Chapter 3 "Long, Long Ago and Far, Far Away?" Was Paul the source of the legend?

When we read the ancient writings known as the Gospels and Epistles of Paul we find the portrayal of Jesus as a historical figure who worked miracles and claimed to be God. Those who don't believe these stories to be factual have proposed an explanation for these accounts. They say Paul, who wrote 20 years after the life of Jesus, had a religious experience which he identified as an encounter with Jesus and started preaching about a cosmic redeemer figure that was similar to deities worshiped by ancient mystery religions. Then Mark, who wrote the first gospel, took Paul's cosmic legendary savior figure and made him look like a recent historical character named Jesus. The other gospel writers, Matthew, Luke and John based their books on what Mark wrote. Those who believe Jesus is a legend,  feel their theory explains how the myth of a god-man could exist so close to the time Jesus lived. The main support given for this idea is the claim that Paul's letters lack historical specifics about the life of Jesus. In future blogs, we will look at whether the facts support this idea that Paul's Jesus was a mythical savior from the distant past that the Gospel writers took and portrayed as a recent historical figure.