Jesus: Mything in Action

264 Pages·2017·1.93 MB·English

by  David Fitzgerald

Jesus: Mything in Action
Volume I
The Complete Heretic’s Guide to Western Religion,
Book Two:
Jesus: Mything in Action (vol. I)
Copyright (c) 2016 by David Fitzgerald
All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Published by Create Space

ISBN-13:
9781542858885

ISBN-10:
1542858887
Jesus: Mything in Action
By
David Fitzgerald

Volume I
Other Books by David Fitzgerald Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show
Jesus Never Existed At All Books in The Complete Heretic’s Guide to Western
Religion Series
Book One: The Mormons
Book Two: Jesus: Mything in Action (vol. I) Book Three: Jesus: Mything in
Action (vol. II) Book Four: Jesus: Mything in Action (vol. III) Forthcoming:
Sex & Violence in the Bible The Jehovah’s Witnesses Christmas
Satan!
Dedicated with love to all the people who over the years have said to me:

“Oh, I know he wasn’t the Son of God, but I’m sure there really was a
Jesus…”

and all the people who confided in me that they always suspected there wasn’t…
Praise for Jesus: Mything in Action
My new favorite
book! David takes the reader on a (de)mystifying journey into and then out of
the dreamscape I once held as “reality.” Every page is yet another step up and
out of the modern-day-evangelicals’ very own Platonian cave. My only
disappointment is that he didn’t write this book thirty years ago! It would have
saved me half a lifetime of chasing shadows and searching for someone who still
remains ‘mything in action.’
—Jerry DeWitt, Author of Hope After Faith A brilliant read. Jesus: Mything
in Action is the definitive guide to Jesus’s historicity. It’s a masterpiece of
scholarship that will be studied for decades to come.
—Peter Boghossian, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Portland State
University and author of A Manual for Creating Atheists It's not hard to
convince atheists that God doesn't exist, but denying the existence of Jesus?
Most of us have never even considered that possibility. David Fitzgerald walks
us through why that's such an important question and then makes a strong case
for why biblical scholars – and casual church-goers – should take a second look
at an assumption they've long taken for granted.
—Hemant Mehta, Editor of FriendlyAtheist.com A thorough and
entertaining survey of what’s wrong with secular scholarship on Jesus, why most
scholarship on Jesus isn’t really secular, and why the possibility that Jesus was
mythical needs to be taken seriously. Every Jesus-myth enthusiast will want to
read and reference this one. His demonstration that an alarming number of Jesus
scholars are actually contractually required to deny mythicism is alone worth the
price of admission. His also revealing the embarrassing truth of how historicist
scholars contrive even more flawed or ridiculous theories than mythicists is just
gravy.
—Richard C. Carrier, Ph.D., author of On the Historicity of Jesus David
Fitzgerald: one of our liveliest, wittiest writers and a scrupulously thorough
researcher. As entertaining as The Mormons – and as carefully, scholarly,
detailed and truthful. And that’s well deserved high praise.
For the rest of my life, when Christians challenge me on my criticisms of the
truth of their tales and the worth of their piety, I will just say, “Read David
Fitzgerald’s Jesus: Mything in Action and then get back to me.”
Fitzgerald has provided us with the most readable, engaging, scholarly, and
utterly thorough dismantling of biblical Christianity – and both the Jesus of faith
and Jesus of history – I could’ve ever even imagined. My fellow citizens of
Heretic Nation (as Fitzgerald fondly calls us) and I now have all we need for
giving the Christian apologists reasons to backpedal – and plenty to apologize
for.
—Ed Buckner, Former President of American Atheists (retired) With this
book, Fitzgerald brings forth his best work yet, targeting an audience that is
generally open-minded, smart, educated, skeptical, and evidence based. Yet,
there are atheists, non-believers, freethinkers and overall believe-in-god-
challenged people who are still convinced Jesus was a real historical person. On
this I say the author is mistaken – this exceptional book should target all those
who care about what is true – yes, including Christians. This outstanding book
provides a remarkable amount of evidence that clearly exposes the myth of a
historical Jesus and it backs it up with a great wealth of references giving the
reader little option but to be a “militant agnostic” about Jesus’ historicity. Even
with a treasure-trove of information, this book is an easy read for anyone high
school and up. The detailed approach to each piece of evidence and their link to
each other, as well as the right amount of pages to present such evidence, its
compelling logic, and the brilliant presentation makes Jesus: Mything in Action
one of the best books I’ve read in recent years.
—David Tamayo, President & Founder Hispanic American Freethinkers,
Inc.

