John the Baptist Mythicism
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2022 4:41 pm
Want to create a list of academic sources that claim that John the Baptist never existed or float the possibility. Here are the sources I have collected thus far who have either (A) argued for it, or (B) pose it as a possibility:
From the Great Soviet Encyclopedia:
s.v. IOANN KRESTITEL’, in O. YU. Shmidt (ed.), Bol’shaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya: Interpolyatsiya-Istoricheskoye yazykovedeniye (65 Vols.; Moskva: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1926), XXIX, 73
Then also:
N. V. Rumyantsev, “Iosif Flaviy ob Iisuse Khriste i Ioanne Krestitele,” Ateist 36 (1926): 32-57
N. V. Rumyantsev, Mif ob Ioanne Krestitele (Moskva: Ateist, 1930)
I. A. Kryvelev, Istoriya relligiy (Moskva: Mysl’, 1988), 196 seems to regard John the Baptist as at least semi-mythical
Arthur Drews, The Christ Myth, Third Ed, trans. C. Delisle Burns ([repri.] Amherst: Prometheus, 1998), 119-123
Arthur Drews, The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus, trans. Joseph McCabe (London: Watts & Co., 1912), 183-194
Peter Jensen, Moses, Jesus, Paulus: drei Varianten des babylonischen Gottmenschen Gilgamesch: eine Anklage und ein Appell, Third Edition (Frankfurt: Neuer Frankfurter Verlag, 1910)
Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt, the Light of the World: A Work of Reclamation and Restitution in Twelve Books (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1907), Vol. 2, 855-856
Jean Magne, From Christianity to Gnosis and From Gnosis to Christianity: An Itinerary through the Texts to and from the Tree of Paradise, trans. A. F. W. Armstrong (Brown Judaic Studies series 286; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993), 203f
Frank R. Zindler, The Jesus the Jews Never Knew: Sepher Toldoth Yeshu and the Quest of the Historical Jesus in Jewish Sources (Cranford: American Atheist Press, 2003), 91 poses it as a possibility that he never existed
Acharya S. Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled (Kempton: Adventures Unlimited, 2004), 433
Pier Tulip, KRST, Jesus a Solar Myth: A New Exegesis Explores Mythical and Allegorical Contents of the Gospels, New Hypothesis on the Historical Jesus, trans. Robert Tulip (YouCanPrint, 2015), 111-112
René Salm, NazarethGate: Quack Archeology, Holy Hoaxes, and the Invented Town of Jesus (Cranford: American Atheist Press, 2015), 471 poses it as a possibility that he never existed
Lena Einhorn, A Shift in Time: How Historical Documents Reveal the Surprising Truth About Jesus (New York: Yucca, 2016), 123-133
Tom Harpur, The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light (Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2004), 93-94
Tom Harpur, Water into Wine: An Empowering Vision of the Gospels (Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2008), 46-47
Robert Taylor, “The Devil’s Pulpit No. 4: John the Baptist, A Sermon,” The Comet Vol. 1 (1832-1833): 66-77
Richard Carlile, "Sunday Schools of Free Discussion," The Lion vol. 4, no. 17 (1829): 534-536
J. M. Robertson, The Jesus Problem: A Restatement of the Myth Theory (London: Watts & Co., 1917), 136-137 declares him a very dubious figure
Eliza Sharples, "The Thirteenth Discourse of the Editress," 12, no. 1 (1932): 177-183 (181)
Herbert Cutner, Jesus: God, Man, or Myth? (reprint; Escondido: Book Tree, 2000), 145-146
Khepra Ka-Re Amente Anu, Dominant World Religions are Mythical, Violent, Sexist, Misogynistic, Discriminatory and Judgmental: All Religious Scriptures are Fabrications Attributed to an Imaginary God (Pittsburgh: Dorrance, 2020), 120-122
John Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth, Second Edition (Amherst: Prometheus, 1992), 181 doubts if John existed
Bernard Dubourg, L'Invention de Jésus (Paris: Gallimard, 1989), Vol. 2, 58
Anyone know of any other figures who argue this?
