If you thought Jesus was a literary creation and didn't actually exist,

[moobu2]

Would you still consider yourself a Christian? or would you reevaluate you religious self identification?

I was asking because of the book this Irish priest named Fr Tom Brodie wrote last year titled "Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus" where he claims Jesus didn't exist as an historical figure. He argues the Jesus character was made up out of old testament stories with some forgeries and misprints thrown in and that the Gospels were a re-hashing of biblical account of Elijah and Elisha.

Anyway, Fr Tom Brodie was a Biblical scholar who taught the Bible, but soon after his book was published, he was reportedly forced to quit and was banned from teaching by the Dominican order he belongs to while an investigation is conducted. The order now says Fr. Tom Brodie was not removed or disciplined but there is an investigation ongoing.

Like me, Fr Tom Brodie thinks Jesus never existed, but unlike me, he still thinks of himself as a real Christian.

You can Google Fr. Tom Brodie for additional info and the book with the above title is on Amazon. This is a photo of the cover.

[NoOneMan]

1. If you can be a Christian and acknowledge the world isn't 6000 years,

what's the difference?

Where do you set the arbitrary line between what must be real and what can figurative?

Obviously, this Tom Brodie took it to another extreme.

[chervilant]

2. I lost a close friend

when I shared an excerpt from Barbara Walker's "Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends" about the Christ myth. She was distressed that I would think the big JC didn't exist. I assured her that I can fully understand why humans might want to be Christ-like. It didn't assuage her concern for my mortal soul.

[rug]

3. According to Murdoch's Irish Sun last week, he's out.

http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepage/news/4754775/Pulpit-Fiction.html

To answer your question, no.

[Permanut]

4. Great question, moobu2..

I joined a Christian church a few years ago so I could participate in their efforts to "do unto the least of these". (Which has turned out to be a total kick in the butt, by the way) But I thing I'm a small c christian, maybe kinda like Darwin was. I was raised with those traditions, so it's a cultural base for me. I don't lose any sleep over whether any of the Biblical figures are historical, so I wouldn't make a very good thumper.

I'm troubled by the behavior and words of some who call themselves Christians. You all know who I'm talking about: Fred Phelps, Pat Robertson, Creflo Dollar, John Hagee, Benny Hinn, the Crouch empire, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, James Robison, Marilyn Hickey, Jesse Duplantis, the spawn of Robertson and Graham, and all the politicians - Huckabee, Bachmann, et al, who spew hate while wrapped in the flag and carrying a Bible.

There are a lot of opportunities to do community service, other than by way of a church, I understand. This was just an easy way for me to participate in my neighborhood. So my answer is I'm kind of a small c christan anyway, regardless of the historicity of any of the Biblical characters.

[msongs]

5. harry potter has 7 books. JC only has half of one. to be fair, JC has the lead on

movies though he is not the main character in most them

[pscot]

6. Ironic. The Dominicans

were in charge of the Inquisition. Back in the day, Fr. Brodie would have been tortured and burned as a heretic by his own Order.

[dimbear]

7. There is a whole small school of theology called Jesus mythicism, with a lot of history.

The extreme version, that JC never actually existed at all, isn't very likely. I would lay 90-10 He did actually exist. We just know practically nothing about Him, for instance, anything He said. Think Robin Hood, King Arthur, William Tell.

Our most prominent present day advocate of this, IMHO, is Robert M. Price.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

8. Yes, I would. I do believe in Yeshua's existence, and even though I do

I have had a hard time believing in the Church's existence as anything divine. The Church turned to the dark side a long time ago IMHO, and it may not resemble anything that Yeshua had in mind for it.

[deutsey]

9. Personally, I believe an historical person named Jesus or Yeshua existed

I believe because of the impact of his life and the message he preached, he became the mythic Christ of Faith decades after his execution.

John Dominic Crossan's research is instrumental in my thinking on the historical Jesus.

To your question: While I think the human Jesus is important for Christians--in that seeing him as a human being, not as a supernatural super hero with magical blood, is important in living out the Gospel message here and now--I also believe that the myth plays an important function in fostering an important communion between the ego consciousness and the deeper subconscious.

But I basically believe that about all myth and religious symbolism (I'm influenced by Jung and Joseph Campbell). As Campbell observed, myth can be a vital part of one's life as long as it isn't taken literally.

[Ligyron]

10. Joseph Campbell and The Hero with A Thousand Faces

Good book. I think it was he who also said that mythology is simply someone else's religion. I thought that was pretty funny whoever said it and it rang true.

In the Christ figure we have perhaps the latest manifestation of the old Dying Son Cult. Amazing how many different cultures throughout time have versions of this -- all attempting to link from humanity to the transcendent.

Personally, I really enjoyed his stories and what they reveal and contrast throughout each time and place about this seemingly universal need for people to somehow, someway relate to things beyond their present understanding.

and to have a hero go to bat for them against the unknown, suffer like us and slay dragons in the bargain.

[deutsey]

11. By happenstance, I just read this blog entry of an Episcopal priest

(a very liberal one, obviously: http://cromey.blogspot.com/)

In the Blessings of Atheism, Susan Jacoby makes a good case for non-believers. Atheists are organizing to make their ideas better known, seek community and find ways to express themselves at the important milestones of life, birth, marriage and death. They rightly resent not being respected in public services, which assume a common notion of God.

However, as a devout Christian of the Episcopalian persuasion, I bristle when Atheists lump together all notions of God into a simplistic definition in which most of us do not believe.

Thoughtful Christians and Jews have complex and varied views of the divine. Many of us see God as the “ground of all being” an idea set forth by the late Paul Tillich. God is not a being, but being itself. The Hebrew Scriptures have a notion of God as the great I am.”

Now one cannot pray to the ground of all being. The late Joseph Campbell when asked if he believed in God, replied, “I know a good metaphor when I see it.” The words God, father or mother are metaphors for being itself, for the ground of all being. We pray knowing there are deeper ideas below the metaphors.

Prayer does not work on God, prayer works on us. When I pray for the children and families of the Newtown, CT. The prayers work on me to do something about gun control and mental health. In the corporate prayers of believers we strengthen those who mourn.

Many people, including Atheists, reject a childish and uninformed idea of God. Even us believers know that belief in God is not an idea etched in stone but an ongoing process.