Did Jesus Exist?

This monograph represents one of the earliest systematic attempts to revive and academically legitimate the "Christ myth" hypothesis in modern biblical scholarship. Wells argues that Jesus of Nazareth never existed as a historical figure, contending instead that the Gospel narratives emerged from a mythological construction based on Jewish wisdom traditions, Hellenistic mystery religions, and early Christian theological speculation. The work challenges the scholarly consensus that accepts Jesus's historical existence while debating the reliability of specific Gospel claims about his life and teachings.

Wells employs a distinctly rationalist methodology, subjecting New Testament texts to rigorous historical-critical analysis while emphasizing what he perceives as insurmountable problems in establishing any reliable historical core. He argues that Paul's epistles, the earliest Christian documents, present a cosmic Christ figure notably devoid of biographical details, suggesting that the humanization of Jesus in the Gospels represents a later mythological development. The author examines parallels between Christian narratives and pagan dying-and-rising god myths, proposing that early Christians synthesized these elements with Jewish messianic expectations to create the Jesus story.

The monograph engages critically with both traditional Christian apologetics and mainstream historical scholarship. Wells particularly targets scholars who attempt to extract a "historical Jesus" from Gospel accounts through various criteria of authenticity, arguing that such methods rest on circular reasoning and unfounded assumptions about source reliability. He contends that the diversity and contradictions within early Christian texts reflect not memories of an actual person but rather the evolution of a religious myth.

Wells's work contributes to debates about the relationship between religious claims and historical evidence, challenging assumptions about how religious movements originate. While his thesis remains decidedly minority within academic circles, the monograph raises significant methodological questions about the standards of evidence required for establishing ancient historical figures and the role of ideological commitments in historical Jesus research. The work's importance lies less in its specific conclusions than in its provocation of scholarly reflection on the epistemological foundations of biblical studies and the complex interplay between faith commitments and historical investigation. By pushing the skeptical position to its logical extreme, Wells forces both believers and secular historians to articulate more precisely what constitutes sufficient evidence for historical existence in antiquity.