As Charles Darwin drew upon the evidence in the natural world around him
for the conclusions presented in The Origin of Species, so does David Fitzgerald
with regard to history. In Jesus: Mything in Action, he reviews the evidence we
have as well as the evidence we should have but don’t, how we ended up with
what we do have, and what that all might mean for the myth of Jesus. With a
high-level overview followed by meticulous examination on each point, David’s
writing is conversational, fun, and accessible to laypersons and academics alike -
while providing a veritable treasure map of resources for anyone looking to dig
deeper.
—Lyz Liddell, Executive Director of Reason Rally 2016

For many years now I have said, “I am a 50% mythicist.” I have read,
studied and observed the debate and scholarship for decades; however, I wasn’t
quite there yet and still had a lot of questions. After reading Jesus: Mything in
Action, I am now a 172% mythicist. However, this is not just a book on the
mythicist debate, David Fitzgerald turned my view of the New Testament and
early Christian writings upside down. A view and understanding that I have had
since my studies began as an undergraduate. If you have read Ehrman, Price,
Carrier, or any number of other authors, this book brings them all together and
clears away the fog.
—Darrel Ray, Ed.D., author of The God Virus, and Sex and God Jesus:
Mything in Action, David Fitzgerald's follow-up to Nailed, asks piercing
questions that won't go away. If Christianity began with a historical Jesus, then
where is he? Why is he a no-show in every written work outside of the gospels?
And if we can trace the literary and theological antecedents of every gospel
story, is the historical Jesus even necessary? David takes us on a gripping
journey through time to show where the myths of the heavenly Christ as well as
the legends of the historical Jesus came from. But no matter where or when we
look, Jesus of Nazareth himself is the man who wasn't there. Don't myth it!
—Tim Widowfield of Vridar.org Who was the real Jesus? There is no
consensus. There is the Catholic Jesus, the Orthodox Jesus, the Muslim Jesus,
and many more. They can’t all be right. What if they are all wrong? In Jesus:
Mything in Action, David Fitzgerald explores the “Jesus of Faith” and the “Jesus
of History” which ultimately leads him to ask the question, “Did Jesus really
exist?” With wit, insight, and an immense amount of research, this startling book
makes a compelling case to support the Jesus Myth theory. I really enjoyed this
book and think you will too.
—Dr. Karen Stollznow, linguist, author of Hits & Mrs., Language Myths,
Mysteries and Magic, God Bless America, Haunting America and Would You
Believe It? and host of the Monster Talk podcast David Fitzgerald's latest may
have supplanted Nailed as my go-to resource regarding Jesus. Mything in Action
makes a compelling case against the long-calcified academic assumptions that
Christ's legend is based on a literal person, but much more usefully, it provides a
thoroughly-sourced and navigable journey around and over the huge cracks in
Jesus’ supposedly pristine persona. Mything in Action deftly dissects the
conflicting and often nonsensical New Testament Jesus tales, exposes the
perilous holes in Jesus “history,” and reveals a curiously confused Christ portrait
that - very possibly - was drawn straight from imagination.
—Seth Andrews, broadcaster, author, host of thethinkingatheist.com
Brilliant, very readable and comprehensive. A wide-ranging discussion of the
evidence for Jesus demonstrating that it is exactly what we should expect if
Jesus began not as a historical figure but as a theological and literary invention.
David Fitzgerald's opening chapters are especially noteworthy as a wonderful
breath of fresh air for anyone who has read the diatribes of scholars hostile to the
Christ Myth hypothesis. Partly with the assistance of some original research
Fitzgerald exposes just how self-interested, strained and nonsensical those
attacks have been.
—Neil Godfrey of Vridar.org In his latest book, David Fitzgerald asks all the