Earl Doherty

Earl Doherty (born 1941), currently living in Canada, is the author of "The Jesus Puzzle", a work published in 1999 by Canadian Humanist Publications and which expanded on his earlier "The Jesus Puzzle: Pieces in a Puzzle of Christian Origins" paper published in the Fall 1997 issue of "Journal of Higher Criticism" [ [http://depts.drew.edu/jhc/bakindex.html Journal of Higher Criticism back issues] ] arguing that Jesus never lived. Doherty argues that Paul and other writers of the earliest existing Christian documents did not believe in Jesus as a person that lived on Earth in an historical setting. Rather, they believed in Jesus as a mythical hero who suffered his sacrificial death in the lower spheres of heaven in the hands of the demon spirits, and was subsequently resurrected by God. This Christ myth was not based on a tradition reaching back to a historical Jesus, but on the Old Testament exegesis in the context of Jewish-Hellenistic religious syncretism heavily influenced by Platonism, and what the authors believed to be mystical visions of a risen Jesus.

According to Doherty, the Jesus myth was given a historical setting only by the second generation of Christians, somewhere between the first and second century. Doherty claims that even the author of the Gospel of Mark probably did not consider his gospel to be a literal work of history, but an allegorical Midrashic composition based on the Old Testament prophecies. In the widely supported two-source hypothesis, the story of Mark was later fused with a separate tradition of anonymous sayings embodied in the Q document into the other gospels; according to Doherty these became interpreted as the literal history of the life of Jesus. Doherty denies any historical value of the Acts of the Apostles, dismissing it as a late work based on legend.

Doherty has a degree in Ancient History and Classical Languages, and he was introduced to the idea of a mythical origin of Jesus by the work of G. A. Wells, who has authored a number of books arguing a more moderate form of the "Christ myth" theory. Doherty claims to have used his language skills to have studied the original-language versions of the New Testament, and to have come to his views through a critical analysis of these texts.

Reception

Among authors sympathetic to the view that Jesus never existed, Doherty's work has received mixed reactions. Frank R. Zindler, editor of "American Atheist", described "The Jesus Puzzle" in a review as "the most compelling argument against the historical Jesus published in my life-time". [cite journal |author=Frank R. Zindler |year=2000–2001 |title=The Christ Myth Revisited |journal=American Atheist |volume=39 |issue=1 |url=http://www.americanatheist.org/win00-01/T2/zindler.html |accessdate=2008-06-28 ] However, George Albert Wells, who also argues against the existence of a historical Jesus, rejects Doherty's view that the earliest Christians did not believe Jesus was a historical man who had lived on Earth. [cite journal |author=G. A. Wells |authorlink=George Albert Wells |year=1999 |month=September |title=Earliest Christianity |journal=New Humanist |volume=114 |issue=3 |pages=13–18 |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/g_a_wells/earliest.html |accessdate=2008-06-28 ] R. Joseph Hoffmann considers that there are "reasons for scholars to hold" the view that Jesus never existed, but considers Doherty's book "qualitatively and academically far inferior to anything so far written on the subject". [cite book |author=R. Joseph Hoffmann |authorlink=R. Joseph Hoffmann |year=2006 |chapter=Maurice Goguel and the 'Myth Theory' of Christian Origins |editor=Maurice Goguel |title=Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History? |others=translated by Frederick Stephens, with a new introduction by R. Joseph Hoffmann |publisher=Prometheus |location=Amherst, NY |isbn=1-59102-370-X |pages=pp. 15, 39 n. 31 ]

Books

Doherty's "The Jesus Puzzle" (subtitled "Did Christianity begin with a mythical Christ?") from 1999 presents many views on the origins of Christianity, and promotes the view of a mythical Jesus. The book's treatment of the issue has received much attention on the internet from both sides of the debate, including favorable reviews by skeptics Robert M. Price and Richard Carrier. [http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/jesuspuzzle.shtml]

Bibliography

*"The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ?" (1999) ISBN 0-9689259-1-X (Age of Reason Publications edition, 2005)
*"Challenging the Verdict: A Cross-examination of Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" (2001) ISBN 0-9689259-0-1

References

External links

* [http://www.jesuspuzzle.com Doherty's web site] including a reproduction of his Fall 1997 "Journal of Higher Criticism" article [http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/jhcjp.htm "The Jesus Puzzle: Pieces in a Puzzle of Christian Origins" ]
* [http://neonostalgia.com/resources/bible/fearandloathing.html Fear and Loathing in a Lost Gospel] by Chris Zeichman, criticising Doherty's positions on the Q document
* [http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/CritiquesZeich.htm "Fear and Loathing of Doherty's Use of Q] by Earl Doherty, a response to Chris Zeichman's critique
* [http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/jesuspuzzle.html Did Jesus Exist? "Earl Doherty and the Argument to Ahistoricity"] , a review of The Jesus Puzzle by Richard Carrier
* [http://www.preventingtruthdecay.org/jesuspuzzle2.shtml Taking Apart "The Jesus Puzzle"]