A short and somewhat in-house piece by Jesus Mythicist Richard Carrier, arguing that Jesus and Michael were the same angelic personage. In early Christian theology, obviously! The evidence isn´t conclusive, but it remains a tantalizing possibility. "I´m not saying Jesus is Michael, I´m just saying that nobody has seen Jesus and Michael in the same room at the same time".
Of course, Carrier connects the angelomorphic character of Jesus to the Mythicist claim that no historical person named "Jesus" ever existed. Note also that if Carrier is right, the dying and rising god-man would have been a Jewish/Biblical idea, not an external pagan influence. Which is a *Christian* idea, here secularized and turned into creative mythology. To our atheist author, this simply means that Christianity was one of many quirky Jewish sects.
Carrier also points out that the Jehovah´s Witnesses identify Jesus and Michael. So the Witnesses might be right (!) on this particular point.
I'm still trying to resolve the Sky Gods versus the Agricultural Gods. Clearly Jesus is agricultural, as noted by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers: Sacrifice and Bliss Episode.
ReplyDeletehttps://billmoyers.com/content/ep-4-joseph-campbell-and-the-power-of-myth-sacrifice-and-bliss-audio/
As usual, Carrier is very convincing!
DeleteBut Jesus is also sent from heaven and his father is a sky-god. It´s some kind of panentheist marriage between matter and spirit, or something to that effect.
ReplyDeleteI am harkening back to Karen Armstrong's little book A Short History of Myth. Also 'A History of God' and coincidentally, now' Sacred Nature Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World. ' Among others. Highly commended by other humans too! In Campbell, the resurgence of flora in Nature is expressed in dying and being reborn, as plant the head of the Corn Boy (Native American myth) and come back in spring when he shall reappear as many new stalks of corn.
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