When Christianity first started (say 34 AD to 60 AD) did the followers believe that Jesus had recently existed?

This would seem to be an obvious truth.

The atheist claim that "Jesus did not exist" has no serious academic credibility, but is a classic example of wishful thinking making things "true". Isn't it ironic how far atheists are prepared to ignore historical method when it suits them?

I, personally, think the notion of an "invented Jesus" is a stretch. The New Testament writings do seem to stem from a time when a lot of people seem to have claimed to have seen him, or known someone who saw him, or known someone who knew someone who knew him.

We do have to allow for the fact that some of the gospel contents, while not written very early, was based on earlier material already in circulation, which puts its origin earlier than the dates of the versions we have.

BTW, I haven't before seen a claim that any of Paul's writings was quite as early as 45 CE.

Not all--or, from what I've seen--even very many atheists claim that Jesus did not exist. And to be fair, we have to admit that we can't prove he did.

All the evidence indicates that early Christians believed Jesus to have lived on earth as a true man. The Bible obviously contains plenty of statements to this effect, and there are other sources that indicate the same. One notable example is the letter of St Polycarp to the Philippians, which states;

"For every one who shall not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is antichrist: and whosoever shall not confess the testimony of the Cross, is of the devil; and whosoever shall pervert the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts and say that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, that man is the firstborn of Satan. Wherefore let us forsake the vain doing of the many and their false teachings, and turn unto the word which was delivered unto us from the beginning"

This letter was written in the early decades of the second century AD, by a man who was a second generation Christian and had been taught by some of the Apostles. Thus, when he wrote about 'the word which was delivered to us', he clearly meant the teaching of the Apostles themselves.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/polycarp.htm...

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`Early Christians` were a Jewish sect, Christianity is a 4thC invention.

There is nothing in the historical record that suggests that Jesus ever existed.

The Bible gives the answer in 1st Corinthians 15:4-6 -

"and that he was buried, yes, that he has been raised up the third day according to the Scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that he appeared to upward of five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep in death."

Read Earl Doherty's "The Jesus Puzzle". He makes a strong case for an 'invented' jesus. I don't care if such a person did or did not exist, but if you ascribe miracles to this person, then if you can't provide tangible, verifiable evidence of his 'miracles', I'm not going to waste a moment believing in what you're trying to sell.

Oh absolutely. Paul mentions meeting Peter, and conversing with James, whom he refers to as being the "brother of the Lord". There are also specifics in the gospels, of course, such as who was emperor and who was prefect.

How accurate are memories of events 1-2 years ago, let alone 40-120 years ago? Hence all the contradictions in the NT about Jesus' life. Those stories are about multiple people, not one, and most have been imbued during a process of Chinese whispers

Christianity first started at about 200 AD, so no one knew for sure.

The Bible wasn't even started until 397 AD at the 3rd Council of Carthage.

That's true; look it up.