This always seemed to be the most plausible explanation of Jesus, that it is a mind control set of beliefs created by the ruling elite warrior class and their priests at the time in order to maximize their control over those they ruled over. Nice to see some scholarly works in that regard putting forth the hypothesis with historical details and context to back it up. I have no idea if it's true or not but it's likely the closest hypothesis we have. Certainly there was no magical super beings involved as that would violate all the known laws of the objective reality of Nature.
"A controversial American biblical scholar is set to make his first appearance in London next week to present a discovery that he claims proves the story of Jesus Christ was invented as a system of mind control to enslave the poor.
Joseph Atwill, who is the author of a book entitled 'Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus', asserts that Christianity did not begin as a religion, but was actually a sophisticated government propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of the Roman Empire."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/story-of-jesus-christ-was-fabricated-to-pacify-the-poor-claims-controversial-biblical-scholar-8870879.html