Seyorni said:
I did an internship in a psychiatric hospital. Believe me -- religiosity is a common symptom in some psychotic disorders, and a delusion of grandeur is not uncommon. Given a fertile time and place, and a bit of luck, it's completely understandable how a deluded charismatic could found a cult that would later bloom into a major religion. In fact, such cults are not that uncommon. It's the development into a major religion that requires the bit of luck.
I worked in a psychiatric hospital for 3 years and we admitted a lot of people who thought they were Jesus...including women. The problem with all of them is that at some point, it all falls apart. They have other delusions or behaviors that don't fit with their claim (like the uncontrollable urge to expose themself, etc.). There was one who was almost believable but he couldn't pull of the miracles.
I think if Jesus was just a schizophrenic or delusional, he might have gained a small following, but nothing like what he had and one which left such an indelible impression on his followers that they wrote about it and preached about it, "unto their own death", after he was gone.
No, I think it's too easy to dismiss him as crazy or charismatic.
Melody