Have you seen Carrier’s description of the sub-lunar Jesus theory? This says that the first Christians thought Jesus lived in some heavenly realm, a belief which apparently had precedent in the Roman world. (Carrier doesn’t mention the idea that Paul thought “Jesus” lived on Earth, but much earlier than the standard date derived from the Gospels. The self-appointed or vision-appointed disciple could have changed the way people thought about some alleged Teacher from long ago.)
In any case, Paul would supposedly have learned a rhetorical style that had people shorten a long phrase like “brothers of the Lord” most of the time, only occasionally using the full phrase for emphasis. And he certainly calls Christians “brothers” many times.
The fact that he only seems to use the long phrase in connection with one name is Bayesian evidence against this theory. I don’t know if that matters or not. My opinion on this subject is generally wishy-washy. But for completeness, I should say that I think Paul refers to exactly two events in the life of Jesus—the Crucifixion and the Last Supper—and Mark’s earliest account has some pretty explicitly allegoricalparts. (Compare the first link to verses 28-29 in the second.)
Have you seen Carrier’s description of the sub-lunar Jesus theory? This says that the first Christians thought Jesus lived in some heavenly realm, a belief which apparently had precedent in the Roman world. (Carrier doesn’t mention the idea that Paul thought “Jesus” lived on Earth, but much earlier than the standard date derived from the Gospels. The self-appointed or vision-appointed disciple could have changed the way people thought about some alleged Teacher from long ago.)
In any case, Paul would supposedly have learned a rhetorical style that had people shorten a long phrase like “brothers of the Lord” most of the time, only occasionally using the full phrase for emphasis. And he certainly calls Christians “brothers” many times.
The fact that he only seems to use the long phrase in connection with one name is Bayesian evidence against this theory. I don’t know if that matters or not. My opinion on this subject is generally wishy-washy. But for completeness, I should say that I think Paul refers to exactly two events in the life of Jesus—the Crucifixion and the Last Supper—and Mark’s earliest account has some pretty explicitly allegorical parts. (Compare the first link to verses 28-29 in the second.)