As many of you know, this past October I had a public debate with Robert Price on the question of whether Jesus actually existed. To my knowledge Robert is the only “mythicist” (one who thinks Jesus is a complete myth) who actually has a PhD in the relevant field of New Testament studies. For years I’ve been asked by people to debate a mythicist; I’ve always resisted, in part because I’ve thought that by doing so I would lend credibility to their view, which, in my judgment, is not credible. But Robert is a nice guy and I finally yielded and said OK. This is the debate. It was lively in places and — to my surprise — ended up being a nice experience.

The event was part of the “Mythinformation Conference” Buzzed Belief Debate Series presented by Mythicist Milwaukee at Turner Hall in Milwaukee, WI on Friday October 21st 2016. Mythicist Milwaukee focuses on educating the freethought/skeptic/atheist community about what the organization considers to be the mythological origins of religion. The people at the meeting were amazingly welcoming of me (even though I take a position they disagree with) and I had a very good time.

Matt Dillahunty was the debate mediator. He currently serves as the president of the Atheist Community of Austin and hosts the internet radio show “Non-Prophets Radio” and the Austin television cable access show “The Atheist Experience”.

– Preview video of debate by Mythicist Milwaukee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPJh94tA14I

– Pre-debate discussed on Bart Ehrman’s Foundation Blog: https://ehrmanblog.org/did-jesus-exist-my-debate-with-robert-price/

– Discussion of debate by Matt Dillahunty, Dr. Richard Carrier, David Fitzgerald and Kristyn Whitaker Hood join hosts Sean Fracek and Jason Lawson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGBouQbYpqM

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