avi

and here is the answer:
It seems to me, that your reply assumes that the New Testament, with or without an interpretive guide, contains the answer to this question posed by Samuel Heilman.

In brief, then, you would argue that the New Testament is (with or without some interpretative guide) the sole source of information regarding Jesus, including, what he said, when, where and to whom. The New Testament is entirely written in Greek.

Does it not trouble you, No_Robots, even slightly, to think of a "god" unable to write Greek, though we know that other Jewish rabbis did read and write Greek in that era? Why wouldn't this famous Jewish rabbi, Jesus of Capernum, not write, himself, of his thoughts, his ideas, his dictums, if he were a real person, or a god, for that matter?

Why should we require a German, or a Frenchman, or an Englishman, thousands of years later, to explain to us what Jesus himself said, or believed, based upon interpretation of some unknown Greek authors, writing at an unknown location, at an unknown time, with an unknown agenda of their own?

To answer Heilman's question, if we change it slightly, to read "Socrates", rather than "Jesus", then what is your reply? Do we not depend upon Plato to learn what Socrates said???

Sure we do. Why not argue, then, No_Robots, that those of us who posit the Bible as literature, and myth, ought, to be consistent, consider Socrates' words, also documented, as with Jesus', in Greek, as fanciful, mythical, and untrue?

Do we need, as with the case of Jesus' supposed teachings, an interpreter, to help us understand the ideas of Socrates?

No Robots

First, let me say that I do not consider Christ a god. Second, yeah, it is surprising that Christ seems completely untouched by Greek culture.:huh:

Who would he have been able to read anything he wrote? Illiteracy was over 90%, especially among the common people who were Christ's audience. The culture was oral. What rabbis wrote in that day? And Christ was not part of the scholarly rabbinate at all.

Well, Constantin Brunner was a Jew. And many other Jews have provided excellent insight into Christ. Only within the last century or so has it been possible for Jews to come forward with their own interpretation of the NT.

Absolutely!

Absolutely!

Absolutely!