(November 30, 2010 at 9:08 pm)Chapabel Wrote: What about the writings of Cornelius Tactitus? He was neither a Jew nor a Christian. Also, lets not forget Pliny the Younger, Lucian, Mara Bar-Serapion, Thallus, and Suetonius. So we are to assume that ALL secular writings that mention Jesus have been " manipulated " by the church? Right...
Tacitus: This is the strongest piece of evidence for a historical Jesus, relatively speaking. It is late (2nd century), oblique (doesn't mention Jesus by name), brief (mentions only that the Christian founder was crucified, something he might have just heard from them) and contains an error (calls Pilate a "procurator", a title that was given to later governors, possibly indicting the whole passage was a later interpolation).
Pliny the Younger: Says nothing about Jesus.
Lucian: Well into the second century
Mara Bar-Serapion: Says the Jews killed a "wise king". That's it. No name. No specifics. He could have been talking about the Selucids for all we know.
Thallus: We don't have the works of Thallus. The quotation comes to us from a Christian source in the 3rd century. We have absolutely no idea what Thallus actually wrote.
Seutonius: Says nothing about Jesus.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
