interesting point of view.
here's my take:
-it is interesting that you consider miracles as being subject to discussion, but you readily consider the biblical text legit enough to merit your analysis of jesus. if it is possible to question the miracles, then why not also question that he talked to the people that he talked to and asked them to follow him?
-there are intelligent human beings out there with the ability to do things we would call 'supernatural' in our day and age. some call them witches, others call them psychics, yet others call them devil worshippers. the list is endless. i have a sneaking suspicion that if jesus was to rudi today, and to do exactly what he did all those years ago, most ppl would think him unstable and dangerous, including his own followers. in the world that I live in, today, there are ppl with abilities that supercede my understanding. but I dont elevate them to gods. why is that the case?
-your fourth point, that no man before jesus has ever been as famous or influential is interesting. of course, i cant say it is wrong. it may very well be the case. but how on earth does someone prove it? remember, jesus influence stretches across roughly the past 2000 yrs. mainly in asia minor and in europe. the influence in africa, south america, and the outgrowths into east asia and the pacific and atlantic have been more recent. and note also that human existence on this earth has been documented many millennia back. all this stuff, for example, was already going on in the 10th millennium BC:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...illennium%20BC
how can you be sure that there werent men or women with great abilities or influence whose fame spread through the continents long before jesus? just because we have not been told so does not mean that it wasnt the case.
-im especially cautious about broad generalizations being applied to humankind as a whole. in the past, the so-called great philosophers have been guilty of making statements that are really only true for their own regional European cultures, or belief systems, and applying them to the rest of the world. even when they have never stepped outside their own countries. in the present day, some religious groups spokespeople speak in such broad universal terms about how influential/ widespread their beliefs are, or about the meaning of christ to people in laos or cambodia or wherever. but u know what? they might be wrong. once you step outside your comfort zone, and go into some other place where noone has ever heard of the god you worship, so many disturbing questions start to come to mind.
-i think that something crucial about todays major religions is that their founders lives were recorded in writing. that has played a very significant role in keeping those religions alive, and in keeping the names of their prophets, gods etc relevant to ppl in our times. so many pre-literate societies had myths of creation, and legends about great heroes and heroines, whom they sometimes elevated to the status of gods. they also had stories of prophets and seers. and perhaps the names of some of these people were once widely known in different languages. but the memories have faded. there have been no scribes to immortalize them in writing, and no military might to facilitate their spread.
-so my take on jesus: if he existed, and if that which is recorded in the bible is true, he was an extraordinary human.