For those raised within a Christian context, the virgin birth is often presented as entirely unique. It is described as a singular event, unprecedented and unrepeated, standing alone as a miracle unlike anything found in the Hebrew Bible. Conversely, those who did not grow up within a Christian context may have encountered a very different…
There is a claim that has become quite common, especially among skeptics and, more recently, in some progressive Christian communities. The claim is that Mary was a child bride, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, married to a much older man. If this were truly the historical reality, it would understandably raise deep moral concerns….
If you have spent any time around debates about the virgin birth, you have probably run into some version of this claim. The Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14 is almah, which means “young woman” rather than “virgin.” If Isaiah had wanted to say virgin, he would have used bethulah. Therefore, Christianity rests on a translation…
If you have read much about sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome, you have probably run into one big idea. It goes something like this: for the Greeks and Romans, sex was not really about love or pleasure. It was about power. Who was on top, socially and literally. Who penetrated and who was penetrated….
There is a version of the Dark Ages question that deserves real respect. It usually comes from someone who has heard that professional historians now frown on the phrase, but who still suspects that a few of the old lessons must be worth keeping. Didn’t cities shrink? Didn’t reading and writing decline? Didn’t Latin splinter…
If you read through the Hebrew Bible, you may notice something peculiar. Nearly every named character seems to own land, have servants, arrange marriages with significant dowries, or argue with neighbors about property. Slaves and attendants appear in the background, almost as if they are always present but rarely the focus. Many books focus on…
The question of what happened to Jesus’ body after his death is one of the most debated topics in the study of Christian origins. Most discussions tend to portray it as a choice between two options. The first is the traditional Gospel account, where Jesus is buried in a new rock-cut tomb provided by Joseph…
When we look at figures from the ancient world, our understanding depends on the surviving sources. For example, we know about Julius Caesar not because we can independently verify every detail, but because we have his own writings, accounts from contemporaries, later historians, and archaeological evidence. This is also true for people like Augustus, Cicero,…
In the first part of this article, we examined why Richard Carrier’s Bayesian methodology failed. Specifically, we looked at the reference class he used to derive his prior probability and saw how it was not only manipulated but stacked in favor of Mythicism. While the argument in the first article would be sufficient to undermine…
Of all the figures in the modern mythicist movement, Richard Carrier stands out. He holds a PhD in ancient history from Columbia University. He’s incredibly active in the community, and he has engaged in the scholarship properly. His 2014 work, On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt, successfully passed peer…