Recently binged a few debates on the historicity of the Gospels between New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman & various apologists, and kept thinking how much less plausible so many key apologist arguments sound in the age of QAnon.
It is, incidentally, a meaningless but grimly amusing coincidence that scholars have long referred to a presumed lost source for the synoptics as “Q” (from the German “Quelle” for “source”).
A lot of apologetics on this front boil down to the idea that it’s wildly implausible that people would spread unfounded stories or sheer fabrications with such speed and conviction, often at substantial personal cost. And yet…
The parallels are (with apologies to Christian readers for the comparison) a little eerie. A messianic figure (whose early followers often wonder “Who are you?”) prophecies a major sociopolitical upheaval that will overthrow the corrupt powers that be & institute a new kingdom.
The prophecy fails, but (many of) the followers are undeterred. The apparent falsification of the predicted revolution is reinterpreted as part of a larger plan, and the betrayal of the prophet as a necessary step in leading the mass public to a greater spiritual truth.
Believers begin circulating personal accounts of miraculous occurences consistent with the narrative. (Ivermectin healed me! I received a vision of PCAPs proving election fraud! I saw the fake ballots being hauled in on a truck!)
Some of these are straight grifts. Many are earnest misunderstandings of real experiences. These are exaggerated & stripped of ambiguity in repeated retelling, coming to be treated as indisputable facts that “everybody knows,” at least within the community.
The narrative quickly becomes so core to some people’s identity that they will proudly accept social opprobrium, the destruction of intimate relationships, and even the risk of death rather than give it up.
Political authorities, initially disdainful of the new movement, begin to view it as a force to be harnessed and convert (or purport to), accelerating the spread and lending the movement’s narratives credibility with a wider audience.
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