Freethought & Rationalism Archive

mountainman · 02-25-2007, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spin

And yes, it was the Latin connection which was essential. The words weren't formed in a Greek speaking community which had rich resources for forming such ideas from their own morphology.

The reason why Josephus could write his Antiquities in Greek for Romans is because educated Romans also spoke Greek, giving them the ability to communicate in the Hellenistic world. And beside the small Roman administration necessary in provinces and remembering that the grunt of the legions weren't Roman, who else could speak Latin?

In your estimation spin, how widespread and influential
was the use of Greek in association with the movement
identified by Philostratus, in the 3rd century, as "the
Second Sophistic". And do you see this (ie: 2nd S) as
essentially a continuation of the widespread use of Greek
from the 1st through the third centuries?

sharrock · 02-26-2007, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Shaver

If your question is how it came to be applied to members of a certain first-century religious sect, then things get a lot more uncertain.

Indeed. I gotta ask.... do we know who constituted this "first-century religious sect" or is that a bit of a tall order ?

Doug Shaver · 02-27-2007, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharrock

.... do we know who constituted this "first-century religious sect" or is that a bit of a tall order ?

It's a very tall order. Christianity as we know it seems to have evolved from a large number of sects that existed during the first century, but we have no idea what the number was, even approximately, and there is practically no evidence for how many of them called themselves Christians.

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