Date

6-17-2026

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Master of Arts in Biblical Studies (MA)

Chair

Benjamin Laird

Keywords

Historical Jesus, Jesus-mythicism, mythicism, history, historical method, historical criteria, Richard Carrier, Bayes's Theorem, Bart Ehrman

Disciplines

Christianity | History of Christianity

Abstract

Richard Carrier is arguably the contemporary voice promoting Jesus-mythicism, the idea that Jesus of Nazareth never existed. Though in the scholarly minority, Carrier has assembled numerous arguments for rejecting the Gospels and Acts as historically reliable, as well as all historical references to Jesus in Paul’s letters. He has proposed his own rules for historical inquiry to replace the traditional criteria of authenticity used by historical-Jesus scholars. In conjunction with his own criteria, Carrier has demonstrated the use of Bayes’ Theorem to assess the probability of Jesus’ existence. This thesis has considered certain portions of Carrier’s thesis against the historical Jesus, specifically his arguments (1) that Paul’s reference to Jesus in 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 is an interpolation; (2) that 1 Corinthians 15:3–7 has been corrupted; and (3) that James was not the ἀδελφὸς (brother) of Jesus. After investigating these passages, this thesis seeks to demonstrate that these references are indeed genuine, and therefore, that Carrier’s case against these historical references to Jesus of Nazareth is not as strong as mythicists would portray. This is a position with which Carrier’s fellow critical scholars would concur. While Carrier’s contribution to historical Jesus studies will likely result in sharpening scholars’ use of the traditional criteria of authenticity, the weaknesses in his paradigm against the historical Jesus prevent his case from being the last word.

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