"In summary, it is clear that there are many contradictions between one gospel and another, many dubious statements of history, many suspicious resemblances to the legends told of pagan gods, many incidents apparently designed to prove the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, many passages possibly aiming to establish a historical basis for some later doctrine or ritual of the Church. The evangelists shared with Cicero, Sallust, and Tacitus the conception of history as a vehicle for moral ideas. And presumably the conversations and speeches reported in the Gospels were subject to the frailties of illiterate memories, and the errors or emendations of copyists."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Will Durant
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christ_myth_theory
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Christ myth theory
324 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Christ myth theory →
Related Quotes
"Alan Dundes has shown, the gospel life of Jesus corresponds in most particulars with the worldwide paradigm of the My…"
"Now until some convincing piece of evidence about a Biblical, historical or purely mythical Jesus (or the beliefs of …"
"[Per the name Jesus] Philippians 2:9-11, read without theological embarrassment, seems to intend that it was that nam…"
"In the case of Jesus Christ, where virtually every detail of the story fits the mythic hero archetype, with nothing l…"
"Except for the references among the writings of Josephus and Tacitus, the extra-biblical sources are very late. All t…"
"There are no existing eyewitness or contemporary accounts of Jesus. All we have are later descriptions of Jesus’ life…"
"Although it is held by Marxist propaganda writers that Jesus never lived and that the Gospels are pure creations of t…"
"We should never guess from the Epistles that Jesus died in any particular historical or political context, only that …"
"All the Epistles seem to know is a Jesus Christ, Son of God, who came into the world to die as a sacrifice for human …"
"Only Bart Ehrman and Maurice Casey have thoroughly attempted to prove Jesus’ historical existence in recent times. Th…"