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Religious Mythicism

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davedan:
The idea of Jesus Mythicism has been around since the 18th - 19th Century. However it is falling out of favour today given the view for instance, absence of proof is not proof of absence. What about other figures, such as Moses, was he a mythic figure (an archetypal lawgiver) or was there a historical person behind it.

What about other figures, Zoraster, Dionyses, Oddyseuss, Heracles, Theseus, Romulus & Remus etc.


Which do you think is based in History and which is purely myth and why?

Sigmaleph:
Of the given examples, I'm fairly sure only Zoroaster was real.

But it's a difficult question who counts as a "historical person" behind the myth, and by sufficiently lax standards you can probably come up with more. Christianity was started by someone, who was definitely not the son of God or a miracle worker, but maybe did give a sermon on a mount or was a carpenter, who knows.

I think the general view is that there was an actual war between the Greeks and Troy, and of course the Iliad is a massive exaggeration but maybe there was some clever general to base the Odysseus myth off of, or mybe a combination of them.

Rome started at some point, someone had something to do with it, probably wasn't twin brothers suckled by a wolf.

And so on and so forth.

RavynousHunter:
I think all myths have a little bit of reality in them.  They might not be based on a single historical personage, but Heracles, for example, could be based on stories of hunters and/or soldiers of exceptional skill and strength.  If nothing else, they represent us trying to connect ourselves to the world around us; giving gods and legends incredible powers, but projecting our own flaws on to them to make them relatable, from pettiness to jealousy to genocidal ambition (lookin at you, Yahweh).

davedan:
Well someone started Christianity but it wasn't necessarily a 'jesus' figure. For instance the human mind could behind the creation could have been Paul (or Eusebius). Or for a more recent example (although not a very good one -I'm sure there is better) L Ron Hubbard existed and was historical but Xeno isn't.

RavynousHunter:

--- Quote from: davedan on January 25, 2016, 09:07:55 am ---Well someone started Christianity but it wasn't necessarily a 'jesus' figure. For instance the human mind could behind the creation could have been Paul (or Eusebius). Or for a more recent example (although not a very good one -I'm sure there is better) L Ron Hubbard existed and was historical but Xeno isn't.

--- End quote ---

Aye, that's true.  In that case, they either represent some kind of frightening elemental force (lightning, volcanoes, etc) or something that is advantageous to the creator, which is more likely the case with Jesus.  He was a way for the founders of Christianity to frame Yahweh as something less than the genocidal maniac he was and to make him more relatable to the masses.  After all, in those times, every adult man worth his salt had or at least wanted a son.  Jesus filled that role, brought a tiny sliver of humanity to his father, and made him just acceptable enough for his particular doctrine to spread like wildfire.

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