Dear Editor,
This Easter, like all the others, will see the defenders of the Christian faith doing all they can to make their religion credible. I am always amazed at this, especially when reputable historians who live on or near the time of Jesus themselves saw no reason to believe that there was anything divine about the man.
Perhaps the most famous of the early historians that Christians try to pin the authenticity of a miracle-working Jesus is a Jewish historian by the name of Josephus. Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived to within a century or so of Jesus. There is a famous passage from one of Josephus’s writings that, it is claimed, proved that Jesus did all of the incredible things attributed him. The passage from Josephus even claimed that Jesus did in fact rose from the dead.
However, most scholars have long dismissed the pro-Jesus passage that Josephus wrote. Indeed, they are sure that Josephus himself did not write that passage at all. For several reasons, including the fact that the Jesus-praising passage is missing from all of the copies of Josephus’s works, Josephus was not a Christian himself. Many scholars are now convinced that that famous Josephus passage is actually a Christian insertion that was put there by the early church to give the impression that Josephus confirmed a miracle-working Jesus.
Then there is Tacitus, another historian who lived to within 200 years of Jesus. Christians always try to give the impression that he validated the miracle-working Jesus by pointing to Tacitus confirmation of how the Emperor Nero was blaming the Christians for starting a fire in Rome in AD 64. However, while Tacitus mentioned the early Christians, he didn’t see anything supernatural about Jesus. Indeed, Tacitus actually referred to early Christianity as “a most mischievous superstition” and he saw Christians as a set of people who were involved in “abominations”.
Christians like to point to the “convincing” proof that a miracle-working Jesus existed by pointing to an early Roman governor named Pliny the Younger. In one of his letters to the Roman emperor Trajan, in around AD 112, he sought the emperor’s advice as to what to do with the early Christians. Now while there is some evidence that Pliny believed that the early Christians believed that Jesus was some sort of god, Pliny himself clearly did not agree with them. In fact, he was seeking that advice because it was his job to prosecute them.
Indeed, when looking at all of the early authoritative persons Christians like to trump up as persons who validated a miracle working Jesus, all we end up with are persons who, at most, only confirmed that there were people who believed that Jesus was some sort of god. Most of these actually end up being very certain that there was nothing supernatural about Jesus at all. Some actually believed that Jesus was nothing but a myth.
Clearly, the death-defying, miracle-working and storms-calming Jesus that is celebrated every Easter did not exist!
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com
This Easter, like all the others, will see the defenders of the Christian faith doing all they can to make their religion credible. I am always amazed at this, especially when reputable historians who live on or near the time of Jesus themselves saw no reason to believe that there was anything divine about the man.
Perhaps the most famous of the early historians that Christians try to pin the authenticity of a miracle-working Jesus is a Jewish historian by the name of Josephus. Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived to within a century or so of Jesus. There is a famous passage from one of Josephus’s writings that, it is claimed, proved that Jesus did all of the incredible things attributed him. The passage from Josephus even claimed that Jesus did in fact rose from the dead.
However, most scholars have long dismissed the pro-Jesus passage that Josephus wrote. Indeed, they are sure that Josephus himself did not write that passage at all. For several reasons, including the fact that the Jesus-praising passage is missing from all of the copies of Josephus’s works, Josephus was not a Christian himself. Many scholars are now convinced that that famous Josephus passage is actually a Christian insertion that was put there by the early church to give the impression that Josephus confirmed a miracle-working Jesus.
Then there is Tacitus, another historian who lived to within 200 years of Jesus. Christians always try to give the impression that he validated the miracle-working Jesus by pointing to Tacitus confirmation of how the Emperor Nero was blaming the Christians for starting a fire in Rome in AD 64. However, while Tacitus mentioned the early Christians, he didn’t see anything supernatural about Jesus. Indeed, Tacitus actually referred to early Christianity as “a most mischievous superstition” and he saw Christians as a set of people who were involved in “abominations”.
Christians like to point to the “convincing” proof that a miracle-working Jesus existed by pointing to an early Roman governor named Pliny the Younger. In one of his letters to the Roman emperor Trajan, in around AD 112, he sought the emperor’s advice as to what to do with the early Christians. Now while there is some evidence that Pliny believed that the early Christians believed that Jesus was some sort of god, Pliny himself clearly did not agree with them. In fact, he was seeking that advice because it was his job to prosecute them.
Indeed, when looking at all of the early authoritative persons Christians like to trump up as persons who validated a miracle working Jesus, all we end up with are persons who, at most, only confirmed that there were people who believed that Jesus was some sort of god. Most of these actually end up being very certain that there was nothing supernatural about Jesus at all. Some actually believed that Jesus was nothing but a myth.
Clearly, the death-defying, miracle-working and storms-calming Jesus that is celebrated every Easter did not exist!
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com