I think there was a HJ. I also think that the gospel stories are quite likely based on a conflation of more than one person (plus a fair bit of invention, OT "Prophecy" and sectarian propaganda).
As I pointed out before
that position
would be MJ:
* The myth theory is not concerned to deny such a possibility [that Jesus existed as a human being].
What the myth theory denies is that Christianity can be traced to a personal founder who taught as reported in the Gospels and was put to death in the circumstances there recorded - John Robertson 1900; Archibald Robertson 1946
* This view (Christ Myth theory) states that
the story of Jesus is a piece of mythology, possessing no more substantial claims to historical fact than the old Greek or Norse stories of gods and heroes..." - Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1982, 1995
* [The Christ myth] is the theory that no historical Jesus
worthy of the name existed, that Christianity began with a belief in a spiritual, mythical figure, that the Gospels are essentially allegory and fiction, and that
no single identifiable person lay at the root of the Galilean preaching tradition." In simpler terms, the historical Jesus did not exist.
Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity."
Ehrman 2012
Note that
these definitions of the Christ Myth do NOT say Jesus didn't exist as a human being. In fact, the
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia one expressly states it is regarding
the story of Jesus that is "possessing no more substantial claims to historical fact than the old Greek or Norse stories of gods and heroes" and NOT the man himself and that definition is written by a Pro-HJ person.
The reality is contrary to the picture may people try to paint the Christ Myth has a range just like the HJ does.
I think that a lot of MJ proponents are motivated by an anti-christian bias and some of them seem to think that the MJ idea will somehow bring about the downfall of Christianity.
I see this presented a lot but personally I don't see it.
The pro-HJ argument position is generally presented as Myth, Madman, or Messiah. Well, if Myth is out that leaves you with Madman or Messiah. It doesn't take much to throw out Messiah (as there were a bumper crop of would-be-messiahs running around) leaving you with Madman ie Jesus was the 1st century version of someone like David Koresh or Charles Manson.
In fact, if you go to the classic Christ Mythers like Drews and John M. Robertson and read them directly you find out they were NOT saying Jesus didn't exist as a human being but rather that the trail from Gospel to Man goes nowhere:
"In wide circles the doubt grows as to the historical character
of the picture of Christ given in the Gospels. (...) If in spite of this any one thinks that besides the latter a Jesus also cannot be dispensed with;
but we know nothing of Jesus. Even in the representations of historical theology,
he is scarcely more than the shadow of a shadow. Consequently it is self-deceit to make the figure of this 'unique' and 'mighty' personality, to which a man may believe he must on historical grounds hold fast, the central point of religious consciousness." - Drews, Arthur (1910)
The Christ Myth
The HJ position is firmly rooted in the Great Man theory while the Christ myth theory is more rooted in what is known as Great Movement theory.
I hope that answers your question. Maybe next you could go to one of the many "Bigfoot" or "Psychics" threads and ask people there why they take those things seriously...
"Bigfoot" and "Psychics" are two vastly different beliefs. Psychic "powers" can be explained via the use of slight of hand tricks or cold reading.
Bigfoot on the other hand is more problematic because as the old statement goes you can prove a negative and Bigfoot believers can point to all the examples of actual living animals dismissed as wild imagination:
1) 5th century BCE Greek explorer Hanno described "an island filled with savage people, most of them women, and covered on hair". Dismissed as a wild tale for centuries Hanno was account was vindicated in 1902. His savage hairy people are the mountain Gorilla.
2) Ancient Egyptians and African natives had stories of this animal that people called The African Unicorn; In 1901 the existence of the Okapi was finally confirmed.
3) Legends of white bears in the mountains of China had long been ignored as myth until the Giant Panda was shown to exist in 1869.
4) The Kraken was thought to exist only in myth despite Aristotle and Pliny the Elder writing about the remains of dead specimens. Today the giant squid is known to exist.
5) There were stories (dismissed as wild) of "land crocodiles" and "prehistoric monsters” on a certain island in Indonesia. In 1910 the Komodo dragon was formally documented.
6) Despite being used in the circuses of ancient Rome the tiger was regarded as a mythical animal in the Middle ages.