Analysis of the Carrier-Evans Debate

In April of 2016 I debated Professor Craig Evans, a renowned Evangelical professor of Christianity from Houston Baptist University, on whether Jesus actually existed as a historical person. The debate was held at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, sponsored by...

Dykstra on Ehrman & Brodie

Rene Salm has clued me in to another important new peer reviewed journal article, by Tom Dykstra (M.Div.; Ph.D. in Russian History), who is best known for his critically acclaimed book on how the Gospel of Mark is built out of the Epistles of Paul (Mark, Canonizer of...

Bart Ehrman Just Can’t Do Truth or Logic

Bart Ehrman was again asked what evidence there is that Jesus existed this February 18, 2016, at Fresno City College. See the video here (he begins his answer at timestamp 23:18). First he says this: I don’t think there is any doubt that Jesus existed. There are a...

We Weep for John Tors

I mentioned a couple days ago the John Tors travesty, an outraged attempt to “rebut” the Macleans article questioning the historicity of Jesus. His ignorance is only exceeded by his arrogance. And it’s all just so sad to behold....

Historicity Apologists: Their Own Worst Enemy

Brian Bethune has published a good article on the historicity question for Macleans, a leading Canadian magazine. Titled Did Jesus Really Exist?, his article presents a pretty fair assessment of the debate (after summarizing recent developments in the field calling...

Announcing The Richard Carrier Exists Tour!

I may be visiting your town soon! And I may need your help. I’ll explain in a moment. But here’s the basic idea… Because Christians don’t understand how evidence works, they’ve literally argued that there is no more evidence for my...

Appearing at UCLA Next Week!

As I announced earlier, I’m speaking for CFI in two locations this Sunday in Southern California, on why a Jesus was invented at all. But the following Wednesday (April 20 at 5pm), I will be speaking on simply what evidence there is for a historical Jesus, at...

Appearing in Los Angeles & Costa Mesa

I will be speaking on Jesus mythicism in Southern California this April. “If Jesus Didn’t Exist, Why Did They Invent One?” The theory that there was no actual Jesus at the dawn of Christianity is starting to impact academia. But if there was no Galilean...

Mythicist Milwaukee Interview with Carrier & Lataster

A podcast interview of Raphael Lataster and myself has just gone up in advance of the Bass-Carrier debate happening this weekend, also sponsored by Mythicist Milwaukee, the same organization as runs the podcast in question. The episode is “The Jesus Myth Theory...

Mythicist Milwaukee Podcast Live Next Week!

Raphael Lataster and I will be on the Mythicist Milwaukee Show next week to talk about many things to do with the mythology of Jesus, including my upcoming debate with Justin Bass in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the following week (that debate will be this March 19th, and...

Kennesaw State Debate with Craig Evans: Did Jesus Exist?

I’ll be debating renowned New Testament scholar Dr. Craig Evans at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, this April 13 (2016) at 7pm in the Social Sciences building, room 1021 (parking in the West Parking Deck). Co-hosted by Ratio Christi and the...

Can Paul’s Human Jesus Not Be a Celestial Jesus?

James McGrath wrote a couple of years ago about Paul’s Human Jesus as an argument against mythicism—in particular against the Doherty thesis, which in stripped down form is what I find most likely to be true in On the Historicity of Jesus. I have noted...

Tucker’s Review of Proving History in the Journal History & Theory

As I recently mentioned, a Harvard University philosopher, Aviezer Tucker, just published a review of my book Proving History for the academic journal History and Theory (Vol. 55, February 2016, pp. 129-140), titled, The Reverend Bayes vs. Jesus Christ. Tucker is an...

Why the Smart Money Is on the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife Being a Forgery

I was going to do a news roundup of several new developments in ancient manuscript studies, until one of them turned out to be a roller-coaster ride down a rabbit hole filled with all manner of twists and turns. The subject? The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife. The other...