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I left the following text as a comment on this video interview of Dr. Robert M. Price by David LeBlanc:

The New Testament writers may have made some things up and gotten other things wrong, but I’ve read and studied their writing, and on their face it’s clear they believed Jesus was a historical person. If the writers didn’t know him, they knew people who claimed to have been disciples. 

Paul, writing maybe as early as 15-20 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, explicitly claims to have only known the ‘risen’ Christ’s teachings thru scripture and revelation, a remarkable and absurd-sounding claim that should have gotten both him and Jesus relegated to the waste bin of history with the other ‘loser messiahs’ that Dr. Price mentioned. If there was something different in this case, that could explain the massive difference in outcomes. We only know of these ‘loser messiahs’ today due to the intense interest in Jesus’ historicity, or lack thereof.

Dr. Robert M. Price alleged that Philo, visiting Jerusalem 40 A.D. and writing about the Essenes, would have written about the Christian cult, let alone Jesus, had they existed. If he had written about them, it would be evidence, but not having it isn’t evidence of Jesus’ non-existence. 

Dr. Price noted the Essenes, but omits discussion of the “Teacher of Righteousness” and the parallels to John the Baptist and/or Jesus:

https://www.gaia.com/article/dead-sea-scrolls-conspiracy

Dr. Price mentions vegetation myths about dying-rising gods and the like that predate Jesus, but this isn’t evidence or a serious argument about the historicity of Jesus; Christian C.S. Lewis uses this to claim God sent humankind ‘good dreams’ before sending his Son.

Dr. Price mentions the “interpolation” in Josephus’ Antiquities Book 18, but this word choice implies he accepts the existence of an original text from Josephus, changed by a Christian copyist for theological reasons. However, Dr. Price ignores this, and instead implies Josephus said nothing at all about Jesus in this passage. 

Dr. Price omits mention/discussion of this other important statement about Jesus in Book 20 of Antiquities, which states James being stoned for a law violation was the brother of Jesus, specifying which Jesus he was referring to with the ‘Messiah’ moniker, which is unlikely to be an interpolation – see article at source linked:

“Being therefore this kind of person, Ananus, thinking that he had a favorable opportunity because Festus had died and Albinus was still on his way, called a meeting of judges and brought into it the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah … James by name, and some others. He made the accusation that they had transgressed the law, and he handed them over to be stoned.”13

Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible

Dr. Price omits mention of Josephus’ passage in Book 18 about John the Baptist, which corroborates a number of details reported in the Gospels, e.g. baptism for remission of sins in exchange for repentance and pursuit of righteousness, and his execution by Herod:

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0146%3Abook%3D18%3Asection%3D116

Dr. Price omits Tactitus mention of Nero blaming the ‘Chrestians’, associating a “deadly superstition” with ‘Christus’ executed by Pilate under Tiberius. That he was writing in 116 CE about an event in 64 CE means he’s removed from the events by decades, but it doesn’t mean his report is unreliable. Indeed, most historians accept this as evidence for Jesus’ historicity.

So who was Jesus? Good question.

Below are a set of some of the most brutal quotations from the article, “The Passion of Christ from a Medical Point of View” by C. Truman Davis, M.D., M.S., Arizona Medicine, Vol. 22, No. 3, March 1965.

See this blog post for links, excerpts and material related to my song made from a select reading of the article: https://6suckssex.com/crucifixion-passion-the-passion-of-christ-from-a-medical-point-of-view/

…  After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat on Him, and struck Him in the face.

… Preparations for the scourging are carried out. The prisoner is stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. … The Roman legionnaire steps forward with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped.

… They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns, (commonly used for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this pressed into His scalp. Again there is copious bleeding (the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.) After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. This had already become adherent to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, causes excruciating pain…. almost as though He were again being whipped —- and the wounds again begin to bleed.

… Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. …

… The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrist, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain–the nails in the wrist are putting pressure on the median nerves. As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again, there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

… In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the Jews asked that the condemned men be killed and removed promptly from the crosses. The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurefracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest, and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when they came to Jesus, they saw that this was unnecessary.

Apparently, to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of St. John: “And immediately there came out blood and water.”