Putting the "Myth" in Mythicism

Once again, someone with only very little knowledge on the subject has posted a blog post loudly declaring that there is good reason to doubt that Jesus existed. Once again, the reasons given are without an exception logical fallacies. Let us consider.

Here is the link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/30/did-the-historical-jesus-exist-a-growing-number-of-scholars-dont-think-so/

Here are the five reasons the author gives, and the fallacies involved.

1) "No first century secular evidence whatsoever exists to support the actuality of Yeshua ben Yosef." This is of course an argument from silence, and thus only compelling insofar as one should expect there to be something other than silence. In point of fact, given that Christianity in the first century is quite marginal, it is hardly surprising that those outside the movement take little notice of the movement. Moreover, given the paucity of evidence from the ancient world few silences are unexpected.

2) "The earliest New Testament writers seem ignorant of the details of Jesus’ life, which become more crystalized in later texts." Again, argument from silence, and moreover something of a non sequitur. That Paul does not mention a matter does not mean that he is ignorant of the matter. There are lots of things I never mention about which I am nonetheless quite aware. More to the point, again, it is only compelling if we should expect Paul to write more extensively on Jesus' life. Should we? If one seeks to provide warrant for this argument from silence then one must make the positive case that if Paul knew more about Jesus's life he would have written about it.

3) "Even the New Testament stories don’t claim to be first-hand accounts." This is another example of a non sequitur. To demonstrate the presence of this fallacy let me use an example. I have no first-hand account that tells me the author of the blog in question exists, yet I judge it likely that she does. If this judgment is true then first-hand accounts are not necessary for affirmation of a person's existence. The author's argument is also an instance of special pleading, as it sets an evidentiary standard far in excess of where one would normally set the evidentiary standard.

4) "The gospels, our only accounts of a historical Jesus, contradict each other." Again, non sequitur. It hardly follows from the observation that the accounts contradict each other that Jesus did not exist. If I tell you a story about a friend of mine and another person tells you a story that contradicts that one you would not normally conclude that the friend in question did not exist but rather that one or both of the stories are inaccurate or even fabricated. As this is not normally how one would proceed it is again also an instance of special pleading.

5) "Modern scholars who claim to have uncovered the real historical Jesus depict wildly different persons." Utterly irrelevant, which is also to say again a non sequiter. That there is not agreement about a historical figure hardly leads to the conclusion that that figure never existed. This is actually, exactly, the same error as #4 above.

So, perhaps there is reason to doubt Jesus' existence, but Ms. Tarico has yet to provide a logically valid reason, which is to say a reasonable reason, which is actually to say that she has not yet presented a reason at all. So, given her account, there is no reason to doubt. It increasingly looks to me as if the only myth around here is mythicism itself.

Incidentally, James McGrath has observed quite rightly that the title of the post is misleading: there simply are not a growing number of scholars who think that Jesus did not exist. There are, to the best of my knowledge, three, and one of those (Richard Carrier) in fact lacks primary expertise in biblical studies.