Robert,

I have answered that question over and over again. The answer is still the same. I am not interested. I am interested in the Biblical Jesus who was elevated into the Trinity. Jesus does not exist. I have to write the ceremony of his non-existence which means I have to salvage my Christianity without the Biblical Jesus.

Priorities not minutiae.

Priorities not minutiae: Jesus is the main character. Paul is minutiae. Is Paul by name a Christmas character? No. Is Paul by name an Easter character? No. Is Paul by name a character in either of the four gospels? No. I am not interested in Paul to the extent that you are because Paul, in the way you bring him up is not on my Things to Do list.

You are putting the cart before the horse. The horse is Jesus’ historical existence followed by what “Paul” wrote.

1. Jesus exist

2. Paul exist

3. Paul wrote something about Jesus.

#1 is false so it is illogical for me to move on to #2 and #3 with your question no matter how much you badger.

Even without Roman Provenance (Jesus is Julius Caesar, Jesus is Vespasian or Titus, Rome invented Christianity with the Pro-Roman Jewish intelligentsia including Herod Agrippa II, Josephus, the Jewish university, Yavne), Jesus did not exist before the Gospels were written.

The biblical Jesus did not exist in the late 20s / early 30s before he was invented. The biblical Jesus did not exist in the late 20s /early 30s after he was invented.

No one needs a theory that the biblical Jesus did not exist: he was born by a virgin and Pilate had the Samaritan Redeemer killed in the late 30s. There is no birth. There is no death. Jesus is not an individual. What “Paul”, “Mark”, “Matthew”, “Luke”, “John”, “Thomas” etc. wrote about someone who did not exist is insignificant.

= = =

3) New Testament – Reading the 2005 book, Jesus Was Caesar by Francesco Carotta and seeing his documentary The Gospel of Caesar on youtube posted by YouTube subscriber GodSpanker.

According to Carotta, the ultimate early Christian metamorphosis of the eastern Caesar-religion, which was to reinterpret the foundational cult of the Julian imperial dynasty with regard to the contested Palestine, was provoked by the new Flavian theopolitical ideology, which also induced the rewriting of the Vita of Vespasian’s court historian Flavius Josephus into the hagiography of Saint Paul in the second part of Acts.
( See: ** you do not have permission to see this link ** )

= = =

“Paul” in Acts is fictional or an alias for Josephus according to Carotta. That is probably based on the similarities between the biographical information of Paul in Acts and the autobiographical information of Josephus. Everyone can read both sources and see those similarities for themselves. 

With writers post AD70 writing historical fiction about “Jesus” taking place in the late 20s / early 30s, certainly writers post AD70 can do the same again with “Paul.”

Robert said
I’m sorry, Steefen, but ignoring a problem does not make it go away. You can pretend it doesn’t exist, but until you try to effectively explain it away, why would anyone else be obliged to join you in your delusion? Especially because you don’t believe #1, you certainly need to explain #s 2 & 3. Even Richard Carrier knows that, which is why he has such derision for these other theories.   

The problem is not being ignored. The problem of which you speak follows the fact that the biblical Jesus does not exist.

He was born of the virgin Mary. Feel free to dispute that.

He does not have a consistent lineage. Feel free to dispute that.

He does a wide variety of miracles. Feel free to dispute that.

Pontius Pilate put to death the Samaritan Redeemer but not a non-existent Jesus during the late 20s / early 30s. Feel free to dispute that.

Don’t ask intelligent people about nonsense. You can waste your time and other people’s time, but not mine. End of discussion with you. Talk to the air for all I care.

Robert said
Your ‘response’ makes no sense, Steefen. I simply asked you who wrote 1 Corinthians and when. But you go into a diatribe about how you’re too intelligent for such nonsense and instead say that I should feel free to dispute the virgin birth, Jesus’ lineage, miracles, a Samaritan executed by Pilate. Why don’t you just answer a simple question?   

That the response makes no sense to you, Robert, is your problem.