He is a historian though. Religious studies has a lot of overlap.
Bottom line, he is eminently qualified to write the book that he wrote and his "opinion" carries far more weight than anyone on this forum.
I'm not disagreeing, all am saying that just because he's a scholar, he isn't magical right.
In contrast, how many scholars believe the bibles account of Jesus? Are they "right" as well? Why does this guys opinion outweigh theirs?