Alvar Ellegård (November 12, 1919 – February 8, 2008) was a Swedish

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and scholar. He was professor of English at the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

, and a member of the academic board of the Swedish National Encyclopedia. He is the author of a number of books and papers on English language and linguistics, including ''A Statistical Method for Determining Authorship'' (1962). He also became known outside the field for his work on the conflict between religious dogma and science, and for his promotion of the

Jesus myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...

, the idea that Jesus did not exist as an historical figure.Ellegård, Alvar; Albrektson, Bertil; Bilde, Per; Klinge, Matti; Olsson, Birger; and Torstendahl, Rolf
"Theologians as historians"
, ''Scandia'', 2008. His books about religion and science include ''Darwin and the General Reader'' (1958), ''The Myth of Jesus'' (1992), and ''Jesus: One Hundred Years Before Christ. A Study in Creative Mythology'' (1999).

Career

In 1953 Ellegård published his PhD thesis, which dealt with the development of the use of the auxiliary ''do'' in the grammar of late

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

and

Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transit ...

. This thesis has remained an influential and frequently cited work central to the study of this aspect of the historical syntax of English.cf. Denison, David (1993), ''English historical syntax''. London: Longman, p.278. He was appointed associate professor of English in the same year. He was a professor of the English language at University of Gothenburg between 1962 and 1984. His book ''Darwin and the General Reader'' (1958) is a detailed study of the changes in British public opinion which took place following the 1859 publication of '' The Origin of Species''. It is based on an analysis of the periodical press of the period. In 1977, he was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.

Writings on Christianity

After retirement Ellegård started a new line of research into the

historicity of Jesus The historicity of Jesus is the scholarly question in Biblical criticism and early Christian history of whether Jesus historically existed or was a purely mythological figure. Scholarly discussions questioning the historical existence of Jesus ...

and the idea that Jesus is a myth. In his book ''Myten om Jesus (The Myth of Jesus)'' (1992), he presents new theories about the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

and their association with the early history of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. Ellegård argues that the Jesus of the gospels is a mythical figure and that the gospels are largely fiction. He identifies the figure

Paul of Tarsus Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

who had a vision as corresponding to the Essene Teacher of Righteousness, the leader of the

Essenes The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''ʾĪssīyīm''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') or Essenians were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd cent ...

Qumran Qumran (; ; ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about south of the historic city of Jericho, and adjac ...

about 150 years before the gospels, and writes that it was Paul who created Christianity through his contacts with the sect that kept the Dead Sea Scrolls. According to Ellegård, the Damascus Document gives support to this theory. The document states that the Essenes moved to Damascus outside

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, but the word "Damascus" appears to be being used symbolically to refer to exile. Ellegård interprets this as evidence that the "Damascus" that is mentioned in the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

in fact is Qumran. Paul was on his way to

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

when he had a vision of Jesus.

Selected publications

*''The Auxiliary Do: The Establishment and Regulation of its Use in English'' (Ph.D. thesis, 1953) *''Darwin and the General Reader'' (1958) *''A Statistical Method for Determining Authorship'' (1962) *''The Syntactic Structure of English Texts'' (1978) *«Who were the Eruli?» '' Scandia'' 53, 1987 *''Myten om Jesus: den tidigaste kristendomen i nytt ljus'', Bonniers (Stockholm 1992). *''Jesus – One Hundred Years Before Christ: A Study In Creative Mythology'', (London 1999).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellegard, Alvar 1919 births 2008 deaths Swedish critics of Christianity Historical linguists Academic staff of the University of Gothenburg Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities 20th-century Swedish linguists