Christ Conspiracy_ The Greatest Story Ever Sold - Acharya S [10]
Wells adds to the list of "biographies" of Jesus:
In the past generation, the "real" Jesus has been variously a magician (Smith), a Galilean rabbi (Chilton), a marginal Jew (Meyer), a bastard (Schaberg), a cipher (Thiering), a Qumran dissident (Allegro, et al.), a gnosticising Jew (Koester), a dissident Jew (Vermes), a happily married man and father of sons (Spong), a bandit (Horsley), an enthusiastic (possible Zealot?) opponent of the Temple cult (Sanders). Perhaps most remarkable of all is the "real" Jesus of the Westar Project/Jesus Seminar whose existence has been pinned on just over thirty "authentic" sayings, derived from an eclectic application of biblical-critical axioms and confirmed by vote of the seminar members.2
Despite all of this literature continuously being cranked out, it is obvious that we are dealing not with biography but with speculation, and there remains in the public at large a serious and unfortunate lack of education regarding religion and mythology, particularly that of Christ. Indeed, the majority of people are taught in most schools and churches that Jesus Christ was an actual historical figure and that the only controversy regarding him is that some people accept him as the Son of God and the Messiah, while others do not. However, whereas this is the raging debate most evident today, it is not the most important. Shocking as it may seem to the general populace, the most enduring and profound controversy in this subject is whether or not a person named Jesus Christ ever really existed.
History and Positions of the Debate
The debate as to whether or not Jesus Christ is a historical character may not be apparent from publications readily found in popular bookstores; however, beginning over two centuries ago, a significant group of scholars started springing up to challenge long-held beliefs. In more recent times, this controversy erupted when GA Wells published Did Jesus Exist? and The Historical Evidence for Jesus, among others, which sought to prove that Jesus is a non-historical character. An attempt to repudiate Wells was made in Jesus: The Evidence, an entire (slim) volume written to establish that Jesus did exist. It should be noted that no such book would be needed if the existence of Jesus Christ as a historical figure were a proven fact accepted by all. In addition, it is not uncommon to hear in a discussion about Jesus something to the effect, "Don't get me wrong-I believe he existed," a strange declaration, since, according to popular belief, "Everybody knows he existed." Were the last assertion true, this type of doubtful "don't get me wrong" comment would not be necessary. No one discussing Abraham Lincoln, for example, needs to clarify her/his position by expressing the belief that Lincoln existed.
Indeed, it is such doubt, which has existed since the beginning of the Christian era, that has led many seekers of truth over the centuries to research thoroughly this important subject from an independent perspective and to produce an impressive volume of literature that, while hidden, suppressed or ignored, nevertheless has demonstrated logically and intelligently that Jesus Christ is a mythological character along the same lines as the gods of Egypt, England, Greece, India, Phoenicia, Rome, Sumeria and elsewhere, entities presently acknowledged by mainstream scholars and the masses alike as myths rather than historical figures. Delving deeply into this large body of work, one uncovers evidence that the Jesus character is in fact based upon these much older myths and heroes. One discovers that the gospel story is not, therefore, a historical representation of a Jewish rebel carpenter who had physical incarnation in the Levant 2,000 years ago. In other words,