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The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His Existence cover

The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidences of His Existence

Chapter 69: 58
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About This Book

A skeptical, systematic critique argues that the Christ of the New Testament is a constructed myth rather than a reliably attested historical person. It assesses the silence of contemporary writers, the anonymous and late character of the gospels, and the contradictions within infancy narratives, ministry accounts, crucifixion, and resurrection reports. The author evaluates the moral portrait and teachings attributed to the figure and traces parallels with older pagan religions and divinities as possible sources of the myth. The conclusion asserts that supernatural claims lack sufficient historical support and that veneration rests on literary and theological fabrication rather than firm documentary evidence.

58

What effect had the announcement of Christ’s birth upon Herod and the people of Jerusalem?

Matthew: “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (ii, 3).

According to Matthew the announcement filled with alarm the entire populace, and the most diligent efforts were made to discover and destroy the babe. In strange contrast to this statement of Matthew is Luke’s narrative (ii, 22–27), which declares that Jesus, when forty days old, was brought to Jerusalem and publicly exhibited in Herod’s own temple, without exciting any alarm or provoking any hostility.