Religion
In reply to the discussion: Atheists Skeptical of Atwill’s Claim of a ‘Fabricated Jesus’ [View all]struggle4progress
(119,472 posts)October 10, 2013
By JT Eberhard
... Even logically, his analysis is flawed. If this tactic was used against the Jews, why didnt the Romans use it against an even greater threat: the Gauls?! The Jewish people were never as serious a threat to the Empire as much as the Gauls werewho sacked Rome twice and destroyed Legions. Atwill never seems to consider how basically incompetent his thesis is in this regard. If the Romans had such success against the Jews using this psychological warfare (anachronism alert!! Danger! Danger!), why dont we see this happening against all of their enemies? It is just so beyond absurd. It really is.
Here is the thing; it may be that Mr. Atwill is completely clueless about this. Maybe he isnt just trying to scam everyone and sell a bunch of books to a group of gullible people. Maybe he legitimately hasnt read anything relevant on this subject or any recent scholarship on it.
But that is troublingwould you want to read a science book written by a layperson who hasnt read a single relevant scientific study? Would you pick up a book on engineering written by someone with a background in computer science, and trust that book enough to build a house based upon its designs? I hope not. I sincerely hope that no one would agree to trust either of these books.
This is the issue with Mr. Atwill. He may sincerely believe he has discovered the secret code off a cereal box with his 3-D glasses he found inside; that doesnt make him an expert in the subject, it doesnt make him knowledgeable enough to give lectures on it. It certainly does not make him credible ...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/2013/10/joseph-atwill-has-not-proven-that-jesus-was-made-up-by-the-romans/