I hadn't intended to post anything else about the historical Jesus (I like to keep my blog varied!), but comments on my previous H J post, as well as some discussions on other Forum threads, made me realise that I needed to address a question I had (deliberately) ignored in the past - the question of the "Christ Myth" theory, which argues that Jesus of Nazareth never existed, in any shape or form, and that his very existence was a fiction. Below is my defence of the existence of Jesus...

This essay is designed to be a brief overview of the major trends in the study of the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth. This is a massive field, and I can only paint it in the very broadest of brush-strokes. I’m going to ignore the two most extreme positions – Biblical literalism, and the “Christ Myth” theory which claims that Jesus never existed. I think there are strong reasons for rejecting both of these schools, but for now I will simply ignore them and focus on the academic mainstream,...