Historical Jesus

[steve_bank]

Others are more well read than me on religious history and history in general.

What I believe is that basic huamn dynamics does not chmage. Look at the world today in this case the mid east and project back in time. Corruption, geopolitics, race, ethnicity, rligion, opportunists, power politicsm and nationalism.

You can look at the late Yassar Arafat. As corrupt as it gets, he siphoned aid money, put on a poor persona, and got rich.'
Yet he is a hero in Palestine to many.

Christian opportunists who get rich promoting an interpretation. In the time of Jesus there was undoubtedly financial collusion between the Jewish power elite and Rome. The Temple was a profitable corporation of the day.

The Iranian theocracy. Shia vs Suni Muslims.

Get rid of the supernatural and Jesus makes sense in the politics of the day.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

One can wonder where the author of Mark got the idea of having Jesus executed as “King of the Jews,” and the answer isn’t really hard to find.

In the chaos surrounding the Jewish wars in the late 60s, there were apparently a number of warring factions supporting candidates for High Priest. When Titus entered Jerusalem in 70, he found one of last surviving pretenders, Simon bar Giora, dressed in purple robes and standing in the Temple. Titus laid waste to Jerusalem and the temple, and took Simon back to Rome to be displayed as "King of the Jews" in a triumphal march, and then executed.”

The author of Mark who, as tradition has it, lived and wrote in Rome, would have been very familiar with this episode.

That is pretty interesting. Thank-you. I think it supports the argument that the protagonist of the gospel tales is an amalgam.

 

[steve_bank]

60 Minutes last night had a segment on Caligula and new archeology.

Something I did not know. Most of the popular image on Caligular are fiction which stems form a fictional book based on an ancient account of Caligula. An Italian archeologist commented politics in Rome was no different than today. Biased accounts and fake news with a political motivation.

It is as mythical as the Jesus accounts. Caligula did exist but many of the 'facts' probably did not. Like appointing a horse as a consul.