Jesus Studies by Dr. Carrier

Jesus Studies

Dr. Carrier has written Not the Impossible Faith on the social and intellectual context of the rise and early development of Christianity, and contributed important chapters to The Empty Tomb and The Christian Delusion on whether there is enough historical evidence to conclude that Jesus actually rose from the dead. Below are links to Dr. Carrier's other work on the historical origins of Christianity.

Naturalism as a Worldview
Dr. Carrier's own worldview, evidence for which is also evidence against the supernatural claims of Christianity.

Resurrection FAQs
FAQs on Carrier's chapters in The Empty Tomb and The Christian Delusion as a comprehensive response to questions and criticism.

Stephen Davis Gets It Wrong (2006)
Rebuttal to Stephen Davis' critical review of The Empty Tomb in the journal Philosophia Christi.

Was Christianity Too Improbable to Be False? (2006)
Online book in nineteen chapters surveying the question of whether the origin and early success of Christianity was unusual or entirely a product of its place and time.

Luke vs. Matthew on the Year of Christ's Birth (2006)
Summary case against harmonizing the nativities of the gospels (abridgement of the full article).

Some Godless Comments On Jesus (2003)
Critique of attempts to portray Jesus as a brilliant Hellenistic philosopher ahead of his time, with discussion of the quality of evidence for what Jesus said and did.

Some Godless Comments On Jesus II (2004)
Elaborates in great detail on many issues raised by the first article (above).

Why I Don't Buy the Resurrection Story (6th ed., 2006)
In some respects outdated but still a useful collection of essays on the subject.

Review of In Defense of Miracles (1999)
Detailed critique (only partly updated in 2005).

Bayes' Theorem for Beginners (PDF 2008)
Tutorial on improving our methodology in the Quest for the Historical Jesus, using the logic of Bayes' Theorem.

The Twelve Axioms of Historical Method (PDF 2010)
On the epistemological axioms and rules of historical method (pertaining to Jesus studies but applicable to all subjects).

With a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University, Dr. Carrier specializes in the intellectual history of Greece and Rome, particularly the history of science and the origins of Christianity. This page is dedicated to the latter, cataloguing his most important work online, more of which is listed at the Secular Web. He also discusses this subject on his blog (see entries indexed under Jesus and resurrection). For his recommended readings on this subject, see Richard Carrier Recommends.

On Paul's Theory of Resurrection (2008)
Formal debate with theology scholar Jake O'Connell on the merits of my "spiritual body" theory in The Empty Tomb.

On Kersey Graves (2003)
Explains the essential reasons to distrust the information in The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors.

Did Jesus Exist? (2002)
Critical review of Earl Doherty's The Jesus Puzzle. Finds it is not proven, but nor is it inconceivable that Jesus didn't exist.

Luke and Josephus (2000)
Summarizes Steve Mason's argument that Luke drew material from (and thus post-dates) the work of Josephus.

Review of The Homeric Epics & the Gospel of Mark (2000)
Finds that Dennis MacDonald's thesis (that Mark emulated Homer) is more plausible than his critics might allow.

The Nazareth Inscription (2000)
Refutes the apologetical argument that a Nazarene inscription on graverobbing confirms the resurrection of Jesus.

Thallus: An Analysis (1999)
Surveys the question of whether (and when) a historian named Thallus mentioned the death of Christ.

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