RE: Proving The Resurrection By the Minimal Facts Approach
July 6, 2015 at 11:41 pm
(This post was last modified: July 6, 2015 at 11:42 pm by Minimalist.)
Quote: I never said that the passage from the annals was forged or interpolated.
I said it. And stand by it. Randy threatens to hold his breath until he turns blue but all he can do is shout about all the "historians" who accept it at face value without an inkling of evidence that it is true.
1. Not a single ancient writer makes reference to the passage.
2. Not a single ancient writer - xtian or Greco-Roman - seems to know anything about Nero persecuting xtians because of the fire.
3. A watered-down version of the passage appears in Sulpicius Severus' Chronica at the beginning of the 5th century but DOES NOT include the line which Carrier cites as the interpolation.
4. The sole medieval manuscript shows under ultraviolet light that the word was "Chrestianos" ( followers of Chrestus) not "Christianos" (followers of Christ) and it was "corrected" by what was probably a helpful scribe who thought he was correcting the spelling.
5. "Chrestianos" compliments the writings of Tacitus' contemporary Suetonius Tranquillus who commented upon jews instigated by "Chrestos" rioting in Rome during the reign of Claudius.
Randy will go into his monkey-like poo-flinging act over this but all we ever hear from him is the same old shit.
Meanwhile, it seems quite likely that the interpolation of that one line was done sometime between Severus' Chronica and the mid 9th century.
The reason for the interpolation was the same as Josephus' Testimonium Flavianum. Xtians were embarrassed by the fact that their godboy made no impression on the historical record.
