The Frankfurter Rundschau carries an interesting interview with an American archaeologist working in Denmark, Thomas Lawrence Thompson, in which he states that "the Gospels are not in the least interested in a historic Jesus. All we know about Jesus comes from allegories and fictional stories that are firmly rooted in the ancient literary traditions of Asia Minor. We haven't the first idea who Jesus was, if he did in fact live in the first century AD outside of stories that were told about him, that is. All we have are these stories, and all of them are considerably older than the first century."

He compares the literary construction of the Gospels to James Joyce's Ulysses in that they recapitulate or present variations on older biblical and non-biblical themes belonging to the very rich common heritage of the Near East.

Last year Thompson published a book on the topic last year: The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David, London, Jonathan Cape (2006).

I think it's fascinating that the demystification of both Christ and Mohammed has been gathering pace over the last ten years. A Dutch Arabist by the name of Hans Jansen has just finished a book in two parts about the life and times of Mohammed, based on the available historical evidence from recent excavations, textual reconstruction and criticism. I hope it will be translated into English and other languages soon. I have always been of the opinion that the history of religion is too important to be left to the believers, and that non-believers would be more interested in the topic once it was demystified and taken for what it is, a literary tradition like there has been no other in the history of mankind.

Seasonal greetings to believers and non-believers, all.