In existographies, Joseph Atwill (c.1950-) (RMS:143) (CR:7) is a Japanese-born English religio-mythology scholar noted for his 2006 to present work on Christ myth theory, in the period of the so-called first Roman redaction (see: recension theory).

Overview
In 1995, Atwill, after “selling his shares”, in the software industry (his profession), and “exiting the industry”, there, supposedly, becoming stably self-funded, he engaged into Bible studies, something he had studied, in youth, before college. [2]

In 2005, Atwill, in his Caesar’s Messiah: the Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus, attempted to argue the following:

“The Christian Gospels were actually written under the direction of first-century Roman emperors. The purpose of these texts was to establish a peaceful Jewish sect to counterbalance the militaristic Jewish forces that had just been defeated by the Roman Emperor Titus in 70 AD.”

Atwill, in short, argued that the modern first recension version of the Jesus figure (see: Christ myth theory; Christ fable) was invented by the Caesars or Flavian dynasty (69-96AD). (Ѻ)

The gist of Atwill’s argument, in more detail, is that the Flavian Caesars had their court historian Josephus (Ѻ) pen “gospels”, i.e. war victory summaries, patterned on the “messiah” figures of the Old Testament, to the affect that the Caesars were the new Messiah, as prophesied by the Jews, therein quelling or pacifying the growing Jewish uprisings in the new Roman empire.


Dorothy Murdock’s The Christ Conspiracy (1999), Timothy Freke’s The Jesus Mysteries (1999), Joseph Atwill’s Caesar’s Messiah (2006), and Kenneth Humphreys’ Jesus Never Existed (2005), the four main books behind Atwill’s 2012 documentary film on the so-called “Flavian Jesus hypothesis”.

Dorothy Murdock’s The Christ Conspiracy (1999), Timothy Freke’s The Jesus Mysteries (1999), Joseph Atwill’s Caesar’s Messiah (2006), and Kenneth Humphreys’ Jesus Never Existed (2005), the four main books behind Atwill’s 2012 documentary film on the so-called “Flavian Jesus hypothesis”.

Documentary
In 2012, Atwill was the team leader of the documentary film Caesar’s Messiah Documentary: the Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus, which featured the following Christ myth theory scholars: Robert Eisenman, Timothy Freke, Dorothy Murdock, Rod Blackhisrst, Kenneth Humphreys, and John Hudson. [3]

“The truth is that Christianity grew from neither a god nor a man, but out of what had gone before. A ‘human Jesus’ was no more necessary than was a human Horus, a human Dionysus, or a human Mithras.”
— Kenneth Humphreys (2005), Jesus Never Existed (pg. 21)

Atwill's documentary was a akin to Peter Joseph's 2006 viral film Zeitgeist

Education
In youth, Atwill studied Greek, Latin and the Bible at St. Mary's Military Academy, a Jesuit-run school in Japan. In college, he studied computer science. [2]

References
1. Atwell, Joseph. (2006). Caesar’s Messiah: the Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus (abs). Ulysses Press; Flavian Signature Edition (Amz), 2011.
2. About – CaesarsMessiah.com.
3. Atwell, Joseph. (2012). Caesar’s Messiah Documentary: the Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus (producer: Fritz Heede; writer: Nijole Sparkis; cinematographer: Marisa Maldonado; scholars: Robert Eisenman, Timothy Freke, Dorothy Murdock, Rod Blackhisrst, Kenneth Humphreys, and John Hudson).

Further reading
● Atwill, Joseph, Braunheim, Steve, and Eisenman, Robert. (2004). “Redating the Radiocarbon Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls” (abs), Dead Sea Discoveries, 11(2):143–57.

External links
● Caesar’s Messiah – Wikipedia.