What really happened on Easter Sunday – Jesus, suffering and guilt

My sister sent me the following chain letter, which goes into surprising detail about exactly how, physically, Jesus suffered on the cross. The point of the letter is to get you to feel his pain, which generates an emotional catharsis; it makes you first feel guilty, and then overwhelmingly grateful. Don't forget that this highly robust psycho-religious emotional experience was already being practiced by the Jewish women mourning for Tammuz in the Spring on the ...

David Fitzgerald Debunks Historical Jesus at Skepticon 3

I love this very convincing, clear and structured argument against the historical Jesus given by David Fitzgerald at Skepticon 3. David presents evidence and history that, while basic and easy to confirm, is widely unknown and goes against the common conception that most people have of Jesus Christ. Plus, David's delivery throws in gems of wit and humor, such as (commenting on unlikely it would have been for Jesus to throw out the moneychangers) "now either ...

Who came first, Gnostics or Christians? Early engravings reveal the truth!

Recently scholars identified what appears to be the world's earliest Christian inscription, dating to the second century. It is in the collection of the Capitoline Museums in Rome. Orthodox or mainstream Christians argue that Jesus, the historical man came first and that Gnosticism was a later, paganized offshoot of "real" Christianity - if this were true, we would expect the earliest records of Jesus Christ to be more down to earth; however this is the ...

Bart Ehrman: Did Jesus Exist? Is there evidence for a historical Jesus?

When asked in a recent interview (The Infidel Guy Show) about the evidence for the historical Jesus, Bart Ehrman threw out the tired line "No Serious/No Reputable Scholar doubts that a historical Jesus existed." Ehrman's support of the historical Jesus is used by apologists to show how even extremely liberal theologians like Bart cannot bring themselves to doubt a historical Jesus (the title of one blog post is "Atheist Stumped by Overwhelming Evidence for Jesus' ...

Support JesusPotterHarryChrist on Kickstarter.com and get awesome freebies!

If you're looking for a late-summer read, check out the book "Jesus Potter Harry Christ." It claims that both Harry and Jesus are spiritual metaphors told in the literary form of historical fiction. The paperback is selling well on amazon, but we'd like to print hardcover copies - so we've set up a page on kickstarter.com where you can get a better deal and some great freebies by supporting the project. Thanks! Click here for the ...

Dionysus, Hades and Jesus: Marriage in Death to Lords of the Underworld

One of the literary threads I hope to investigate in the future is the tie between vampirism and the ancient tradition of linking death and marriage together; many religions deal with death as an intimate reunion or marriage with a god of the underworld such as Hades or Dionysus. Much of this symbolism was later preserved in Christianity. The following is a paper I wrote recently for a PhD course on Antigone (by Sophocles) Death, Marriage ...

Bible archaeologists discover tablet that refutes Jesus’ resurrection

Did Jesus Christ really resurrect from the grave after three days? Probably not, it turns out. In 2008 archaeologists found a stone tablet that tells of a Jewish rebel hero who died and came back to life after three days. Jesus? No! His name was Simon, and he lived decades before Jesus. What we learn from this is that the Jews already had a template of the messiah that they expected, and they began applying ...

The truth about CS Lewis, Tolkien and Pagan Christs: Christian Parallels in Mythology

Last Month Chuck Colson - Christian leader, cultural commentator, and former Special Counsel for President Richard Nixon - commented on my book, Jesus Potter Harry Christ. His central criticism of my book is weak, desperate and unfounded - in fact I write quite a bit about CS Lewis and Tolkien in the book so I doubt Colson has read more than the introduction or summary. But I'd like the opportunity to address the issue, which ...

The Truth about Harry Potter and Jesus: Religious symbolism, controversy and theology in JK Rowling’s Deathly Hallows

A big part of the research I've been doing in the past decade has focused on historical Jesus research: how much of the gospel story is literature, and how much (if any) is based on firm historical fact. For my Master's thesis in comparative literature, I tied in this research with the fictional character of Harry Potter, to demonstrate that Jesus, like Harry, may have been a cumulative adaptation of many previous mythologies. Now that the ...

The Existence of Jesus Christ, Harry Potter and other ‘Historical’ Saviors

Recently in an online discussion of the historical Jesus and my book Jesus Potter Harry Christ, Hans Andréa from Harry Potter for Seekers responded to a question about Jesus' existence with an insightful commentary. Since I agree with Hans' conclusions regarding how and to what extent Jesus Christ existed or continues to exist, and since I couldn't find his post on Google (does Google index Yahoo group discussions?) I'm reposting it with some comments of ...