Well, what would the world be like? WouldTHIS make us Mithraic?
Two recent threads might shed some light the topic ...
Jesus Was Never Born:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=222756
Jesus Christ Dies At Child Birth:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=217831
No.Why is that interesting? Four separate biographies written by eye-witnesses or on second-hand account of eye-witness written within a generation is almost ASB - compare how many similar sources we have for Alexander the Great and various others.
Well, what would the world be like? WouldTHIS make us Mithraic?
Why do people ask the same question? I seriously don't think we should have these discussions about Semi-Mythical people at the centre of a religion it never really goes anywhere.
Wow...talk about necromancing?
Consider the time period, the hebrews had been looking for a messiah for centuries, and they were attempting to fight/ignore/live with Roman occupation.
John the Baptist was considered to beh the messiah at one point, but said something like 'i prepare for the one that comes after me'.
It is quite possible that the hellenist faction of judaism that becomes christianity (christ being derived from the greek for king) could have coalesced around John the Baptist, or Simon the Zealot (who was a champion of resisting Roman rule) or even someone on the Sanhedrin council.
I do find it quite interesting that the New Testament of the christian Bible covers only about a month of the live of Jesus, and the Gospels that cover that was not even writtten by the man himself. The rest of the book is focused on the works of the disciples, whose writings and letters made up the character of hellenist judaism/orthodox christianity/catholic church for the first century or so.
Why ASB? Two words : Flavius Josephus.
Basically, no mention of Jesus or any equivalent religious leader, well except the parts we know for sure being added by Christians.
Or, and "divine powers", "son of God", etc. If you're believing in it, it's okay but it's still ASB by definition.
EIGHT years?
Really?
This is, no question, the oldest thread ever resurrected (sort of ironic, considering).
This sort of thing is seriously looked down on here. The exception is if you actually have something significant to add, even then it is far better to start a new thread.
Please keep this in mind.
Josephus's description of James as "the brother of Jesus, the so-called Messiah" doesn't strike me as an interpolation because of the "so-called" comment.
The big Christian interpolation is a flat-out endorsement of Jesus as the Messiah, in an extremely unsubtle fashion.
Well, what would the world be like? WouldTHIS make us Mithraic?
No.
While it is true a number of famous people had their biographies recorded long after their death inside the west, inside the East most of the biographies of important individuals actually were being written near or a few years after their demise. In particular the SGZ was written by Chen Shou, a contemporary historian who wrote his works based on already written court sponsored biographies. There is no reason that four simple biographies written withing a generation of the events that define their religion and beliefs would be ASB. A number of Holy Texts, containing far more words, were written in less time.