Is there evidence to suggest Jesus Christ is a fictional character? What is it?
E.F. Harrison wrote: “Some religions, both ancient and modern, require no historical basis, for they depend upon ideas rather than events. Christianity is not one of these” (1968, 11). The religion of Jesus Christ stands or falls upon the events of history. Did Jesus of Nazareth ever live? Is the New Testament data regarding him reliable? This is a crucial issue. In the nineteenth century, German historian Bruno Baur alleged that Jesus was the mental invention of a few second-century Christians who were influenced by Graeco-Roman philosophy. More recently, an atheist associated with the Freedom From Religion Foundation argued that “the New Testament Jesus is a myth” (Barker 1992, 378). More careful scholars, however, have been forced to acknowledge the historicity of the Lord. German historian, Adolf Harnack (1851-1930), declared that Jesus was so imposing that he was “far beyond the power of men to invent” and that those who treat him as a myth are bereft of “the capacity to distingui
