Did Jesus Really Exist?

I've noted a number of times the ongoing gyrations amongst the far right Christianists in response to the fact that human genome research has proven that the Adam and Eve of the Bible did not exist. That's right, they were not historic individuals who really existed. The implications for the Christian storyline are earth shattering: no Adam and Eve, no fall, no need for a resurrected Messiah. A new cat fight among biblical scholars involves the question of whether or not Jesus really existed. In "Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth," New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman - I've read a number of his books - comes to the conclusion that there was a historical Jesus. Beyond his historical existence, however, the rest of the Christian story line - that Jesus was the son of God or divine in any way, was born of a virgin or resurrected, or is the way to salvation - remains unconfirmed and open to debate. At least from a hard, factual historical basis. Here are highlights from Huffington Post on Ehrman's book and the debate:

For years, nonbelievers rejoiced at the publication of a new book by New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman, relishing the professor's pugnacious attacks on the cherished beliefs of evangelical Christians.

But in his latest offering, the University of North Carolina historian and author of such provocative titles as "Misquoting Jesus," "Forged," and "Jesus Interrupted," targets the very crowd that formed the bulk of his audience.

In "Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth," Ehrman soundly refutes the arguments -- sometimes made by atheists, agnostics and humanists -- that early storytellers invented Jesus.

Ehrman, an agnostic, convincingly demonstrates in clear, forceful prose that there was a historical Jesus, a Jewish teacher of the first century who was crucified by Pontius Pilate.

The fact that Ehrman is siding with Christians on the historical truth of Jesus does not indicate a change of heart, much less a conversion. Instead, he said, it's an attempt to say, "history matters."

Ehrman points out that only about 3 percent of Jews in Jesus' time were literate, and Romans never kept detailed records. (Decades after Jesus' crucifixion, three Roman writers mention Jesus in passing, as does the Jewish historian Josephus.) Though the Gospel accounts are biased, they cannot be discounted as non-historical. As for Jesus being a Jewish version of the pagan dying and rising god, Ehrman shows that there is no evidence the Jews of Jesus' day worshipped pagan gods. If anything, Jesus was deeply rooted in Jewish, rather than Roman, traditions.

While the Jewish tradition of the 1st century did not worship pagan gods, the traditions of death and resurrection gods and goddesses long predated the time of Jesus and included among others the cult of Isis and Osiris, Mithras and others. Indeed, the cult of Mithras was extremely popular among the ranks of the Roman legions during the time of Christ. I don't deny that Christ existed. I do question as to what the truth is about his ministry and his death and resurrection. Given that the Bible is 100% wrong on the issue of Adam and Eve and the leadership of the Catholic Church has shown its willingness to rewrite history to suit its agenda, I often believe that we will never know the real truth.

Monument to Isis Lifted from Cleopatra's Underwater City

The history lover in me could not pass up this story on a new artifact raised from areas of ancient Alexandria, Egypt, now beneath the harbor of modern day Alexandria as the result of earth quakes in the 4th century. The area of the ancient city involved include the palace and temple complexes of the Ptolemies who ruled Egypt for roughly 300 years - well longer than the period of time the USA has existed. The object retrieved is from the temple of Isis complex and consists of a pylon, which once stood at the entrance to a temple of Isis. In many ways, the cult of Isis with its theme of death and resurrection was a precursor to the underlying theme of Christianity - something that like would appall the Christo-fascists in the USA who seek to restrain knowledge and rewrite history to fit their own ignorant beliefs. First, some highlights from Yahoo News on the discovery, then more on Isis:

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ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – Archaeologists on Thursday hoisted a 9-ton temple pylon from the waters of the Mediterranean that was part of the palace complex of the fabled Cleopatra before it became submerged for centuries in the harbor of Alexandria.
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The pylon, which once stood at the entrance to a temple of Isis, is to be the centerpiece of an ambitious underwater museum planned by Egypt to showcase the sunken city, believed to have been toppled into the sea by earthquakes in the 4th century.
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The pylon is the first major artifact extracted from the harbor since 2002, when authorities banned further removal of major artifacts from the sea for fear it would damage them.
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"The tower is unique among Alexandria's antiquities. We believe it was part of the complex surrounding Cleopatra's palace," Hawass said, as the crane gently placed the pylon on the harbor bank. "This is an important part of Alexandria's history and it brings us closer to knowing more about the ancient city."
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Hawass has already launched another high-profile dig connected to Cleopatra. In April, he said he hopes to find the long-lost tomb of Antony and Cleopatra — and that he believes it may be inside a temple of Osiris located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Alexandria.
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Having read "Alexander's Tomb," which recounts efforts to find the tomb of Alexander the Great but is in many ways a history of Alexandria, the find is of huge importance and may lead to other amazing finds. As for Isis, here are some details that suggest the Christian resurrection belief certainly had existing precedents:

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In later myths about Isis, she had a brother, Osiris, who became her husband, and she then was said to have conceived Horus. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set. Her magical skills restored his body to life after she gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. This myth became very important in later Egyptian religious beliefs. . . The worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era.
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Roman perspectives on cults were syncretic, seeing in new deities, merely local aspects of a familiar one. For many Romans, Egyptian Isis was an aspect of Phrygian Cybele, whose orgiastic rites were long-naturalized at Rome, indeed, she was known as Isis of Ten Thousand Names. Among these names of Roman Isis, Queen of Heaven is outstanding for its long and continuous history. Herodotus identified Isis with the Greek and Roman goddesses of agriculture, Demeter and Ceres. In later years, Isis also had temples throughout Europe, Britain, Africa and Asia. An alabaster statue of Isis from the 3rd century BC, found in Ohrid, in the Republic of Macedonia, is depicted on the obverse of the Macedonian 10 denars banknote, issued in 1996.

