Roger Pearse

I think there is a case that Doherty represents to his readers that the writers of the second century either do not believe that Jesus was a historical person or if they do, consider it unimportant, as I have seen a good many people who have read and agreed with his book understood him thus.

But if we simply step back, open up the definitely second century Christian writers (10 of them), and search for words such as 'Jesus', 'Christ', and see what they say, we find that 6 of them explicitly state their belief in Jesus as both God and man. Two more refer to the gospels, while two do not discuss the issue.

Those who wish to see those citations may do so at a page I wrote a few years ago on the incarnation in the second century fathers.

I am unclear, then, how Doherty's book can be said to accurately represent what those writers actually say, which I think is what Don was saying.

Incidentally Doherty refers at some length to a phrase in Minucius Felix, but I understand that the recent HLL * tells us that modern scholars consider the question of the priority of the Apologeticum solved, and that Minucius must therefore have been written between 210-245. This was published in 1997, two years before Doherty: but I understand from Michael Sage's monograph on Cyprian (extract) that this was resolved around 1975, on philological grounds.** Once Minucius is understood to be a third century figure, contemporary with Tertullian and Cyprian, I think it becomes impossible to understand that isolated half-sentence in the manner Doherty would like.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

* Heck, E., M. Minucius Felix. In: HLL (Handbuch der lateinischen Literatur der Antike) 4, München 1997, § 485, p. 512, as given by Petr Kitzler in his article on Czech scholarship on Tertullian

** Of course it would be unfair to expect Doherty to be familiar with all the scholarship in this large field, but it highlights the risk he took in extending his book into the second century.

Ted Hoffman

Doherty has provided a thorough rebuttal to GDon's article .

GakuseiDon

Thanks, Ted. I'll add the link to my article, so that people can see both sides.

Ted Hoffman

You do that. We'll have to get Chris Price to do the same. I will comment on your article later.
TH.