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=== Christ myth theorists ===
Mythicists argue that the accounts of Jesus are mostly, or completely, of a mythical nature, questioning the mainstream [[paradigm]] of a historical Jesus in the beginning of the 1st century who was deified. Most mythicists, like mainstream scholarship, note that Christianity developed within [[Hellenistic Judaism]], which was influenced by [[Hellenization#Hellenistic period|Hellenism]]. Early Christianity, and the accounts of Jesus
Some moderate authors, most notably Wells, have argued that there may have been a historical Jesus, but that this historical Jesus was fused with another Jesus-tradition, namely the mythological Christ of Paul.{{sfn|Price|1999|ps=none}}{{sfn|Thompson|Verenna|2012|ps=none}}{{refn|group=q|name="mix.Wells.1999.1999.2009"}} Others, most notably the early Wells and [[Alvar Ellegård]], have argued that Paul's Jesus may have lived far earlier, in a dimly remembered remote past.{{sfn|Price|2009|p=65}}{{sfn|Price|2011|pp=387–388}}{{sfn|Doherty|2012}}
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===Overview of main arguments===
According to New Testament scholar [[Robert E. Van Voorst|Robert Van Voorst]], most Christ mythicists follow a threefold argument first set forward by German historian [[Bruno Bauer]] in the 1800s: they question the reliability of the Pauline epistles and the Gospels to postulate a historically existing Jesus; they note the lack of information on Jesus in non-Christian sources from the first and early second century; and they argue that early Christianity had syncretistic and mythological origins.{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|pp=8-9}} More specifically
* <!-- PAUL --> '''Paul's epistles lack detailed biographical information''' – most mythicists argue that the Pauline epistles are older than the gospels but, aside from a few passages which may have been [[Christian interpolation|interpolations]], there is a complete absence of any detailed biographical information such as might be expected if Jesus had been a contemporary of Paul,{{sfn|Lataster|2016|p=191}} nor do they cite any sayings from Jesus, the so-called argument from silence.{{sfn|Wells|1982|p=22}}{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pp=202-203}}{{refn|group=q|name="argument.from.silence"}} Some mythicists have argued that the Pauline epistles are from a later date than usually assumed, and therefore not a reliable source on the life of Jesus.
* <!-- GOSPELS --> '''The Gospels are not historical records, but a fictitious historical narrative''' – mythicists argue that although the Gospels seem to present a historical framework, they are not historical records, but [[Theology|theological]] writings,{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=13}}{{sfn|Thompson|2009|p=3}} myth or legendary fiction resembling the [[Rank–Raglan mythotype|Hero archetype]].{{sfn|Price|2003|p=21}}{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|pp=137–138}} They impose "a fictitious historical narrative" on a "mythical cosmic savior figure",{{sfn|Eddy|Boyd|2007|p=163}}{{sfn|Doherty|1995a}} weaving together various pseudo-historical Jesus traditions,{{sfn|Doherty|1995d}}{{sfn|Price|2000|p=86}} though there may have been a real historical person, of whom close to nothing can be known.{{sfn|Wells|2012|pp=15–16}}
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