monnowman reviewed On the Historicity of Jesus by Richard Carrier
Review of 'On the Historicity of Jesus' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
The appeal of this book was the possibility that one of the central founding figures of Western (and indeed world) civilisation was a literary invention. It's a big claim and the author makes a very strong case that has pushed me from the "The supernatural stuff in Bible was obviously mythical but there probably was a historical figure that the Jesus stories were based on"-Camp over to the "The likelihood that Jesus existed is pretty small"-Camp. And it's not headline-grabbing trashy pseudo-history. A peer-revieweed academic work, it's closely and very rationally argued by a respected mainstream historian. His use of Bayes Theorem to arrive at a probability that Jesus was not a historical figure is refreshing and, well, rational. It's not always an easy read because of its exhaustive thoroughness but I found the narrator's (the author himself) style and delivery made it accessible.
The appeal of this book was the possibility that one of the central founding figures of Western (and indeed world) civilisation was a literary invention. It's a big claim and the author makes a very strong case that has pushed me from the "The supernatural stuff in Bible was obviously mythical but there probably was a historical figure that the Jesus stories were based on"-Camp over to the "The likelihood that Jesus existed is pretty small"-Camp. And it's not headline-grabbing trashy pseudo-history. A peer-revieweed academic work, it's closely and very rationally argued by a respected mainstream historian. His use of Bayes Theorem to arrive at a probability that Jesus was not a historical figure is refreshing and, well, rational. It's not always an easy read because of its exhaustive thoroughness but I found the narrator's (the author himself) style and delivery made it accessible.