Christ Myth Theory

The Christ myth theory (also known as Jesus mythicism, the Jesus myth theory and the nonexistence hypothesis) is the idea that Jesus of Nazareth was not a physical historical person, but is a fictional, mythological or solely incorporeal character created by the early Christian community. Some proponents also argue that events or sayings associated with the figure of Jesus in the New Testament may have been drawn from one or more individuals who actually existed, but that none of them were in any sense the founder of Christianity.

Arguments used to support the theory emphasize the absence of extant reference to Jesus during his lifetime and the scarcity of non-Christian reference to him in the 1st century. Special attention has been drawn to the absence of any mention of Jesus in Philo's historical writings about Israel.

Both conservative Christian scholar Graham Stanton and agnostic Bible scholar Bart Ehrman have asserted that virtually all scholars involved with historical Jesus research believe his existence can be established using documentary and other evidence; however, scholars such as Paula Fredriksen, Robert Funk and E. P. Sanders hold that much of the material about him in the New Testament should not be taken at face value as it is driven by theological agendas.

Critics skeptical of the existence of a historical Jesus believe that Christian influence and bias (conscious or unconscious) has extended far outside the walls of formal Christianity. For example, atheist activist and Bible scholar Hector Avalos speaks of an "ecclesiastical-academic complex" which he believes has widely contaminated scholarship even in non-Christian academic institutions which nonetheless have a culturally Christian background or roots in religious institutions.

The history of the Christ myth theory can be traced to the French Enlightenment thinkers Constantin-François Volney and Charles François Dupuis in the 1790s. Notable proponents include Bruno Bauer; William Benjamin Smith; John Mackinnon Robertson; Arthur Drews; Paul-Louis Couchoud in the 20th century.

The Christ-myth theory was rejected in the second edition of Albert Schweitzer's book The Quest of the Historical Jesus. The first edition of this book was primarily devoted to establishing that Jesus had apocalyptic beliefs, anticipating an imminent cataclysmic end of the world. This understanding of Jesus was noted for being equally as embarrassing to liberal Christianity as to traditional Christianity. The second edition (not translated into English until 2001) offered a strong rebuttal to the Christ-myth theory.

The best-known recent proponents of mythicism are Bible scholar Robert Price, German historian George Wells (who slightly retracted his position late in life), mythicist-popularizer Earl Doherty, author and speaker D.M. Murdock, and historian Richard Carrier.

The idea has come to modern public attention through the work of many writers associated with skepticism and secularism although not all are overt proponents of the theory. Richard Dawkins states that the case for a purely mythical Christ should be aired more widely than it has, though he is not fully convinced of the theory. French atheist philosopher Michel Onfray argues for a wholly fictional Jesus in The Atheist Manifesto. On the other hand, Michael Shermer's Skeptic magazine has run a few articles by Tim Callahan arguing for the historicity of Jesus.

Some proponents contend that Christianity emerged organically from Hellenistic Judaism and draws on perceived parallels between the biography of Jesus and those of Greek, Egyptian, and other gods, especially those figuring in myths about dying and rising deities. Attention to such parallels was heavily influenced by James Frazer's multi-volume work The Golden Bough; the parallels have even been acknowledged by Christian apologists such as C. S. Lewis. The strength of these parallels has been recently challenged by other religion scholars such as Jonathan Z. Smith, a scholar of comparative religion, and Dag Øistein Endsjø.

Since the publication of the 2nd edition of Schweitzer's Quest for the Historical Jesus in 1926, virtually no major New Testament scholar has offered a refutation of the Christ-myth hypothesis until the publication in 2012 of Bart Ehrman's Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth which generated a flurry of online responses. Several of Ehrman's earlier books had been very popular in humanist and secularist circles, but as Ehrman predicted this book was criticized by both atheists and fundamentalist Christians, most notably by Richard Carrier on his blog.