George Albert Wells
George Albert Wells (born May 22, 1926 - January 23, 2017 ) was a British linguist and Christianity critic. He has published some books about Jesus of Nazareth , which initially denied its existence, but since 1998 assume a historical person behind the sources.
Life
Wells studied at the Universities of London and Bern . He was Professor Emeritus of German at Birkbeck College in London and Chairman of the Rationalist Press Association . Wells, partly together with R. Joseph Hoffmann , doubted that Jesus really existed because of the mythological motifs known from early Christian sources since around 1750.
He was thus in an Anglo-Saxon tradition of skeptical and source-critical criticism of Christianity. Since 1998 he has considered the existence of a Jesus to be probable, whom the early Christians did not invent but stylized into a Jesus myth .
Publications (selection)
- Can We Trust the New Testament? Thoughts on the Reliability of Early Christian Testimony . New edition Open Court Publ., Chicago, Ill. 2004, ISBN 0-8126-9567-4 .
- Did Jesus Exist? Elek & Pemberton, London 1975, ISBN 0-236-31001-1 .
- The Historical Evidence for Jesus . Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY 1982, ISBN 0-87975-180-0 .
- The Jesus Myth . Open Court Publ., Chicago, Ill. 1991, ISBN 0-8126-93-92-2 .
- Religious postures. Essays on modern Christian apologists and religious problems . Open Court Publ., La Salle, Ill. 1988, ISBN 0-8126-9070-2 .
- What's in a name. Reflexions on language, magic and religion . Open Court Publ., Chicago, Ill. 1993, ISBN 0-8126-9238-1 .
- Who What Jesus? A critique of the New Testament record . New edition Open Court Publ., La Salle, Ill. 1991, ISBN 0-8126-9096-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Martin Jones: Obituary: George Albert Wells, Emeritus Professor. Birkbeck, University of London, accessed March 6, 2017 .
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Wells, George Albert |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British linguist |
DATE OF BIRTH | May 22, 1926 |
DATE OF DEATH | 23rd January 2017 |