Harvard: Historical Jesus never existed

Harvard philologist says "no historical Jesus"

(MythVision Podcast) Aug. 3, 2022 Harvard philologist says there was "no historical Jesus." His name is Dr. Carl A. P. Ruck (born Dec. 8, 1935, in Bridgeport, Connecticut). He is a professor in the Classical Studies Department at Boston University. He received his B.A. at Yale University, his master's at the University of Michigan, and his doctoral (Ph.D.) degree at Harvard University. He lives in Hull, Massachusetts.

Prof. Ruck is best known for his work along with other scholars in mythology and religion on the sacred role of entheogens (that bring out the divine from within), which are psychoactive plants that induce altered states of consciousness. They have been used in religious and shamanic rituals for millennia.

Dr. Ruck's focus has been on the use of entheogens in classical Western culture, as well as their historical influence on modern Western religions. He currently teaches mythology at Boston University that presents this theory in depth. #mythvision #historicaljesus #mythicist

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Founder of Christianity: PAUL? (Bart Ehrman)

Host Megan Lewis, Prof. of Christianity Bart D. Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus; Wisdom Quarterly

Is Paul the founder of Christianity?

(Bart D. Ehrman) May 16, 2023. Visit bartehrman.com/courses to shop from Prof. Ehrman’s online courses and get a special discount by using code: MJPODCAST on all courses.

It has long been said among historical scholars that Christianity is NOT the religion of Jesus Christ but the religion about him.

In this view, Jesus was a Jewish preacher who urged his fellow Jews to repent of their sins and turn back to the Jewish God by observing what he demanded of Jews, so they could enter the coming Kingdom [on earth].

But Christians did not think repentance and obedience could bring Christian salvation at all. It was the death and resurrection of Jesus that mattered.

Moreover, it is often said that Paul was the one who transformed Jesus' gospel about the coming Kingdom into a gospel of Jesus' death and resurrection. Is that true?

Wouldn't that mean that Paul and Jesus had different religions? And if so, then isn't Paul, rather than Jesus, the founder of Christianity?

In this episode, Megan Lewis asks Bart Ehrman about:

• Jesus’ religion was Judaism. Would it be reasonable to say that his teachings aren’t attempting to construct a theology but to explain how Jewish law should be followed and to prepare for the immanent kingdom of the Jewish god?
• Was Paul, who was Jewish, attempting to construct a new theology?
• Did Paul know that he was participating in the formation of a new religion? Would he have identified himself as a Christian?
• Paul saw himself as an apostle to the gentiles and made it clear that non-Jewish followers of Jesus did not need to convert to Judaism. How much did this contribute to the formation of Christianity as a new and distinct religion? If Paul had either focused on the Jewish community, or required conversion, do you think that followers of Jesus would have remained an offshoot of Judaism?
• Because Paul insisted on gentiles and non-conversion, and this is what pushed Christianity away from being a Jewish sect, doesn’t that make Paul the founder of Christianity?
• Does the importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus appear in his own teachings?
• Is Paul responsible for putting together writings that would be used to create a comprehensive Christian theology?
• How did so many texts associated with Paul come to be included in the New Testament? If we only have seven actual letters, why is Paul so important?
• As apostle to the Gentiles, Paul deliberately traveled to cities without a church in order to introduce Christianity and found churches. How much of an impact did he have on the spread of the religion?

• VIDEO: Did Paul accept the teachings of Jesus?
• Prof. Bart Ehrman: Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says About the End

Christian scholar Bart Ehrman: Books of Bible

Why doesn't Bart believe in God, the Devil, or the Bible anymore?

(Bart D. Ehrman) March 21, 2023. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Bible scholar and Professor Bart Ehrman has written a new book on Revelation, titled Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End.

In it he examines the least-read and most-misunderstood book of the Bible, The Book of Revelation. It is out this month (March 2023). It's an interesting subject: It's The. End. Of. The. World!

• Visit bartehrman.com/courses to shop from Prof. Ehrman’s online courses and get a special discount by using code: MJPODCAST on all courses.

A person’s reasons for de-conversion from Christianity to agnosticism (not knowing) or atheism (not believing in a superior being) are something that many Christians speculate wildly about, misunderstand, or simply refuse to believe, but those reasons can be varied and complex.

