Critics of Christian origins tend in two directions. In one, Jesus was just some dude in Roman Judaea; maybe a prophet, true or false, doesn't matter. In another, Jesus was a celestial being outside of spacetime - which, for atheists, doesn't exist. Earl Doherty was big on the latter.
Toward Doherty, and moreso Richard Carrier, Vridar has boldfaced this comment: Like some other celestial deities, this Jesus was originally believed to have endured an ordeal of incarnation, death, burial and resurrection in a supernatural realm.
Vridar seems to disagree, himself. Now that I've looked, a bit, at Neolithic farming cultures in Europe and in Mesoamerica, I propose to discuss this.
Mythic events which we humans may set outside our spacetime do exist. It is just that the dying-and-reincarnate god is no such event. Such a god acts out his drama here on earth, where seasons come and go; and especially wherever and whenever a farming season comes and goes. When the agricultural society reaches a certain point that god is associated with royalty. The king is dead, long live the king...
This much, therefore, identifies which side owns the burden of proof. Doherty's acolytes must answer: how's Jesus different from 1 Ahau and Osiris-Horus? Why wouldn't Jesus come to Earth, be buried in our Sheol, and rise again from it?
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