(August 13, 2014 at 2:33 pm)JesusHChrist Wrote: Even some Christian scholars find the claims of Tertullian...less than believable:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/actspilate.html
Quote:F. F. Bruce writes (The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?):
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Then Tertullian, the great jurist-theologian of Carthage, addressing his Defence of Christianity to the man authorities in the province of Africa about AD 197, says: 'Tiberius, in whose time the Christian name first made its appearance in the world, laid before the Senate tidings from Syria Palestina which had revealed to him the truth of the divinity there manifested, and supported the motion by his own vote to begin with. The Senate rejected it because it had not itself given its approval. Caesar held to his own opinion and threatened danger to the accusers of the Christians."
It would no doubt be pleasant if we could believe this story of Tertullian, which he manifestly believed to be true but a story so inherently improbable and inconsistent with what we know of Tiberius, related nearly 170 years after the event, does not commend itself to a historian's judgment.
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It seems at least one respected New Testament scholar is also quite dismissive of the Tertullian story, however unpleasant it might be.
Sadly for our poor, bemused jesus freaks the very usage of the term Syria Palestina by Tertullian constitutes an anachronism by which we can date this particular piece of holy horseshit.
As noted here, the term Syria Palestina dates from 135 and was coined by the Roman emperor Hadrian upon the crushing of the bar Kokhba rebellion. "Tiberius" had been dead for nearly 100 years before the name was invented to do away with "Judaea."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria_Palestina
In short, what Tertullian wrote is what we today call fucking bullshit.