andrewcriddle

As an example of the sort of thing educated people in the Empire would accept as history, Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras chapter 28 may be of interest.

avi

Thank you Andrew, much appreciated....

avi

aa5874

It must be remembered that educated people like Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, and Athenagoras did NOT worship man as a God.

This is the very SIGNIFICANT DISTINCTION of Jesus believers of antiquity. They do not worship men as Gods.

When Jesus was made the NEW GOD of the Roman Empire diefication of the Roman Emperors ceased.

Neither the Jews, educated or not, or believers in God, educated or not, worshiped men as Gods neither BELIEVED men were DIVINE. See "On Embassy to Gaius" by Philo and "To Autolycus 1.XI.

davidstarlingm

I'm curious -- why would we assume that the tolerance-for-myth of the author of Genesis is necessarily greater-than-or-equal-to that of educated people in the Empire?

It would seem that that assumption is based on the "people get less and less credulous as time goes by" model of religious development, which is no longer considered sound.

andrewcriddle

I'm not sure that that assumption is being made.

I was discussing how the Gospels compare to other narratives of roughly the same period dealing with people with supposed supernatural abillities.

Andrew Criddle