(April 22, 2013 at 9:29 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Quirinius was not procurator. He was of the senatorial class and an ex-consul. Procurators during the reign of Tiberius...and probably Augustus...were drawn from the Equestrian order. Quirinius would have been the Imperial Legate a title befitting his status.
Even if what you assert were true, which doesn’t appear to be the case at all (simply because things were done one way under Tiberius does not mean they were done that way under Augustus), it does not change anything because hegemon is a generic term for a ruling officer, it can mean a whole host of different titles. We know that Quirinius was a ruling officer in the area because according to Augustus’ own writings he led the effort to quell the rebel uprising which occurred around 7 BC. Martyr’s writings indicate that Quirinius was in fact appointed the position of procurator of Judea prior to being Governor of Syria around 6 AD; this was most likely the case because he was the most loyal follower of Augustus in the area. It also makes sense that he’d be appointed to head the 7 BC census because at that time there was a leadership change in the region from Saturninus to Varus (even though Luke never says that Quirinius was in charge of issuing the census, just that it was the first one issued while he was in a position of authority in the region). So to recap, we know that there were three censuses given while Quirinius was an officer in the region; Luke says that Jesus was born just after the first of these censuses was issued (7 BC), which means that Mark and Luke’s statements do not contradict one another. It looks like you’ll have to find another faux contradiction to champion.
(April 23, 2013 at 1:57 pm)Baalzebutt Wrote:
You’re trying to be funny….right?
