Talk:Earl Doherty

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[edit] "Biblical Scholar"?

Are we defining "Biblical Scholar" as "someone who has published a book about the bible" or as someone with an earned doctorate in a field of biblical studies? (because if the latter, then how does Doherty qualify?) If he has a relevant advanced degree in ancient history, then he'd be a historian. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.59.228.204 (talk) 19:40, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] POV

This statement is pure POV: "Currently, the position that Jesus never existed is a minority position among scholars and Doherty's arguments have not made a very strong impression on the consensus [1] among the Western scholars. ..."

What does majority rule have to do with truth? Or that there was no historical proof of “Jesus”? - Sparky 17:50, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Indeed! It's not like historians know anything, right?

Please. Every basic statement of history is going to be disputed by someone; people are contrary. But if the majority of relevant scholars on a topic aren't considered to be worthwhile for citation, then we may as well write off all history on Wikipedia at once. Because that's the only way that we're really going to get historical positions, without original research. -Senori 22:21, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

We could take the middle road here, and just put "Doherty is supported by a minority of scholars". This solves the problem of sounding too biased either way. Deathmunkee 06:07, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

There is no need to put in a general comment like "most historians do not accept the ahistoricity of Jesus" as a specific refutation of the book. Certainly if Earl Doherty has been actually refuted by someone that specific objection can be brought in here. Other articles where the writer's work has been criticized links to those specific objections, and I see no reason why Doherty can't be afforded the same respect.-RomeW (talk) 03:08, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

I think currently the "minority of scholars" is basically Robert M. Price (though I can't be certain that he supports Doherty 100%, though he agrees with the basic premise, that Jesus's actual historical existence is doubtful), and unlike Doherty, Price actually has a doctorate in a relevant field (PhD in New Testament, according to his site). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.59.228.204 (talk) 22:10, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] response to the "notability" question

This is ridiculous. I am generally considered to currently be the world's leading Jesus mythicist. My books and website have had a huge impact on this controversial issue and are known around the globe. And this is not "notable"? Just who is this "an editor"? A Christian who would like to remove me from the Wikipedia's public eye? - Earl Doherty —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.29.88.35 (talk) 06:07, 18 May 2007

Agreed. Earl has significantly advanced the mythicist argument and is largely responsible for its current popularity and strength. One rarely encounters a mythicist website, article, book or other that does not cite or otherwise recognize Earl's work. His case for there being no historical Jesus is the strongest one yet advanced. His book, his arguments, and his name are certainly notable and meet Wikipedia's related standards. His arguments as they are presented in his book and on his website have garnered much attention from notable scholars such as Richard Carrier and Robert Price, to name just a couple. It is unclear on what basis one would argue that this article (or The Jesus Puzzle article which I see has also been tagged) is not notable. (By the way Earl, just wanna say hello from Australia!) - Ian Tremblay —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ian1985 (talk • contribs) 11:12, 18 May 2007 (UTC).

The following comment was posted yesterday by myself and deleted shortly after by an “anonymous user”. It seems that apologetic activity and suppression of viewpoints is alive and well on Wikipedia. I will keep re-posting this as long as the “notability” box above shows: “This is ridiculous. I am considered to currently be the world’s leading Jesus mythicist. My books and website have had a huge impact on this controversial issue and are known around the globe. And this is not “notable”?!! And who is this “an editor”? A Christian who wants to remove me from the Wikipedia public eye?” – Earl Doherty —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.29.86.244 (talk) 14:52, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your comments. It's worth noting that "notability" in Wikipedia terms means something fairly specific; see Wikipedia:Notability. In general, a subject is considered "notable" based not on its popularity, or its importance as judged by editors, but on whether it has received significant coverage from independent published sources. I presume the editor who tagged the article did so because it doesn't currently cite any such sources. This should not be interpreted as implying any comment on your work; it simply concerns the current state of the article. EALacey 18:43, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I've added several more external links to independent reviews and critiques of The Jesus Puzzle. There should now be no room for contention over the notability of this article, not that there ever was really. If there are no objections, let's remove this tag and the one on The Jesus Puzzle article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ian1985 (talk • contribs) 00:24, 19 May 2007 (UTC)