Changes

:''The nonhistoricity thesis has always been controversial, and it has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines and religious creeds. ... Biblical scholars and classical historians now regard it as effectively refuted.''<ref>Robert E. Van Voorst, ''Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 16.</ref>

:''The nonhistoricity thesis has always been controversial, and it has consistently failed to convince scholars of many disciplines and religious creeds. ... Biblical scholars and classical historians now regard it as effectively refuted.''<ref>Robert E. Van Voorst, ''Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 16.</ref>

====The Jesus Project - Mythicists attempt to manipulate nonreligious scholarly consensus====

====Mythicist attempt to manipulate non-religious scholarly consensus====

In 2007 secular scholar Raymond Joseph Hoffmann started the Jesus Project which was supposed to be a non-religious investigation on Jesus and was headed by the Center for Inquiry which is secular humanist organization promoting a secular society.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120518142836/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/jesusproject The Jesus Project] Center for Inquiry </ref> It members included liberal scholars, nonreligious scholars and even inlcuded mythicists (e.g. Frank Zindler, Richard Carrier, Robert M. Price, Stephen Law, Thomas Thompson etc).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150511171320/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/jesusproject/fellows/carrier_richard/ Fellows] Jesus Project Center for Inquiry</ref> Only two years later in 2009, the Jesus Project was shut down in part due to the attempt by mythicist members trying to form their own faction due to the majority of nonreligious experts not supporting their mythicist views: "“mythers,” people out to prove through consensus with each other a conclusion they cannot establish through evidence".<ref>R. Joseph Hoffman [https://web.archive.org/web/20240618082420/https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/opeds/hoffman1044 Threnody: Rethinking the Thinking behind The Jesus Project] Bible and Interpretation. October 2009. "Alas, The Jesus Project itself became a subject for exploitation: news stories, promotional material and the reactions in the blogosphere focused on the Big Question: “Scholars to Debate whether Jesus Really existed.” Given the affections of media, the only possible newsworthy outcome was assumed to be He didn’t. Such a conclusion had it ever been reached (as it would not have been reached by the majority of participants) would only have been relevant to the people April DeConnick (a participant) has described as “mythers,” people out to prove through consensus with each other a conclusion they cannot establish through evidence. The first sign of possible trouble came when I was asked by one such “myther” whether we might not start a “Jesus Myth” section of the project devoted exclusively to those who were committed to the thesis that Jesus never existed. I am not sure what “committed to a thesis” entails, but it does not imply the sort of skepticism that the myth theory itself invites.</ref>

In 2007 secular scholar Raymond Joseph Hoffmann started the Jesus Project which was supposed to be a non-religious investigation on Jesus and was headed by the Center for Inquiry which is secular humanist organization promoting a secular society.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120518142836/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/jesusproject The Jesus Project] Center for Inquiry </ref> It members included liberal scholars, nonreligious scholars and even inlcuded mythicists (e.g. Frank Zindler, Richard Carrier, Robert M. Price, Stephen Law, Thomas Thompson etc).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150511171320/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/jesusproject/fellows/carrier_richard/ Fellows] Jesus Project Center for Inquiry</ref> Only two years later in 2009, the Jesus Project was shut down in part due to the attempt by mythicist members trying to form their own faction due to the majority of nonreligious experts not supporting their mythicist views: "“mythers,” people out to prove through consensus with each other a conclusion they cannot establish through evidence".<ref>R. Joseph Hoffman [https://web.archive.org/web/20240618082420/https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/opeds/hoffman1044 Threnody: Rethinking the Thinking behind The Jesus Project] Bible and Interpretation. October 2009. "Alas, The Jesus Project itself became a subject for exploitation: news stories, promotional material and the reactions in the blogosphere focused on the Big Question: “Scholars to Debate whether Jesus Really existed.” Given the affections of media, the only possible newsworthy outcome was assumed to be He didn’t. Such a conclusion had it ever been reached (as it would not have been reached by the majority of participants) would only have been relevant to the people April DeConnick (a participant) has described as “mythers,” people out to prove through consensus with each other a conclusion they cannot establish through evidence. The first sign of possible trouble came when I was asked by one such “myther” whether we might not start a “Jesus Myth” section of the project devoted exclusively to those who were committed to the thesis that Jesus never existed. I am not sure what “committed to a thesis” entails, but it does not imply the sort of skepticism that the myth theory itself invites.</ref>