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Jesus in the
Historical records |
Misquoting Jesus : The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
Philo,
a renowned Jewish writer who was born before the beginning of the
Christian Era, and lived in Jerusalem before, during and after the
time Jesus is supposed to have lived preached and died, and
who chronicled everything and anything of the most minuscule
importance that he observed or heard of, never once mentioned the
name of, or any deed that can be connected with Jesus. Philo
however, popularized and employed the term Logos in his
effort to synthesize Hebrew traditions and Hellenistic Platonism.
According to Philo, the Logos is a mediating principle between God
and the world and can be understood as God's Word or the Divine Wisdom,
which is immanent in the world. Philo's definition of
the Logos can easily be reconciled to the both traditional
and Gnostic representations of Jesus Christ - who has been referred to
as the Logos.
- Cornelius Tacitus 55 - 120 A.D - Roman historian described as the greatest historian of Rome, noted for integrity and moral uprightness. His most famous works are the The Annals of Imperial Rome and The Histories The Annals relate the historical narrative from Emperor Augustus’ death in A.D.14 to Nero’s death in A.D. 68. The Histories begin after Nero’s death and finish in 96 AD . Tacticus Mentions a man he calls Chrestus who was executed by Pilate, the procurator of Judea during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberias. - He mentions him in passing , and this reference is made around the time of Nero's persecution of the Christians. His information is most likely attained from the second hand , word of mouth from Christians of the Time, and those speaking of Christians. Suetonius - Roman historian and a court official in Emperor Hadrian’s government. In his Life of Claudius he refers to Claudius expelling Jews from Rome on account of their activities on behalf of a man Suetonius calls Chrestus . Pliny the Younger was the Governor of a Roman Province in present day Turkey about 100 years after Christ. He was responsible for executing Christians for not worshipping or bowing down to a statue of the emperor Trajan. In a letter to the emperor Trajan, he describes how the people on trial for being Christians would describe how they sang songs to Christ because he was a god.
writings attributed to Paul [St.Paul / Pol ] reveal next to nothing of the historical Jesus. Some scholars have speculated that Paul knew nothing of Jesus' historical life, his birth, or death. . G.A. Wells for instance believes that Paul may have thought of Jesus as a Godly being who led a very obscure life , ended by crucifixion, perhaps even centuries before Paul's own time [Paul was a contemporary of the Historical Jesus]. Paul and other drafters of New Testament were not particularly interested in historic facts. " The Gospels are not history; they are
religious propaganda, contradictory, exaggerated, and mythical. The
earliest Christian writings, the letters of Paul, are silent about the
man Jesus: Paul, who never met Jesus, fails to mention a single deed or
saying of Jesus (except for the ritualistic Last Supper formula), and
sometimes contradicts what Jesus supposedly said. To Paul, Jesus was a
heavenly disembodied Christ figure, not a man of flesh and blood."
[Dan Barker,
a former ordained Protestant minister ] Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian who was born in 37 AD. Josephus does make mention of John the Baptist, but does not mention Jesus in connection with him. He mentions the Pharisees, the Sadducees, Pontius Pilate, and James the brother of Jesus. He also mentions the Essenes - a strict religious sect that founded the Qumran community [Also known as Damascus], where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. In his book, Antiquities of the Jews, Jesus is described as a wise man crucified by Pilate. This passage , known as Testimonium Flavianum has been the subject of extensive scholarly debate.
However, there is good reason to believe that the paragraph in which he describes Jesus is partly or completely a later forgery . The passage appears completely out of context, breaking the flow of the narrative, and is completely unrelated to the previous and subsequent sentence's. The Testimonium Flavianum, as the above passage has been come to be called is cited by Christian propagandists as confirmation of Jesus' existence . In addition ..
Most Biblical scholars reject the entire Testimonium Flavianum as a later Christian insertion. However, some maintain that Josephus's work originally did refer to Jesus, but that Christian copyists later expanded and made the text more favorable to Jesus. These scholars cite such phrases as "tribe of Christians" and "wise man" as being untypical Christian usages, but plausible if coming from a first century Palestinian Jew. Of course, a suitably clever Christian wishing to "dress up" Josephus would not have much trouble imitating his style. Jesus is mentioned again in the writings of Josephus, in the Antiquities, Book 20, 200. James, the Brother of Jesus is also mentioned. "Convened the Sanhedrin (the highest Jewish
religious court / governing body). He had brought before them the
brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, who was called James, and some
other men, whom he accused of having broken the law, and handed them
over to be stoned." Other Jesus characters bear a resemblance to the Historical Jesus Christ. , they are cataloged below .
All the above Jesus' are Wealthy Galileans with connections or relations to the High priesthood as well as political ties in Galilee, it is Highly unlikely that there were four Jesus' running around Palestine at the same time, all leading guerilla bands opposed to Rome and all hailing from Galilee. They are certainly second hand references , drawing from various resources with varying accreditations of the same Jesus- Jesus of Galilee, the actual Historical Jesus Christ.
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