“Guy who does actual literal magic” is never real.
Sure. But a person doesn’t cease to exist because they’ve been canonized by the Vatican, either. The post-mortem mythology built up around a person isn’t evidence of their absence. The leap from “Jesus didn’t literally bring a guy three-days-dead back to the land of the living” to “No popular rabbi evangelizing a reformist vision of the Jewish faith existed in Jerusalem two thousand years ago” is enormous.
Hell, even the character Spiderman has its roots in the daredevils of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, famous for free climbing across New York real estate. To hold up a copy of the latest Tom Holland movie and say “This is absurd! He’s literally doing wizard magic! Nobody has ever dressed as a spider and climbed up the side of a building!” Like, obviously false.
That has the logical weight of Last Thursdayism or The Truman Show Delusion.
An even more extreme take, sure. But when you’re dealing with historical events that are thousands of years old, its a game you kinda-sorta have to play. Otherwise, you don’t know where Greek History ends and Mythology begins.
Sure. But a person doesn’t cease to exist because they’ve been canonized by the Vatican, either. The post-mortem mythology built up around a person isn’t evidence of their absence. The leap from “Jesus didn’t literally bring a guy three-days-dead back to the land of the living” to “No popular rabbi evangelizing a reformist vision of the Jewish faith existed in Jerusalem two thousand years ago” is enormous.
Hell, even the character Spiderman has its roots in the daredevils of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, famous for free climbing across New York real estate. To hold up a copy of the latest Tom Holland movie and say “This is absurd! He’s literally doing wizard magic! Nobody has ever dressed as a spider and climbed up the side of a building!” Like, obviously false.
An even more extreme take, sure. But when you’re dealing with historical events that are thousands of years old, its a game you kinda-sorta have to play. Otherwise, you don’t know where Greek History ends and Mythology begins.