Actually you did say exactly that. “all the events portrayed in life via the gospels can be found in Old Testament stories”. But it looks like you’re acknowledging now that that’s not true, so let’s move on.
This is incorrect. I am quite willing to read and learn from scholarly books and articles, or even non-scholarly ones, that are not written by Christians, if they are honest and well-written. I’ve read scores of such books and articles. However what you’re saying about the three that you named is flatly untrue.
First of all, the three books that you’ve cited provide don’t justify your claims about gospel stories being copied from pagan mythology. Since others in this thread have already informed you of this fact, I won’t post anything further on that, other than suggesting that you should probably read books before you cite them as sources. It’s always highly embarrassing when you cite a book and it says the exact opposite of what you claim it says.
Second, when you say that those three authors are “well respected historians in the scholarly community”, you’re flat wrong. What’s your source for this claim? I find it likely that you have no clue about the credentials of any of these three individuals. (Or perhaps you just don’t know what the words “historian” and “scholarly community” mean.)
Earl Doherty is not a historian or a scholar. He has never written a single scholarly article or book, nor held any academic post, nor done anything at all with any connection to the scholarly community that I know of. I’ve read part of his book and like others have found it to be absurdly dishonest and dumb. Can you name a single instance in which any actual scholar has cited Doherty, except perhaps to debunk him? If not, then what’s your basis for the claims he’s a “well respected historian in the scholarly community”?
Richard Carrier has a degree in history, which puts him a little closer to credibility to Doherty but not much. As far as I know he’s never held an academic post. Since he makes no effort to hide the fact that he’s motivated by hatred of Christians, it’s not surpising that most other historians aren’t impressed by him.
Robert Price is actually an academic, but not in the field of history. As best I can tell, he’s written more about Cthulu than about anything related to history.
Look, you’ve made specific claims about stories being found in ancient mythology. For instance, you said that the story of Jesus walking on water can be found in the Odyssey. You said that there’s a pagan mythological story about Dionysius/Bacchus turning water into wine. If such things were true, then citing the precise ancient texts which contain them would be easy. Since you’re totally unable to cite even one ancient mythological text that supports your case, the most likely explanation is that no such texts exists.
Let’s look at one simple example. You say that the Odyssey contains the story of Jesus walking on water. I’ve read the Odyssey and I don’t recall it making any mention of Jesus, or any mention of anyone walking on water. Based on that, the obvious conclusion is that you’re just making %#$& up. However, it’s possible that I merely don’t remember the incident; after all, it’s been more than 10 years since I read the Odyssey. So if you’re actually telling the truth, it would be extremely easy for you to prove it. Simply tell me which book of the Odyssey contains the story in question, and give the numbers of the lines at which it occurs. I could then look it up in my copy of the Odyssey and see whether or not you’re telling the truth. What’s stopping you from doing so?
My, how convenient. That’s kind of like what I’d expect you to say if there wasn’t any church father who had ever said any such thing.