What If the Crucifixion Was Pre-Planned?

The death and resurrection of a divine king is not a uniquely Christian idea. Randall Carlson points out that the archetype precedes Christianity by thousands of years, appearing across multiple ancient traditions long before the Gospel narratives were written. That context alone raises the question of what relationship the story of Jesus bears to the much older mythological pattern it so closely mirrors.

The outrageous hypothesis Randall entertains is that Jesus did not die on the cross in the way the standard account presents - and that reading the Gospels carefully, with attention to the specific details rather than the broad narrative, produces something that looks less like spontaneous historical events and more like a pre-planned ritual being executed with deliberate precision. He stops short of asserting this, but argues the case is plausible and that the details are there in the text for anyone willing to look.