Most Christ mythicists follow a threefold argument:{{sfn|Van Voorst|2000|p=9}}<ref>{{cite book |author1=Robert Price |editor1-last=Paul |editor1-first=Eddy |editor2-last=Beilby |editor2-first=James |title=The Historical Jesus : Five Views |date=2009 |publisher=IVP Academic |isbn=9780830838684 |chapter=1. Jesus at the Vanishing Point}}</ref> they question the reliability of the [[Pauline epistles]] and the [[Gospel]]s to establish the historicity of Jesus; they argue that there is lack of information on Jesus in non-Christian sources from the first and early second centuries; and they argue that early Christianity had [[Religious syncretism|syncretistic]] and mythological origins, as reflected in both the Pauline epistles and the gospels, with Jesus being a celestial being who was concretized in the Gospels. Therefore, Christianity was not founded on the shared memories of a man, but rather a shared [[mytheme]].
The Christ myth theory is a [[fringe theory]] that is rejected by virtually all scholars and supported only by few [[Academic tenure|tenured]] or [[emeritus]] specialists in [[biblical criticism]] or cognate disciplines.{{refn|group=q|name="fringe"}}{{sfn|Van Voorst|2003|pp=658, 660}}{{sfn|Burridge|Gould|2004|p=34}}<ref name="Ehrman Blog"/> It is criticised for its methodology, conclusions, and its outdated reliance on comparisons between mythologies. The Christ myth theory deviates from the [[Historical Jesus|mainstream historical view]] which holds that there was a historical human Jesus,{{sfn|Casey|2014|p=243-245}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2012}}{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|p=248}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2011|p=285}} although mainstream scholars differ considerably on which parts of the life of the biblical Jesus are historical and which parts are not, and there is near-universal consensus on the historicity of two gospel events (that [[Baptism of Jesus|Jesus was baptized]], and that [[Crucifixion of Jesus|he was crucified]]).<ref name="JDunn339">''Jesus Remembered'' by James D. G. Dunn 2003 {{ISBN|0-8028-3931-2}} p, 339 states of baptism and crucifixion that these "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent".</ref><ref name="Hertzog1">''Prophet and Teacher: An Introduction to the Historical Jesus'' by William R. Herzog (4 Jul 2005) {{ISBN|0664225284}} pp. 1–6</ref><ref name="autogenerated145">{{cite book |last=Crossan|first=John Dominic |title=Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography |isbn=978-0-06-061662-5 |year=1995 |publisher=HarperOne |quote=That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and Tacitus ... agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic fact. |page=145}}</ref><ref name="MAPowell168">''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'' by Mark Allan Powell 1998 {{ISBN|0-664-25703-8}} pp. 168–173</ref> Numerous views exist on how the "historical Jesus" and the "Christ of faith" have been portrayed in the Pauline epistles and the gospels.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Historical Jesus : Five Views |date=2009 |publisher=IVP Academic |location=Downers Grove, Ill. |isbn=9780830838684 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>{{sfn|Ehrman|2014}}{{sfn|Stanton|2002|pp=143ff}}{{sfn|Vermes|2001|pp=ch.8: "By the end of the first century Christianity had lost sight of the real Jesus and of the original meaning of his message. Paul, John and their churches replaced him by the otherworldy Christ of faith."}}{{sfn|Dunn|2005|p=80: "When Christians tried to make the Messiahship of Jesus credible in their sermons and then in epistles and gospels, they always made use of two kinds of evidence: personal testimony to his resurrection, based on experience, and the witness of the Scriptures. As the living Lord he was for them the Messiah of the Old Covenant. Therefore we, too, speak of the historic Christ of the Bible. It is clear that the historical Jesus, as we see him in his earthly ministry, did not win from his disciples a faith with power to witness to him, but only a very shaky loyalty susceptible to panic and betrayal."}}{{sfn|Reed|2018|p=5, note 19}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2012|pp=13, 298, 334–335: "The Jesus proclaimed by preachers and theologians today had no existence. That particular Jesus is (or those particular Jesuses are) a myth. But there was a historical Jesus, who was very much a man of his time."}}
