Over the last two weekends, I had picked up what turned out to be a very interesting book – The Jesus Myth by George A. Wells. It was my first real exposure to the position of mythologists. It’s an impressively scholarly work, but as I picked my way through it (sometimes I had to jump ahead to his conclusions before I could follow where he was going on certain points), one thing that stood out to me was the way he countered the arguments of Christian apologists. It would be unfair of me to analyze his technique off the top of my head, but what struck me was the way he could be so dismissive of the arguments of some of his opponents, when his own arguments where often founded on very tenuous interpretations. I don’t have the scholarly expertise to judge the validity of his positions, but it did cause me to do a little online research into early Christian history, and the lack of contemporary records was quite striking. It must have been very difficult for the leaders of the early Christian church in the second and third centuries to assemble the canon that became the New Testament.

That limited research was enough to confirm a previously held belief on my part – that those who insist on interpreting the Bible, particularly the New Testament, as the literal word of God, not the work of men, have hobbled themselves. I think it’s an excellent guide, but only that.

This book was apparently one of Wells’ later ones, and I understand from researching the man that he has softened his position from his earlier works. As I expected, for as much as the mythologist view has been expounded, there has been just as much effort, if not more, put into countering the arguments upon which it is based.

I’m not trying to stake out a particular religious view with this post. I just read an interesting book and thought it was worth mentioning.

Posted by Greg in Posts About Me, Society

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