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Uploaded: 28 Aug 2026 (2 weeks ago) · Shared: 04 Sep 2026
classic critique of a century of scholars who kept "finding themselves" whenever they went looking for Jesus, and I argue that this same problem still haunts the field today. I also dig into why even the mythicist argument falls into the same trap, why historians have to get comfortable not knowing things, and why I think Jesus functions less as a recoverable historical figure and more as a symbol we shape to fit our own identities. I end with an honest admission: I don't think we're ever getting to the "real" Jesus, and I've made peace with that.
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👉 Get the Armchair Bible Scholar Emails 👉 https://www.cjcornthwaite.com/armchair-bible-scholar
Community - https://www.cjcornthwaite.com/community
Substack - https://substack.com/@cjcornthwaite
📱 FOLLOW FOR MORE
- YouTube: @cjcornthwaite
- Instagram: @cjcornthwaite
- Website: cjcornthwaite.com
- Email: cjcornthwaite@proton.me
🎙️ FOOTNOTE FAMOUS (MY PODCAST)
Conversations with the world’s top scholars of the Bible and Christian origins.
🔗https://www.footnotefamous.com/
OR Listen on your favorite streaming platform
ᯤ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4lSzQzT052BhIjkwMqday5
Apple Music - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/footnote-famous/id1832009702
Audible - https://www.audible.ca/podcast/Footnote-Famous/B0FLQPW8F1
Chapters:
0:00 — Introduction: Is the quest for the historical Jesus doomed?
1:28 — Schweitzer's critique: how scholars kept finding themselves in Jesus
3:04 — The core problem: a modern need vs. what sources can tell us
4:27 — Interpretive choices and the Gospels' contradictions
5:59 — Why progressive and conservative Christians both find "their" Jesus
6:34 — Current methodology: social context and Dale Allison's "gist" approach
7:57 — Why we're never comfortable not knowing
8:39 — The mythicist argument and its own overreach
10:08 — Learning to accept historical uncertainty (Socrates, Galatians, etc.)
11:04 — Is Jesus's ambiguity actually useful to believers?
12:52 — Anthony Smith's ethno-symbolism and Jesus as a shape-shifting symbol
14:42 — Conclusion: sitting with not knowing
Uploaded: 28 Aug 2026 (2 weeks ago) · Shared: 04 Sep 2026
Video Description (from Youtube)
I trained as a Bible scholar, and in this video I make the case that the quest for the historical Jesus might be a complete waste of time — maybe even doomed to fail. I walk through Schweitzer'sclassic critique of a century of scholars who kept "finding themselves" whenever they went looking for Jesus, and I argue that this same problem still haunts the field today. I also dig into why even the mythicist argument falls into the same trap, why historians have to get comfortable not knowing things, and why I think Jesus functions less as a recoverable historical figure and more as a symbol we shape to fit our own identities. I end with an honest admission: I don't think we're ever getting to the "real" Jesus, and I've made peace with that.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
👉 Get the Armchair Bible Scholar Emails 👉 https://www.cjcornthwaite.com/armchair-bible-scholar
Community - https://www.cjcornthwaite.com/community
Substack - https://substack.com/@cjcornthwaite
📱 FOLLOW FOR MORE
- YouTube: @cjcornthwaite
- Instagram: @cjcornthwaite
- Website: cjcornthwaite.com
- Email: cjcornthwaite@proton.me
🎙️ FOOTNOTE FAMOUS (MY PODCAST)
Conversations with the world’s top scholars of the Bible and Christian origins.
🔗https://www.footnotefamous.com/
OR Listen on your favorite streaming platform
ᯤ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4lSzQzT052BhIjkwMqday5
Apple Music - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/footnote-famous/id1832009702
Audible - https://www.audible.ca/podcast/Footnote-Famous/B0FLQPW8F1
Chapters:
0:00 — Introduction: Is the quest for the historical Jesus doomed?
1:28 — Schweitzer's critique: how scholars kept finding themselves in Jesus
3:04 — The core problem: a modern need vs. what sources can tell us
4:27 — Interpretive choices and the Gospels' contradictions
5:59 — Why progressive and conservative Christians both find "their" Jesus
6:34 — Current methodology: social context and Dale Allison's "gist" approach
7:57 — Why we're never comfortable not knowing
8:39 — The mythicist argument and its own overreach
10:08 — Learning to accept historical uncertainty (Socrates, Galatians, etc.)
11:04 — Is Jesus's ambiguity actually useful to believers?
12:52 — Anthony Smith's ethno-symbolism and Jesus as a shape-shifting symbol
14:42 — Conclusion: sitting with not knowing
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Who is CJ Cornthwaite?I am CJ Cornthwaite. I hold an MDiv, MA in Theology, and PhD in Christian Origins (Religious Studies). I'm Christian, often agnostic, occasionally atheist, anti-fundamentalist. Committed to evidence over apologetics.
