RE: The Historical Reliability of the New Testament
May 24, 2015 at 6:16 am
(This post was last modified: May 24, 2015 at 6:29 am by The Grand Nudger.)
"Paul" the super apostle whose ripped jeans could cure illness-at-a-distance? The globetrotting miracle man that manages to put christ himself to shame? As with "Jesus" when you remove these things you remove "Paul". The notion of the man is as much a vehicle as any legendary/mythological character in either the NT or the OT. These characters are, themselves, unimportant.... and so, -as human beings- underdeveloped in the narratives, nigh non-existent. I could offer the contention that with the above you seem to be attempting to establish:
-Paul was a name - granted
-The name carried/carries authority with a certain subset, and was talked about both within and without that subset(as it is today, conveniently.......for reasons?) - granted
Neither of those things rely on their actually having been a Paul, either -as- described in the narrative (ludicrous) -or- as an actual, mundane, man -or- as an amalgam of many men. Paul satisfies the narrative, it would be difficult to conclude much more than that about Paul...don't you think? I left out a bit about conspiracies, etc...mostly don't see the need to invoke conspiracy as an explanation, which I think we would both agree on, yeah?
-Paul was a name - granted
-The name carried/carries authority with a certain subset, and was talked about both within and without that subset(as it is today, conveniently.......for reasons?) - granted
Neither of those things rely on their actually having been a Paul, either -as- described in the narrative (ludicrous) -or- as an actual, mundane, man -or- as an amalgam of many men. Paul satisfies the narrative, it would be difficult to conclude much more than that about Paul...don't you think? I left out a bit about conspiracies, etc...mostly don't see the need to invoke conspiracy as an explanation, which I think we would both agree on, yeah?
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