The Christianity Myth

By K.A.G. Thackerey

In his new book The Christianity Myth, K.A.G. Thackerey examines what little we know about first-century Christianity. He also examines what little we think we know about first-century Christianity. He concludes that there are two ways of explaining how Christianity started. One way is the traditional way, with divine intervention, and the other way is Thackereys way, without divine intervention.

Thackereys way is both novel and intriguing, and his very provocative ideas are destined to ruffle more than just a few feathers. The Christianity Myth is a very controversial, eye-opening expose that challenges Christianitys very essence, and both Christians and non-Christians alike will find it a riveting read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jan 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496993618

K.A.G. Thackerey

Thackerey was born of working-class parents in 1941. He had a good all-round education at a local grammar school and graduated with a chemistry degree in the 1960s. He is now enjoying retirement, having spent most of his working life in research and development. Married with three sons, he now lives a very quiet and unremarkable life in semidetached suburbia. Thackerey likes taking long country walks, and he invariably rewards himself en route with a good pub lunch. From time to time, he relishes the freedom to think the unthinkable. His dislikes include watching sport, anchovies, playing sport, aubergines, and talking about sports. He thinks the modern generation has unrealistically high expectations, and he believes that these have been deliberately created by unscrupulous advertising, funded by unscrupulous large businesses. If Thackerey had to choose two words to describe himself, he would choose “skeptical pessimist.” For him, the glass has always been half-empty rather than half-full, but he realistically accepts that half-empty is far better than empty.

Book preview

2014 . All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/17/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9360-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9361-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918013

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgement

Introduction

The Journey Begins

Resurrection! What Resurrection?

Christianity Beckons

The Pre-Gospel Period

The Gospel Period

No Going Back

Journey’s End

Post Mortem

Epilogue

References

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A very ironic thank you to the Christian run Alpha Course.

They inspired me to make an intellectual journey that transformed

a slightly informed church-going agnostic

into a well informed church-going atheist.

INTRODUCTION

After thirty years of regular church going, I still wasn’t convinced that Christianity’s claims about the resurrection of Jesus were well founded. So, eventually I attended a Christian run Alpha Course to see what really committed Christians had to say on the subject. They offered a few flawed statistics that were obviously biased in favour of their argument. They then supplemented these with a few references to flimsy historical records to "prove that Jesus existed" - their Jesus of course. The rest of the course, which was most of it, revolved around personal emotions and personal emotional needs, and how the bible addressed all these personal needs. Out of interest, I persevered and finished the course, but I finished it feeling even more dubious about Jesus than when I started.

The course may have totally failed to reassure me about Christianity’s resurrection claims, but it did prompt me to start thinking about the subject more seriously. Was there any possibility, however small, that Christianity rose to be a major world religion based entirely on a flawed premise? This was an intriguing question which I felt deserved some attention. I was retired with time on my hands, and I had broadband access to the internet. I also had a scientific research background, and no emotional baggage to influence the outcome of any investigation. After many years of mental laziness, I had at long last found something interesting enough to tempt me to climb back in the saddle. Before long, I was back into work-mode and enjoying every minute.

This book essentially addresses two fundamental questions. First, are the Christian claims that Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem 2000 years ago well founded? Second, if not, how come 2000 years later, we have a major world religion based entirely on a false premise? Christians may well find themselves challenged by my attempts to answer these questions.

Throughout the book, I have used the term historical-Jesus whenever referring specifically to a purely historical mortal character called Jesus, and I have used the term Gospel-Jesus whenever referring specifically to the Jesus found in the New Testament Gospels. This Gospel-Jesus is the Jesus who Christians claim was resurrected on the third day after his crucifixion. I deliberately use these more specific terms to minimise confusion.

I also use the term New Testament somewhat loosely throughout the book. Mostly I use it to mean just the four Gospels and the seven genuine Pauline Epistles. The rest of the New Testament is just supporting acts added later to augment these main acts.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

At the start of 2012, I was a life-long indifferent agnostic who attended a Christian church because my spouse was a life-long Methodist. I attended regularly for over 30 years hoping that one day I would see the light. When I started attending church I was an un-informed agnostic, and thirty years later I was a better informed agnostic. However, I did meet a lot of very nice people, many of whom became friends.

In January 2012, largely because my spouse was fed up with all my questions, I attended the ubiquitous Alpha Course to try and find out why the people around me in church "got it and I still didn’t get it", even after 30 years of exposure. I turned up at the first session of the course expecting to find myself surrounded by like-minded people looking for answers. I also thought that there might be a few people from other faiths who were checking out Christianity to see if it offered something better.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself surrounded by Christians seeking to learn more about Christianity, many of whom I already knew. But my surprise didn’t stop there. I soon realised that I knew more about the New Testament than they did, but I must confess that I did bone-up on the subject beforehand because I didn’t want to appear too ignorant when I first showed up.

Most of the Christians on the course seemed to have little or no in-depth knowledge of their faith. They seemed perfectly happy with the cosy Christian dogma that all regular church-goers eventually soak up if they