Introduction

The idea Jesus never existed is only really found on the internet.  Below are some links to sites that cover the topic, both for and against. Also included are some useful sites on the Historical Jesus.

Christian CADRE Comments
Christian Origins
Doxa
Jesus - A Historical Reconstruction
Liberal Christian Research Pages
Tekton Apologetics Ministries
The Jesus Puzzle
Truth be Known
Answering Infidels
Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth

The belief rating is defined as follows:

A - Atheist or sceptical agnostic

B - Middle of the road

C - Catholic

D - Broad Christian

E - Evangelical Christian

Content is rated out of ten. This rating in no way reflects my agreement with the material offered - but rather the amount of original material presented, web site presentation and the quality of writing.

The blogging arm of the Christian CADRE, this blog offers posts regarding a number of issues related to Christian apologetics. Cadre member and contributor to this website, Chris Price, often blogs there about issues related to the historical Jesus and the Jesus Myth.  He also flags new articles of interest as they appear on the internet.

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Originally titled, www.didjesusexist.com, Peter Kirby - founder and maintainer of Early Christian Writings - hopes to present "the best in research from all points of view." As it stands, most articles are only indirectly related to the Jesus Myth. But there is a valuable resource of online electronic books. Two of them, by Shirely Case and Maurice Goguel, are early book-length refutations of the Jesus Myth by respected scholars. Still relevant today, Chris Price has reviewed them for Bede's Library here.

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Written by seasoned internet veteran Metacrock, DOXA has two sections related to the Jesus Myth. The first is a section on the Historical Jesus which ably covers a lot of ground. Useful in and of itself, Metacrock adds a more detailed section with four articles directly confronting the Jesus Myth. The first two are more general and include effective responses to some standard Myth arguments (such as the supposed influence of the mystery religions on Christianity). The next two articles respond directly to Earl Doherty. These consist of Metacrock taking each of Doherty's summarized 12 pieces of the Jesus Puzzle and responding with summaries with his own.

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This website is all about the historical Jesus. Mueller comes from a fairly skeptical perspective and leaves much of early Christianity's writings about Jesus on his cutting-room floor. Nevertheless, Mueller has little regard for the Jesus Myth, as you can see from his review of Doherty's book here and his more in-depth critique beginning here.

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With arguments presented in well-structured outlines, this newcomer to the field provides some welcome, dispassionate discussions of the historicity of Jesus and early Christianity. Though not a direct challenge to the Jesus Myth, it is a healthy antidote to many of its underpinnings.  Justin Martyr, a trained classicist, also wrote a hard hitting attack on the alleged links between paganism and Jesus for Bede's Library here.

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Probably the most well known Christian apologetics site on the internet, Tekton Apologetics Ministries offers the most comprehensive response to the Jesus Myth in general, and Earl Doherty in particular. It also has articles responding to lesser Jesus Mythologists such as G.A. Wells, Acharya S and many more.  If you find an internet site claiming to debunk Christianity you can expect to find a detailed and witty rebuttal here.

The strength of Tekton is its scope and breadth. J.P. Holding, the sites founder, provides article after article responding to specific arguments by the Mythologists, especially Doherty. He does his homework and takes them head on. The weakness of the site, for many, will be its tone. Holding does not conceal the contempt he has for the Jesus Myth and the machinations they go through to prop up their theories. Though I sympathize with his sentiment, his tone may be a turn off to unfriendly or undecided readers.

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This website, by Jesus Myth guru Earl Doherty, contains the most comprehensive case for the Jesus Myth on the internet. Doherty is thorough. He lays out his case with arguments covering all aspects of Christianity, from Paul's letters, to the Gospels, to the Epistles of John, to the Apostolic Fathers. Nor is this website unattended. Doherty regularly updates it with new articles, revisions, or responses to emails (though he politely declined to engage Chris Price's articles published on this site). Substance aside, the biggest weakness of the site is its organization. There is no search function and the Index is of limited help since many article titles do not clearly indicate the content. By email, Doherty indicated to Chris that he would be adding a search function so keep your eyes open.

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By new-age-Jesus-mythologist guru Acharya S., this website “is the work of a rebel against the untruths and delusions of the status quo.”  She caused a stir at one point, but Acharya S. is now taken seriously by few participants in the Jesus Myth debate.  Although an adamant proponent of the Jesus Myth, she is just as likely to rant against french fries as a threat to western civilization or try and convince you that “AIDS is not an cannot be an infectious disease.” J.P. Holding takes her work to pieces as does Mark Licona and even ultra sceptical Robert Price.  Bearing in mind that Price thinks the execrable Jesus Mysteries is 'excellent', the fact even he buries Acharya is revealing.  As for her website, it is too reliant on bells and whistles so detracts from the contents even further.

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A new website has been launched called Answering Infidels. In the founders' own words, the site's mission has two objectives:

1. to provide answers to articles published online by internet sceptics.
2. to address specific issues related to Islam.

At the moment, the only articles focusing on the Jesus Myth at Answering Infidels are two responses to Acharya S’s The Christ Conspiracy. The first article is a convincing rebuttal to Acharya’s Jesus Myth arguments. The second is a point-by-point response to Acharya S’s rather shrill reply to the original review. If there is anyone left who takes her seriously, this is the finest rebuttal of her ideas online. Although the site’s main interest has been a defence of the resurrection, perhaps Answering Infidels will also include other worthy treatments of the Jesus Myth.

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This could be the most dishonest website on the whole of the Internet.  Kane has actually got a well presented and flashy site but his material relies on misquotation and disingenuous interpretation.  All the pagan copycat stuff he uses is very old hat and JP Holding also has a cruel parody of the site here.

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© James Hannam 2007.
Last revised: 08 December, 2009 .