“J. M. Robertson”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

John Mackinnon Robertson (14 November 1856^[1] – 5 January 1933^[2]) was a prolific journalist, advocate of rationalism and secularism, and Liberal Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Tyneside from 1906 to 1918. Robertson was best known as an advocate of the Christ myth theory.

Biography

Robertson was born in Brodick on the Isle of Arran; his father moved the family to Stirling while he was still young, and he attended school there until the age of 13. He worked first as a clerk and then as a journalist, eventually becoming assistant editor of the Edinburgh Evening News.^[3]

He wrote in February 1906 to a friend that he "gave up the 'divine'" when he was a teenager.^[4] His first contact with the freethought movement was a lecture by Charles Bradlaugh in Edinburgh in 1878. Robertson became active in the Edinburgh Secular Society,^[5] soon after.^[4] It was through the Edinburgh Secular Society that he met William Archer and became writer for the Edinburgh Evening News.^[4] He eventually moved to London to become assistant editor of Bradlaugh's paper National Reformer, subsequently taking over as editor on Bradlaugh's death in 1891.^[3] The National Reformer finally closed in 1893. Robertson was also an appointed lecturer for the freethinking South Place Ethical Society^[6] from 1899 until the 1920s.

An advocate of the "New Liberalism,"^[7] Robertson's political radicalism developed in the 1880s and 1890s, and he first stood for Parliament in 1895, failing to win Bradlaugh's old seat in Northampton as an independent radical liberal. Robertson was a staunch free trader and his Trade and Tariffs (1908) "became a bible for free-traders pursuing the case for cheap food and the expansion of trade".^[8]

At the United Kingdom general election, 1918, as a Liberal candidate he contested Wallsend, a constituency based largely on his Tyneside seat, but finished third. He contested the United Kingdom general election, 1923 as Liberal candidate for Hendon without success.

Electoral record

Political views

Economically, Robertson has been described as an underconsumptionist, and he gave an early form, perhaps the earliest formal statement, of the paradox of thrift in his 1892 book The Fallacy of Saving.^[14]^[15] He was in favour of the payment of MPs, the Abolition of the House of Lords and the establishment of Adult Suffrage, including giving votes to women.^[16]

Christ myth theory

Robertson was an advocate of the Christ myth theory, and in several books he argued that Jesus was not a historical person, but was an invention by a first-century Jewish messianic cult of Joshua, whom he identifies as a solar deity.{{sfnp|Van Voorst|2000|pp=11–12}}{{sfnp|Wells|1987|pp=162–163}} In Robertson's view, religious groups invent new gods to fit the needs of the society of the time.{{sfnp|Van Voorst|2000|pp=11–12}} Robertson argued that a solar deity symbolized by the lamb and the ram had long been worshiped by an Israelite cult of Joshua and that this cult had then invented a new messianic figure, Jesus of Nazareth.{{sfnp|Van Voorst|2000|pp=11–12}}{{sfnp|Robertson|1900|p=34}}{{sfnp|Robertson|1902|p=72}} Robertson argued that a possible source for the Christian myth may have been the Talmudic story of the executed Jesus Pandera which dates to 100 BC.{{sfnp|Van Voorst|2000|pp=11–12}}{{sfnp|Robertson|1902|pp=6–12, 14–15}} Robertson considered the letters of Paul the earliest surviving Christian writings, but viewed them as primarily concerned with theology and morality, rather than historical details:

Robertson viewed references to the twelve apostles and the institution of the Eucharist as stories that must have developed later among gentile believers who were converted by Jewish evangelists like Paul.{{sfnp|Van Voorst|2000|pp=11–12}}{{sfnp|Robertson|1902|p=18}}{{sfnp|Wells|1987|p=149}}

Oxford theologian and orientalist Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare wrote a book titled, The Historical Christ; or, An investigation of the views of Mr. J. M. Robertson, Dr. A. Drews, and Prof. W. B. Smith (1913), directed against the Christ myth theory defended by the three authors.

Selected works

References

1. ^Page, Martin. (1984) Britain's Unknown Genius An Introduction to the Life-Work of John Mackinnon Robertson. London: South Place Ethical Society, p. 13. {{ISBN|0902368109}}
2. ^Wells, G. A., ed. (1987) J. M. Robertson (1856–1933) Liberal, Rationalist, and Scholar: An Assessment by Several Hands; edited by G. A. Wells. London; Pemberton, p. 26. {{ISBN|0301870012}}
3. ^¹²{{cite web|title =The Rt. Hon. J. M. Robertson |url =http://www.workerseducation.org/crutch/others/movements/robertsonbio.html | accessdate =13 February 2010}}
4. ^¹²Wells, G.A. Ed. (1987) J.M. Robertson (1856–1933) Liberal, Rationalist, and Scholar: An Assessment by Several Hands Edited by G.A. Wells. London; Pemberton, p. 13. {{ISBN|0301870012}}
5. ^{{cite web|title=Edinburgh Secular Society|url=http://edinburghsecularsociety.com/about/|work=About us|accessdate=2 October 2013}}
6. ^{{cite web |title =Progress Through Two Centuries: A Short History of the South Place Ethical Society |url =http://www.ethicalsoc.org.uk/history.htm |accessdate =13 February 2010 |deadurl =yes |archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20000118230842/http://www.ethicalsoc.org.uk/history.htm |archivedate =18 January 2000 |df =dmy-all }}
7. ^{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XWGuS25msYC&pg=PA45&dq=duncan%20tanner%20new%20liberal%20ministers%20junior&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMIuYSxodOcxwIVIRfbCh2xCQBX#v=onepage&q=duncan%20tanner%20new%20liberal%20ministers%20junior&f=false|title=Political Change and the Labour Party 1900-1918|first=Duncan|last=Tanner|date=13 February 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|accessdate=11 March 2017|via=Google Books}}
8. ^Michael Freeden, 'Robertson, John Mackinnon (1856–1933)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006, accessed 5 April 2009.
9. ^Smith, Homer W. (1952). Man and His Gods. Little, Brown and Company. p. 477
10. ^¹²³British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
11. ^Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
12. ^¹Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
13. ^¹British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
14. ^{{cite book|first=John M.|last=Robertson|authorlink=J. M. Robertson|title=The Fallacy of Saving|year=1892|url=https://archive.org/stream/fallacyofsavings00robe/fallacyofsavings00robe_djvu.txt}}
15. ^{{cite journal|title=A Neglected Early Statement the Paradox of Thrift|first1=Robert T.|last1=Nash|first2=William P.|last2=Gramm|journal=History of Political Economy|year=1969|volume=1|issue=2|pages=395–400|url=http://hope.dukejournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/1/2/395|doi=10.1215/00182702-1-2-395}}
16. ^Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1907
17. ^{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=John Mackinnon|authorlink=J. M. Robertson|title=A Short History of Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAQ_AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA13|year=1902|publisher=Watts & Company|page=13|quote=The older portions of the Pauline epistles show no knowledge of any Jesuine biography or any Jesuine teaching —a circumstance which suggests that the Jesus of Paul is much more remote from Paul's day than is admitted by the records. (Image of [https://books.google.com/books?id=bAQ_AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA13&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U100apXsul92QJxPYIBzNUhuJzpjQ&ci=45%2C185%2C825%2C226&edge=0 p. 13] at Google Books)}}

Sources