(March 22, 2020 at 10:55 am)Ranjr Wrote: Since Paul wrote before any of the gospels, we must give his account of Jesus priority. So, Jesus was a vision people had, who gave them a revelation. He "appeared" to Cephas and the 12. That account doesn't include any details of a Nazarene. It's all a story.
I agree with Pauline priority (and, the existence of a historical Jesus), but, yes, few details about the life of the historical Jesus are mentioned by Paul who was, after, his contemporary. Paul never met Jesus face-to-face, even though both were living at the same time in the same area! How strange!! It would seem that Paul was enamored more with Jesus' death than he was with life. I think that the answer is that Paul, like Jesus, was an apocalyptist who thought that the World was going to end; as such, Paul may have thought that Jesus' death had elevated him to some sort of divine son.
