Edwin Herbert's Blog - Posts Tagged "gospel"
Silence Speaks Louder
According to the Gospels, Jesus was famous. His renowned ministry and high-profile healings drew huge crowds from Syria to the southern Decapolis. He miraculously fed 5000 people at one sitting and 4000 at another. He even purportedly raised the dead. During his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he was followed by multitudes throwing palm fronds and shouting, “Hosannah!”
Luke, who by his own admission was not an eyewitness, claims Jesus ascended to heaven before crowds, his fame spreading rapidly to Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
First century Judea was a relatively well-documented time and place. Yet, curiously, known writers around the region failed to chronicle these momentous events. Many discuss far less interesting would-be messiahs but ignore the Jesus who really performed the magic.
Listed below are just a few of the prominent writers who should have chronicled the life and miracles of Jesus, as they lived in the same general era and region. But strangely they remained silent about the demigod named Jesus:
Nicolaus of Damascus (d. early first century) As secretary to King Herod, he would have documented the Star of Bethlehem, the magi, and the killing of the infant males had such events actually occurred.
Seneca the Younger (3BCE – 65 CE) and his brother Gallio (d. 65 CE)
Justus of Tiberias (d. 101 CE)
Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE – 50 CE) – From a wealthy and prominent family intimately connected to the royal house of Judea, Philo created Hellenistic Judaism—a synthesis of Greek and Jewish philosophy—and expounded upon the Greek idea of Logos, the Word made flesh. So one would expect an actual flesh and blood Logos might invite comment by Philo. He even specifically documented fringe Jewish cults like the Essenes and Therapeutae, yet penned not a word about the Biblical Jesus.
Flavius Josephus (94 CE) – In his Antiquities of the Jews, a brief, disputed paragraph about Jesus exists. However, the vast majority of scholars agree it’s a later insertion. The only debate is how much is forgery. About the year 250, Church Father Origen complained that all that was known of Jesus came from the Gospels. He was frustrated by the scarcity of corroborating evidence and criticized Josephus for not having mentioned Jesus in his Antiquities. Had the disputed passage been in the original writing, it would have been seized upon by Christians like Origen who were hungry for this kind of confirmation.
2nd century writers Pausanias, Maximus of Tyre, and Aelius Aristides also failed to cite Jesus or his teachings.
Some try to hang their hats on the scraps that do exist, like the 2nd century chronicler Tacitus who briefly reported on the rising Christian cult. However, he also documented the widespread Isis cult, yet few would argue this lends credibility to the goddess’ historical reality.
So when is absence of evidence, evidence of absence? Contemporary writers should have known what Jesus said and did, and they certainly had reason to discuss it. Considering the multitudes who supposedly witnessed the miraculous events, the lack of non-biblical corroboration for the Gospels and Acts is a serious problem. The silence is deafening.
Believers defend the silence by claiming Jesus was not well-known until much later. But you can’t have it both ways. In the end we’re left with two choices: Either Jesus was just another wandering preacher with a meager following and the Gospels grossly exaggerated his life events, or, like Osiris and Romulus before him, he was a mythical character historicized.
To learn more about the Christ myth argument, check out my new historical suspense / archaeological adventure Mythos Christos at www.mythoschristos.com .
Luke, who by his own admission was not an eyewitness, claims Jesus ascended to heaven before crowds, his fame spreading rapidly to Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
First century Judea was a relatively well-documented time and place. Yet, curiously, known writers around the region failed to chronicle these momentous events. Many discuss far less interesting would-be messiahs but ignore the Jesus who really performed the magic.
Listed below are just a few of the prominent writers who should have chronicled the life and miracles of Jesus, as they lived in the same general era and region. But strangely they remained silent about the demigod named Jesus:
Nicolaus of Damascus (d. early first century) As secretary to King Herod, he would have documented the Star of Bethlehem, the magi, and the killing of the infant males had such events actually occurred.
Seneca the Younger (3BCE – 65 CE) and his brother Gallio (d. 65 CE)
Justus of Tiberias (d. 101 CE)
Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE – 50 CE) – From a wealthy and prominent family intimately connected to the royal house of Judea, Philo created Hellenistic Judaism—a synthesis of Greek and Jewish philosophy—and expounded upon the Greek idea of Logos, the Word made flesh. So one would expect an actual flesh and blood Logos might invite comment by Philo. He even specifically documented fringe Jewish cults like the Essenes and Therapeutae, yet penned not a word about the Biblical Jesus.
Flavius Josephus (94 CE) – In his Antiquities of the Jews, a brief, disputed paragraph about Jesus exists. However, the vast majority of scholars agree it’s a later insertion. The only debate is how much is forgery. About the year 250, Church Father Origen complained that all that was known of Jesus came from the Gospels. He was frustrated by the scarcity of corroborating evidence and criticized Josephus for not having mentioned Jesus in his Antiquities. Had the disputed passage been in the original writing, it would have been seized upon by Christians like Origen who were hungry for this kind of confirmation.
2nd century writers Pausanias, Maximus of Tyre, and Aelius Aristides also failed to cite Jesus or his teachings.
Some try to hang their hats on the scraps that do exist, like the 2nd century chronicler Tacitus who briefly reported on the rising Christian cult. However, he also documented the widespread Isis cult, yet few would argue this lends credibility to the goddess’ historical reality.
So when is absence of evidence, evidence of absence? Contemporary writers should have known what Jesus said and did, and they certainly had reason to discuss it. Considering the multitudes who supposedly witnessed the miraculous events, the lack of non-biblical corroboration for the Gospels and Acts is a serious problem. The silence is deafening.
Believers defend the silence by claiming Jesus was not well-known until much later. But you can’t have it both ways. In the end we’re left with two choices: Either Jesus was just another wandering preacher with a meager following and the Gospels grossly exaggerated his life events, or, like Osiris and Romulus before him, he was a mythical character historicized.
To learn more about the Christ myth argument, check out my new historical suspense / archaeological adventure Mythos Christos at www.mythoschristos.com .
