Cuddle your Bible tightly helenaconstantine. I think you’ll find that the ‘nonsense’ he is spouting is actually very sound. I’m assuming you found reading the book to be a needless inconvenience? Academic journals seem not to find his analyses so far-fetched, and even those who share disagreements with him (e.g., Mark Goodacre) are not so bold as to make the claim that he is spouting nonsense. I thought common sense would tell people that you ought to actually read one’s arguments before attempting to rebut them. So either common sense tells people no such thing, or you lack common sense… I have my money on the latter.

Pretty cowardly remark there No E-begging. People did not just donate money because they somehow pitied Dr. Carrier, as we might a homeless man on the street. These donations were an investment in Dr. Carrier’s work. He works hard and produces great work, and is underpaid, as many independent scholars unfortunately are. Does that mean we want to see him stop working in this field? No. Does this mean his work ought to produce greater income? Yes. That is why many of us made the investment. He earned it.

The jerks are probably a not unknowns to the topic of Christian origins, just cowards hiding their identities. Thanks, Richard for your work and sticking to your ideals. As someone deep in the world of academia (my wife is a research associate and instructor and I am in my last year of a doctorate), I concur with what you say about tenure track positions!

As to transhumanism, I’m all for it, provided it is advanced ethically and with competent government regulation, like all dangerous new technologies. Otherwise, the pace and outcome of these advances is hugely exaggerated by many of the people you name. But that is just a question of timescales.

There are dozens of my videos, including a debate on this topic, on YouTube and elsewhere online (many are linked in my blog, see left margin category list, videos). Books are better. Because videos just summarize. Books contain the actual evidence (citations etc.).

I’m a scholar and a writer, not a vlogger. Vloggers are welcome to use and benefit from and thus credit my work, as they do hundreds and hundreds of other exerts who also are not vloggers. In fact, 99.99% of the knowledge all vloggers rely upon comes from experts like me who are not themselves vloggers. So the idea that only vloggers have influence is shot down by that fact: without us, vloggers would just be bobble-headed talking whatsits pulling shit out if their ass. Which would not be something to admire, much less pursue the like of. Rush Limbaugh may have tons of influence. That doesn’t mean we should want to be Rush Limbaugh. And insofar as someone on a video channel is not Rush Limbaugh, my role is to help them spread better knowledge. Through my blogging and books.

We all play our part. If we didn’t, we’d get nowhere. Division of labor is the cornerstone of civilization.

And “the OT” then meant a lot of documents no longer in the OT, like Enoch and whatever it is Paul is quoting in 1 Cor. 2 and so on. I cover that and more in On the Historicity of Jesus.

What they are referring to here is the evidence in Philo (as documented in my same book) that there was a Jewish theology of a pre-existent Jesus, prior to Christianity. Because Philo wrote around the same time as Christianity began yet has no knowledge of it; so that they share identical theologies at the same time entails they must share a common, now lost, source–possibly indeed a lost “scripture”. The alternative requires positing a coincidence far too improbable to credit (as I explain in OHJ).

(Just FYI the people who admire greed and income figures are not just Americans. I get those creepy comments from the UK and Australia, too.)

There are basically two honest ways of making money. The first is to help others make money or earn a living (e.g. entrepreneurs, companies, professional athletes who put people in the stands, etc.). The second is to help others make their lives better or achieve their personal goals, or get smarter… or whatever. The latter is what Richard Carrier has chosen to focus on.

There is nothing wrong with seeking patronage for one’s artistic or intellectual contributions, whether before of after the fact. Nobody is being coerced. Richard asked openly for help, and got it, quickly and efficiently. He went straight to his supporters, those who appreciate his work and feel he needs this particular bit of help and financial support. It also happens to be much more efficient than what tenured professors do at university. They don’t go through the internet or direct to their supporters (They may not have any!), but instead they go to committees and foundations, most of which are funded by government (from our taxes) and private individuals with the werewithal to help researchers. Except they have administration and management fees, not to mention the internal and external politics.

It’s much better to go direct, whether by asking through one’s blog for Paypal contributions or crowd sourcing the funding through one of the numerous websites. It’s democratic, non-elitist, direct, and participatory.

So there!

To Richard: Keep up the good work.

Regards,

Richard Martin

p.s. “We don’t need six figures” is exactly right. Americans are totally brainwashed in this regard.