Thoughts on Life, Death, and a Former Life

The mother of a long time friend (she and her husband are among the handful of couples from my former life who have remained loyal friends) died late last week as the result of a freak accident at her home. In going to the wake today, I found myself suddenly surrounded once more by people and scenes from the past. Both my friend and her mother's homes are in the neighborhood where I lived for 18 years during my married life in the closet. Moreover, the church where the wake/funeral was held is the Roman Catholic parish I attended for all those years as well as the church where my sister's funeral was held in April, 2001. As a result, I was surrounded by former neighbors who knew me from my civic league activities, neighborhood pool board membership and presidency, and charter member status of the church's Knights of Columbus Council. It felt most bizarre in many ways, not the least of which was seeing my friend's mother - who I had know fairly well - in her casket.

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One thought that hit home was that life is so fleeting and that we truly do not know how many days or hours we have left. Any number of things can turn your life upside down or end it when least expected. It caused me to yet again vow to live my life so that I enjoy the present and do not put off life and love to the future. Living in the moment is all we really have for certain.

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Secondly, I has hit by how important true friendships are as well as how rare they can be in life. Out of the entire crowd, my friend and her husband were the only ones who had proved themselves to be real, true friends. They love me gay or straight and I know they always will. The rest? Just acquaintances passing in the course of life and more concerned with what others think than standing up and making their own judgments and decisions. Are they bad people? I truly do not think so. Rather, they are what my therapist called the "sleep walkers" who go through the motions of life based on what they believe is expected of them. "Seeing better" now, I realize that I was one of those sleep walkers for many years.

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The third thing that struck me was how little has changed in the rhythm of the old neighborhood community. Yes, children have gotten older and acquaintances are aging - in some cases not well at all so that I felt I looked pretty damn good even - but so many seem to be playing the same old game of worrying about appearances, keeping up with the Jones if you will, and not living authentically. Could I go back to that existence? Never. I'd soon die or kill myself. It's like a cotton candy world. Pretty and fluffy, but devoid of substance - something my youngest daughter had remarked on a month or two back. In many ways, I feel I have lived more in the last 6 years than in many times that number of years previously. Yes, the last six years have been tumultuous at times and I have lost much financially. But in recompense, I have found my soul and the ability to be comfortable in my own skin. All in all, a pretty good trade off.

Find Sparks New Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

I'm not sure what this discovery will lead to, but it definitely could lead to some changes in Biblical history as it has been known to date. What is the discovery? A stone tablet that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. That's right - it references the Messiah's death and resurrection before Christ was born. The reality is that there were a number of death and resurrection themed religions before Christ and the onset of what became Christianity, aspects of the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis being but one. There are also certain "sacrifice" parallels from the cult of Mithras which is thought to have originated in Persia. All of these historical realities, of course, are utterly ignored by fanatical Christianists who have - in my opinion - what is actually a very fragile and rigid belief system that affords no room for variance from their "infallible" Bible. In fact, as I view it, once a part of their belief system begins to unravel, the whole construct begins to collapse, which may be why they are so terrified of anything that doesn't fit their construct - e.g., that God made gays just as we are. Hence, it will be interesting to see what grows out of this discovery. Here are some highlights from the New York Times:

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JERUSALEM — A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

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The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone. . . . its authenticity has so far faced no challenge, so its role in helping to understand the roots of Christianity in the devastating political crisis faced by the Jews of the time seems likely to increase.

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Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the stone was part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that Jesus could be best understood through a close reading of the Jewish history of his day. “Some Christians will find it shocking — a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology — while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism,” Mr. Boyarin said.

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Ms. Yardeni, who analyzed the stone along with Binyamin Elitzur, is an expert on Hebrew script, especially of the era of King Herod, who died in 4 B.C. The two of them published a long analysis of the stone more than a year ago in Cathedra, a Hebrew-language quarterly devoted to the history and archaeology of Israel, and said that, based on the shape of the script and the language, the text dated from the late first century B.C.

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[T]he specific messianic figure embodied on the stone could be a man named Simon who was slain by a commander in the Herodian army, according to the first-century historian Josephus. The writers of the stone’s passages were probably Simon’s followers, Mr. Knohl contends.. . . . He says further that such a suffering messiah is very different from the traditional Jewish image of the messiah as a triumphal, powerful descendant of King David. “This should shake our basic view of Christianity,” he said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University. “Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story.”

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“His mission is that he has to be put to death by the Romans to suffer so his blood will be the sign for redemption to come,” Mr. Knohl said. “This is the sign of the son of Joseph. This is the conscious view of Jesus himself. This gives the Last Supper an absolutely different meaning. To shed blood is not for the sins of people but to bring redemption to Israel.”