Paul's Presentation of Jesus
Several of the epistles of Paul are regarded as not authentic by a majority of
Scholars, the Pastoral Epistles being singled out by over two thirds as least
likely to be genuine. When the authorship of the Pauline epistles is considered,
the epistles can be split into two groups — the seven considered by almost
everyone to be genuine, against the rest. In this division, the theology of the
disputed group seems, in the eyes of a majority of scholars, to be quite
distinct from the theology of the seven undisputed letters. For some writers, it
is almost as if the disputed group were written specifically to counter the
group thought to be genuine.
Although there are occasional references in the disputed group to a
flesh-and-blood Jesus, the undisputed group contains limited mention of Jesus as
a historic figure. Even though Paul's letters are widely regarded as the
earliest Christian documents, they contain very few references to Jesus' actual
life and ministry, which the later Gospels detail. Opponents of the Jesus Myth
theory claim that Paul's letters were written in response to specific problems
unrelated to the details of the life of Jesus, and so the occasional and
epistolary nature of Paul's correspondence is sufficient explanation for the
lack of detail of Jesus' life. Proponents of the Jesus Myth theory note an
abundance of missed rhetorical opportunities to reinforce Paul's points by
quoting Jesus or citing well-known events in his life that were directly
relevant to the topics he was discussing.
Several commentators, from writers whose theories have not received widespread
acceptance, such as Earl Doherty, to widely respected academics and experts in
the field, such as Harvard professor Elaine Pagels, have argued that Paul's
writing should be interpreted as gnosticism. Christianity arose under a heavy
Hellenic culture, Paul himself growing up in Tarsus, the centre of one of the
major mystery religions of the time, and Pagels and Doherty (and others) believe
that Paul's writing should be viewed in the context of the Hellenic culture that
formed his background.
Gnosticism, a diverse religion some of whose branches used some Christian names
and ideas, and which flourished and subsequently died out in the first through
fourth centuries, frequently used allegory and metaphor to guide its initiates
towards salvation, which Gnosticism viewed as a form of knowledge (gnosis). Many
Gnostic groups even regarded Jesus himself as an allegory, rather than
historical, and docetism was rife in Gnostic groups. Advocates of the Jesus Myth
theory believe that many parts of the New Testament were written as Gnostic
documents, and that Paul's writing is a prominent example of Gnosticism in the
New Testament. Accordingly, in this interpretation, those references in the
undisputed epistles that appear to refer to events on earth, and a physical
historic Jesus, should instead be regarded as allegorical metaphors . These
interpretations, of for example Galatians 1:19, 3:16, 4:4, Romans 1:3, 3:1,
15:8, and 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, 15:4, are regarded by opponents of the Jesus
Myth theory as based on forced and erroneous translations .