An Enlightening Conversation between Richard Carrier PhD and Godless Granny

This is an extremely enlightening conversation that occurred on a livestream between Richard Carrier and Godless Granny.  “The Historical Jesus” has been ‘quest[ed]’ for—to borrow an expression from Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965)—since the days of Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768). This quest hasn’t turned up much… if indeed anything! I think that it is high time that we call this failed quest off, as it is beginning to appear as futile as a wild goose chase.

Richard Carrier explains that the documentary evidence that we would expect—were Reimarus’s historical Jesus a reality—really isn’t there. Carrier goes on to hint that perhaps certain documents from the ancient past were either doctored or destroyed, because the lack of Jesus’s being mentioned in these same documents could not easily have been explained. Documents that most likely would have mentioned a historical Jesus—if such a personage actually existed—have, quite conveniently, not come down to us. Documents that would have mentioned a historical Jesus, if such a person actually existed, are, extremely conveniently, no longer extant.

To reiterate: I personally am not a Mythicist. However, paradoxically, I do not believe that much—if indeed anything—can be known historically about the Jesus character presented to us in the New Testament. My position is a tad paradoxical: a historical Jesus, in all likelihood, existed, however we are unable to know much, if anything, about him historically. To me there is enough that we can distill from the fictional writings of the New Testament such that a historical Jesus becomes more likely than not… however, from these same fictional writings we are not able to distill any history concerning the doings of this same Jesus character.

Ciarán Aodh Mac Ardghail (Ciarán Mc Ardle) is a digital creator from Ireland. Here is his linktree. Here is his YouTube Channel. Here is his LinkedIn. Here is his Instagram.