As I’ve said before, this might be a debate 2000 years in the making: Bart Ehrman vs. Robert Price on the historicity of Jesus. After all, the nature of Jesus has been debated for two millennia, often with disastrous consequences for those on the wrong side of the victors writing history. But no worries these days (I think). You are about to witness the culmination of centuries of biblical studies in two august scholars. Both have graced Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio and both I admire very much.

All at the Mythinformation Conference III. I’ll be there too, as the host of the event, honored to have been invited by my friends and cool heretics at Mythicist Milwaukee.

Bart Ehrman will support the historicity of Jesus, while Robert Price will contend that Jesus is a mythic character in the same fantastic vein as Hercules, Osiris, and John Denver. The event will take place next week, October 21st in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at 6PM. Here are more details:

Turner Hall Ballroom at Milwaukee Turners

1034 N 4th St, Milwaukee, WI 53203

Don’t expect a presidential debate bloodbath when it comes to tenor. Ehrman and Price are on friendly terms and are prepared to make it a cordial but penetrating discussion. It will be nothing like the mosh-pit sensibility that was the Arian controversy during the First Council of Nicaea.

Beyond the debate, it will be a full day of excellent speeches by some of today’s leading activists/thinkers, including Dan Barker, Allie Jackson, Rob Moore, and more.

Here are the Mamon aspects of Mythinformation Conference 3:

$60 General Admission Conference & Debate

$160 VIP Conference & Debate (includes afterparty with speakers @ Aloft Hotels Milwaukee Downtown 1230 Old World Third Street Milwaukee ,WI 53212)

*Depending on capacity, tickets will be available at the door for an additional $5/ticket.

If you can’t attend and join me (I will be signing copies of Voices of Gnosticism at some point), you can live stream the debate for a paltry $9.99.

Years ago, I enjoyed meeting Sean and Fritz, the founders of Mythicist Milwaukee, at a coffee shop in Chicago. We had a wonderful conversation on Mythicism, including our passion for the work of Acharya S. The rest is both history and myth. Since then, Mythicist Milwaukee has grown to a formidable activist organization that promotes basically what Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio does: the liberation of the mind from all manner of orthodoxy that still mires the human condition in ignorance and suffering. Beyond all of this, Sean and Fritz (and all the cats at Mythicist Milwaukee) are just very nice and intelligent people.

I consider myself a Mythicists, although it ain’t my dogma or really something I worry about. I do feel that Mythicism enriches religious studies due its focus on comparative mythology. As John Lundwall wrote in his book, Mythos and Cosmos: “The study of mythology is about the historicity of the eternal present.” More than ever, humanity needs to be in the eternal present.

In the end, it’s not so much about Jesus being historical, but finding out if you’re historical. In other words, can you participate and make a difference in unfolding history? This starts with the right information that liberates your mind and opens up purpose in your life. The ancient Gnostics, to a degree, called this Gnosis. Ehrman and Price will grant so much Gnosis next week, and I hope some of you can join us…get you closer to being in that eternal present.

And check out these videos (not cats, historical or mythical):