In this episode, Prof. Ehrman talks to Megan Lewis about why he de-converted, how he found meaning after the Christian religion, and why he does what he does. Meg asks Barty some personal questions:

• What impact did learning more about the Bible have on your religious convictions?
• What truly prompted you to leave Christianity, and how long had you been wrestling with that problem before you realized that you couldn’t solve it?
• Was there a specific moment that led you to finally walk away, or was it more the culmination of years of thought and reflection?
• Did you find any of the solutions satisfying, or were they all lacking?
• What do you mean when you say you’re an agnostic-atheist?
• Some people believe that the real reason you write all of these popular books, speak in public, run your blog, and so on, is because you’re on a mission to de-convert the faithful.
• In his book God’s Problem, you make the point of saying that you have no interest in de-converting anyone, so why do you do this work?

Who chose official books of the Bible?

Megan Lewis and Bart Ehrman discuss the "origin of the Christian canon," meaning: Who chose the books that made it into the Bible?"

And why did they choose these 27 and leave out the other books? They address related issues, such as:

• books, letters, and gospels that were considered authoritative by some early Christians, but were ultimately rejected on one basis or another
• early New Testament manuscripts that actually DO contain some rejected texts
• criteria that were used to determine which texts to include
• proto-orthodox church fathers and their influence
• what information early church fathers did -- and did not -- have to base their decisions on.

• Hatred is weaponizing Jesus Christ: How violent Evangelicals, faith-based con artists, serial abusers are using the Christian religion for the purpose of evil (salon.com)

Roman Imperialism = Catholicism (video)

Arzamas, 5/30/17; Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Kwan Yin Bodhisattva

By its own admission the Roman Catholic Church is a continuation, the overtly surviving aspect of the "Holy Roman Empire. It was "Saint"/Emperor Constantine's psy-op (psychological operation, public relations, and propaganda campaign) to rule a massive and disparate imperial realm. This is not elitist Jewish-Christianity, it is universal Christianity and so it is called Catholicism from the word catholic, "universal." Five hundred princes wanting to rule parts of Italy found a way to get incredibly rich and stay in power by creating the most successful patriarchal corporation in history. 

Kwan Yin as Virg-Yin Mary

It is not a democracy but a severe militant organization with top-down rule from the "father" (pope/head patriarch) and the heavenly "sky-father" above that. The angels are legions of "hosts," armies, battalions, forces, good-guy militants in this conception. It is much the same in some forms of Buddhism around the figure of Sakka, King of the Devas (King of Kings, Lord of Lords), a kind of St. Michael archangel figure, who rules over the Realm of the Four Great Sky Kings or Regents and another "heaven" one level up, where 33 "lords" (ruling-devas) are led by him.

Like militant, patriarchal, and sexist Catholicism, Mahayana Buddhism (the much larger universalist branch of the tradition) idolizes not the historical Buddha but the Goddess of Mercy Kwan Yin, Buddhism's Virgin Mary.

VIDEO: Ancient Rome in 20 minutes

Emperor Julius Caesar, the Colosseum, the Republic, Nero, geese, plebeians, legions -- everything you once knew but forgot, in a crash course video by Arzamas. Narrated by Brian Cox. "Ancient Rome in 20 minutes" is a Russian version of a Russian video by Arzamas.

There have a few other projects in English: Russian Art in the 20th Century (arzamas.academy). Who are you in 1917 Russia? (arzamas.academy/materials/1269). Taunt Like The Bard (a Shakespeare insult generator).

Vatican Defends Pope: He is ardent anti-Nazi

Pope (center) leads a mass at the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem today, where it is believed Jesus had his final prayer before he was betrayed and arrested. Pope Benedict visited holy sites in Jerusalem at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today as part of a pilgrimage beset by Jewish disappointment over his remarks on the Holocaust (Reuters/Darren Whiteside).

RAW VIDEO: Visit to Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites, in Jerusalem (AP)

JERUSALEM – The Vatican defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday as a man of strong anti-Nazi credentials and a peacemaker in the face of mounting Israeli criticism and Arab anger over the Israeli occupation.

• Helios (swastika): the Source of "Jesus the Son"
• Vatican stumbles in defense of Pope Benedict
• Video: Pope "irrevocably committed" to Jews (AFP)

Critics faulted the German-born pope for failing to apologize in a speech at Israel's holocaust memorial for what they see as Catholic indifference during the Nazi genocide — a controversy that threatened to overshadow his high-profile pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

• Video: Palestinian Catholics pin hopes on pope (AFP)
• Video: Pope visits holy sites in Jerusalem (AP)

Benedict delivered messages of peace today while visiting the holiest Muslim and Jewish sites in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.

"The purpose of this visit is peace"... More>>

• The War of the Words: Part I
• Ghost-hunters enter haunted house