I assume everyone will find this compelling, and we can get back to the important stuff, right?
American Biblical scholar Joseph Atwill will be appearing before the British public for the first time in London on the 19th of October to present a controversial new discovery: ancient confessions recently uncovered now prove, according to Atwill, that the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ. ...
Although to many scholars his theory seems outlandish, and is sure to upset some believers, Atwill regards his evidence as conclusive and is confident its acceptance is only a matter of time. ...
Atwill asserts that Christianity did not really begin as a religion, but a sophisticated government project, a kind of propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of the Roman Empire. "Jewish sects in Palestine at the time, who were waiting for a prophesied warrior Messiah, were a constant source of violent insurrection during the first century," he explains. ...
Was Jesus based on a real person from history? "The short answer is no," Atwill insists, "in fact he may be the only fictional character in literature whose entire life story can be traced to other sources. Once those sources are all laid bare, there's simply nothing left."...Interestingly, some of the pushback is coming from atheists: skeptical by nature, they're finding the man's claims of parallelism as off-putting as when it shows up in other conspiracy theories.
The first thing that jumps out at some Atheists when reviewing Atwill’s claim is his description of what he calls “evidence” of his theory: the gospels themselves. He claims that he sees “parallels” and “connections” between the gospels and historian Flavius Josephus’ book entitled The War of the Jews. ... Atheists know that whenever people see conspiracies, “connections,” and “parallels” between two seemingly unrelated texts/events/signs/Nostradamus’ verses etc., it’s generally not because there is any actual connection ... but rather it’s because our brains are wired to make sense out of chaos, find connections between things, and create order where none is organically available.I guess the one thing that can be said for sure is that the lecture will be lively. Hope to have some followup.
[Added: I wrote this a while back and never got around to posting. Since the lecture has presumably happened, and since the world hasn't erupted, I guess it was no big deal. Haven't bothered to find out more...]
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