He is sometimes cited as someone who had referred to a historical Jesus Christ. Yet his claimed reference is (1) full of errors and (2) has a clearly moralistic, rather than historical intention.

URL: http://www.infidels.org/library/maga...4/4mara95.html

Here's MbS's statement:

What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise king die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given.

Much of this history is all wrong, and the Jews' "wise king" is unnamed here; it's cler that the message here is "listen to the wise and holy people among you, or something *very* bad will happen to you."

Good point Ipetrich but who are these good old wise men and what makes the author think that they are holy (whole) if they still have dreams and daydreams that shatter the myth into 20.000 denominations?

Amos

http://www.infidels.org/electronic/f.../000429-3.html

There is a long discussion on this and other sources. Serapion contains no reference to Jesus, as is clear from the text, especially from the whole letter.

On the third or fourth page of the thread, there is a link to the COMPLETE letter.

Michael