Yes I read Carrierâs book on Bayesian probability and history. I canât say I was convinced. It all begins with making guesses. Thatâs fine, he claims, because the method works whatever starting point, but is my guess really as good as yours? His bigger book âOn the Historicity of Jesusâ doesnât seem to have impressed many scholars. Thereâs one Australian scholar who gave it a good review. I found it a very dry read cut into small parts on diverse topics with slow and confusing progression.
I liked his more recent book âJesus from Outer Spaceâ where he argues that the first Christians believed Jesus was the archangel Michael - remind you of anyone? But again, it donât think itâs likely to become widely cited by scholars.
I just looked it up and itâs cited by four scholars, including Christopher Hansen who wrote an article in response to mythicism. The abstract sounds like it will be an interesting read:
In recent years a number of scholars (such as Richard Carrier and Robert Price) have published arguments in favour of a new model of the origination of Christianity from a mythological Jesus. Part of their argumentation has been to make the case for the concept of a pre-Christian Jesus who was worshiped, or a part of Judaism before Christianity ever arose. This article seeks to provide a new analysis of this topic, since there has been almost no academic literature published in response to the pre-Christian Jesus thesis in several decades. This article largely concludes that the concept, while interesting, is not convincing and would require far more substantial evidence to be considered a better alternative to historicist conceptions of early Christianity's development.
Hansen, C. M. (2022). Re-examining the Pre-Christian Jesus. Journal of Early Christian History, 12(2), 17-40