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| Ancient pothead? Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen et al |
The fact that virtually all Christian theologians, even the liberal ones, believe that Jesus was a real historical figure is sometimes used as an argument that Jesus must have been so. The point of course being that the historical evidence for Jesus is so strong that it convinces even liberals who deny everything else in the Bible…
Sure, it does seem strange. I mean, why would a liberal who denies everything in the good book strongly insist that at least Jesus was a real man?
Because they are theologians, stupid.
Liberal theologians need Jesus to be real *since they want to project their respective theologies onto him*. Thus, it has nothing to do with being “convinced” by anything. Indeed, if you repudiate the entire Gospel story, what on earth is there to be “convinced” about? Tacitus? Some 4th century forger of Testimonium Flavianum?
Nobody knows who Bultmann, Moltmann or Blah-Blah-Mann even was. And nobody cares. But everyone knows (and cares) about Jesus. So Jesus has to stay around. So the liberal theologian can claim him and ride on his coattails. Or at least hide behind his mantle! Even potheads do this. There are stoners who claim that Jesus was high on shrooms, so they can pin their peculiar worldview onto him.
That really tells us all we need to know.
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