From the Great Soviet Encyclopedia:
s.v. IOANN KRESTITEL’, in O. YU. Shmidt (ed.), Bol’shaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya: Interpolyatsiya-Istoricheskoye yazykovedeniye (65 Vols.; Moskva: Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1926), XXIX, 73
Then also:
N. V. Rumyantsev, “Iosif Flaviy ob Iisuse Khriste i Ioanne Krestitele,” Ateist 36 (1926): 32-57
N. V. Rumyantsev, Mif ob Ioanne Krestitele (Moskva: Ateist, 1930)
I. A. Kryvelev, Istoriya relligiy (Moskva: Mysl’, 1988), 196 seems to regard John the Baptist as at least semi-mythical
Arthur Drews, The Christ Myth, Third Ed, trans. C. Delisle Burns ([repri.] Amherst: Prometheus, 1998), 119-123
Arthur Drews, The Witnesses to the Historicity of Jesus, trans. Joseph McCabe (London: Watts & Co., 1912), 183-194
Peter Jensen, Moses, Jesus, Paulus: drei Varianten des babylonischen Gottmenschen Gilgamesch: eine Anklage und ein Appell, Third Edition (Frankfurt: Neuer Frankfurter Verlag, 1910)
Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt, the Light of the World: A Work of Reclamation and Restitution in Twelve Books (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1907), Vol. 2, 855-856
Jean Magne, From Christianity to Gnosis and From Gnosis to Christianity: An Itinerary through the Texts to and from the Tree of Paradise, trans. A. F. W. Armstrong (Brown Judaic Studies series 286; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993), 203f
Frank R. Zindler, The Jesus the Jews Never Knew: Sepher Toldoth Yeshu and the Quest of the Historical Jesus in Jewish Sources (Cranford: American Atheist Press, 2003), 91 poses it as a possibility that he never existed
Acharya S. Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled (Kempton: Adventures Unlimited, 2004), 433
Pier Tulip, KRST, Jesus a Solar Myth: A New Exegesis Explores Mythical and Allegorical Contents of the Gospels, New Hypothesis on the Historical Jesus, trans. Robert Tulip (YouCanPrint, 2015), 111-112
René Salm, NazarethGate: Quack Archeology, Holy Hoaxes, and the Invented Town of Jesus (Cranford: American Atheist Press, 2015), 471 poses it as a possibility that he never existed
Lena Einhorn, A Shift in Time: How Historical Documents Reveal the Surprising Truth About Jesus (New York: Yucca, 2016), 123-133
Tom Harpur, The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light (Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2004), 93-94
Tom Harpur, Water into Wine: An Empowering Vision of the Gospels (Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2008), 46-47
Robert Taylor, “The Devil’s Pulpit No. 4: John the Baptist, A Sermon,” The Comet Vol. 1 (1832-1833): 66-77
Richard Carlile, "Sunday Schools of Free Discussion," The Lion vol. 4, no. 17 (1829): 534-536
J. M. Robertson, The Jesus Problem: A Restatement of the Myth Theory (London: Watts & Co., 1917), 136-137 declares him a very dubious figure
Eliza Sharples, "The Thirteenth Discourse of the Editress," 12, no. 1 (1932): 177-183 (181)
Herbert Cutner, Jesus: God, Man, or Myth? (reprint; Escondido: Book Tree, 2000), 145-146
Khepra Ka-Re Amente Anu, Dominant World Religions are Mythical, Violent, Sexist, Misogynistic, Discriminatory and Judgmental: All Religious Scriptures are Fabrications Attributed to an Imaginary God (Pittsburgh: Dorrance, 2020), 120-122
John Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth, Second Edition (Amherst: Prometheus, 1992), 181 doubts if John existed
Bernard Dubourg, L'Invention de Jésus (Paris: Gallimard, 1989), Vol. 2, 58
Anyone know of any other figures who argue this?