst (2000) p 16, often in response to the "quest for this historical Jesus" of mainstream scholarship. | |