I Will Have a Chapter in a New Mythicism Book

[Secret Alias]

[Secret Alias]

It's worth noting that John was asked by Carrier didn't have a chapter and his response - basically - was that he was too mentally unstable. That he ends up insulting anyone that disagrees with him, calling them 'irrational' etc.

[Secret Alias]

I entirely rewrote my initial submission. I hate everything I write. I just looked at it and thought 'this sucks.' Despite that, I think I have the best 'mythicist' theory going. This in spite of the fact I don't like the label 'mythicist' or 'mythicism.' I prefer to think of Christianity as the first 'self-help movement' - a mystical eight step program. I think people under estimate that Christianity was one of the first religions we know of to acknowledge 'the self' and selfhood. Doesn't really exist in Judaism. The Pentateuch only posits collective punishments and rewards, only thinks in terms of the group.

[Secret Alias]

I have a hard time hating Christianity. It really is the last flower of Hellenistic Judaism. A more beautiful Judaism.

[Charles Wilson]

Congratulations, Stephan.

CW

[lsayre]

When will it be available?

[Secret Alias]

They say 'next year.' I just wanted to get the idea published somewhere. Now I can die. My one original idea.

[GakuseiDon]

Congratulations! Do you have a summary of your mythicist theory that you can provide here, or a link if you've done that already?

[Secret Alias]

It's always coming up here in the forum. Look at any thread that talks about 'ish' i.e. the Hebrew word for man.

[Secret Alias]

As I am not doing anything right now other than watching Finnish disco dancing videos:

Here is a quick summary.

The angel man is a core part of the Pentateuch. The word for man in Hebrew is translated into Greek as the same two letters as the most common nomen sacrum in early Christian manuscripts. Justin says the name (nomen sacrum) can be read as 'man' or 'Jesus.' So the idea finds its way to the middle of the second century. Various Church Fathers identify the references to 'man' in the Pentateuch as a reference to the main protagonist in the gospel (i.e. Clement says the main character in the gospel wrestled with Jacob). The main character in the gospel says that he is as old as Abraham and the reference is taken to mean a reference to the anthropomorphic visitor in Genesis. Carrier draws attention to the Philo's angel 'man' from Zechariah but argues (stupidly I think) that this is a reference to an angel named 'Jesus.' Philo references the angel man in many places. Surely you've seen the references to this idea at forum.