Here is the ultimate way to take Christ out of Christmas: deny that he ever existed.
That is the claim that has been made from time to time and resurfaced this October with the fresh promotion of an old book, called Caesar’s Messiah: the Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus, along with an accompanying lecture at Conway Hall in London.
The Daily Mail described the author, Joseph Atwill, as an ‘American Bible scholar’ who made the discovery of the non-existence of Jesus through his study of Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian. The Daily Mail reports that Atwill ‘does not believe that this is the end of Christianity, but hopes his work will give half-believers a reason to “make a clean break”’. Richard Dawkins was quick to circulate a link to Atwill’s press release to his 777,000 Twitter followers.
A few questions
Before we cancel Christmas, let’s ask a few questions. Who is Bible scholar Joseph Atwill? What is the substance of his claim? And what does this tell us about our defence of the faith?
Firstly, Joseph Atwill is no Bible scholar. Having made his money in an internet business, he has been able to devote his personal time to read Josephus. It is not clear that he has read Josephus in Greek and he makes no claim to any relevant professional training. Nor has he subjected any of his claims to peer review and has little support from the academic community. He is no more a Bible scholar than anyone else who has read some of the Bible. This may help explain his outlandish proposal.
Cancel the turkey?
Atwill argues that a Roman imperial family invented the Jesus story as a way of pacifying the Jewish people. A single author created the hoax much later in the first century in order to subvert Judaism and make the people more amenable to Roman rule. Atwill discovered this truth by reading Josephus’s The Jewish War in which the secret was supposed to be encoded. Therefore, not only Jesus, but Christianity itself did not exist before AD 70. So, is it time to pack away the Christmas decorations and cancel the turkey?
There is no substance to Atwill’s claim. The evidence for the existence of Christianity is already abundant prior to AD 70. Roman historians refer to the existence of the movement. The New Testament not only includes a number of independent gospel accounts of Jesus, but also the writings of the apostles, including Paul, which secular scholars agree date to the AD 50s. Scholars argue over the identity of Jesus, but there is no serious doubt of his historical existence. Even the sceptical professor Bart Ehrman, who we considered last month, dismisses this conspiracy theory nonsense. Atwill’s own reconstruction is a superficial reading of Josephus and a ludicrous interpretation of how the Roman Empire dealt with its subject nations.
‘Ridiculous’
Atheist scientist and vocal critic of Christianity, P.Z. Myers, describes Atwill’s proposal as ‘ridiculous’ on his blog. He poses the interesting question, ‘How can smart atheists be bamboozled by Joseph Atwill?’ (Dawkins among them). There are probably many reasons, not least an intellectual bias against Christ. Joseph Atwill’s work is a wonderful example of clutching at straws! However, I wonder, could Christmas be part of the problem?
Our somewhat fanciful and embellished retellings of the nativity during the season are not thick with historical facts. And as for the fun, but far-fetched, traditions that we add on to our celebrations, could they not blur the lines between truth and fairy tale? I love this time of year, and there are traditions worth cherishing, but let us make sure that nothing confuses the solid, historical truth telling at the heart of our worship.
