ON THE HISTORICITY OF ST PAUL

Maybe Paul lived before Jesus was invented ? However did even Paul have a historical reality? Were Paul's writings really by Simon Magus or Marcion ?

Oliveira reviewing " The Amazing Colossal Apostle " by Robert.M. Price says

Further down the controversial river, Price sides with Detering in the supposition that the Magus (a historical figure known to Josephus) was the real personage while Paul of Tarsus became a fictive literary device onto which certain theological expectations could more easily be pinned.
Price's case for conflating both Simon Magus in the Christian literature and in Josephus is quite compelling, and while his argumentation regarding the conflation with Paul is sketchy, it is not entirely irrational and illogical. Drawing heavily on Josephus' accounts of Simon and his dealings in Queen Helena's court, Price reconstructs a relatively well documented view of the historical Simon. He then proceeds to extrapolate from numerous other less obvious (and less trustworthy) accounts that hint at the magician. His final historical reconstruction is of a splintering sect rudderless after the sudden death of its spiritual leader (i.e., the Essene Teacher of Righteousness or John the Baptist) evolving into diverging factions under different leaderships (e.g., Ebionites, Sabeans, Mandeans, Nasoreans, Gnostics,
etc.). Some of the leaders emerging from this traumatizing event might have included Simon the Samaritan (a.k.a. the Magician), Jesus the Nasorean (a.k.a. the Anointed), and later, Marcion of Pontus.

REWRIT LUKE 11v 37-53. One day Jesus was teaching near Jerusalem. A crowd formed around him eager to hear him. Jesus said to them, " Beware of the Pharisees for their ideas about Hades & Tartarus come from the nonsense of Greek mythology, and beware of the scribes for they write into the mouths of our ancestors what they wish their ancestors had said, and beware of the teachers of the law because their rules are mostly worthless taboos which they don't even keep themselves, and watch out for those who claim a supernatural realm and yet fail to tell you of what can be known of the physical world and the technological solutions to disease and hunger, and watch out for the historians for due to the lack of written history they feel free to write their propaganda as if it was real history. 
Rather seek first to develop a scientific method based on accurate observation of events in the natural world, carefully written & recorded & stored for future analysis. Blessed are the eyes that can see this, for many are they who have been deceived by religious leaders and politicians, mistakenly trusting that they had studied properly and gave an honest evaluation "

Review of " Evolving out of Eden " by Robert M. Price & Ed Suominen

On the Origin of Scriptures by means of psuedepigrapha, redaction and selection at council of Nicaea etc

Robbie Price [ Bible Geek ] and Ed Suominen take the reader over the rainbow, showing them the full spectrum of views on the Fact of Evolution by natural selection. Jump on board, take a ride Yeh, let them entertain you.
They present a concise summary of most of the aspects in the debate and introduce many of the big name authors at the table with key quotes from each so you can decide if you want to go on to read those other books.

REWRIT; John 16v12: And Jesus said unto them, " C. John Collins, Peter Enns, John Haught, John Polkinghorne, Bernard Ramm will come in my name claiming I said this or that
but when Bible Geek comes he will guide you into all truth ".

REWRIT; Luke 24v25: And it came to pass that the Bible Geek appeared unto them, in a vision, on the road to Jerusalem and sayeth, " How slow you have been to read all the aspects of the debate about reality, and starting with Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures and how they were only one chapter in the huge book of evolution of culture & civilization.
He revealed how Homo Sapiens had existed for at least 250,000 years, much of the record of those times was lost as they had no means of recording it, writing developed 3500 BCE, later authors were free to fill in the gaps about history with their own creative writing.

But those who were sore afraid doubted and said unto him, " Unless we see some evidence for evolution that we could touch with our fingers then we can not believe ". And so Bible Geek double clicked; a table cloth descended with books on the fossil record by Donald Prothero, Kenneth Miller, Francis Collins, Stephen Jay Gould, Dennis Lamoureux

REWRIT Psalm 121: I lift my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from ? From the fossilized sea creatures high up their slopes & many geological features like glaciation showing their immense age. Things Bible authors hadn't even noticed.

But still some doubted so Bible Geek led them up Mt Olympus to show them Zeus, Prometheus, Pandora. On the way up they passed Anaximander, Democritus, Epicurus, Socrates.

Yet still some feared the gaps. Bible Geek encouraged them, " Had you courage the size of a orchid seed you might have been confident that evolution is true but come with me to the Emerald city to meet Jerry Coyne, Victor Stenger, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, Sean Carrol, Joseph Wheless. They can help you see that the Wizards who wrote their fantasies about God were mere men.

My favourite heading from " Evolving out of Eden " is " Jesus Christ Superchimp "
and the term, biologians & red faced mormons.