medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
George R. Hoelzeman wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> 'cept that the links between the Barlaam/Ioasaph:Gautama legend are a lot stronger and more explicit than the Jesus/Mithras link.
>
> Also - and this comment could bear correction from more up-to-date/knowledgable - that the Mithras/Jesus link is more in the subsequent development of
> the Gospels rather than the historical person. In other words, the idea is that yes, there was a historical Jesus but he is a lot different than the Jesus of faith
> or the Gospels, which embellish based on various Greco-Roman saviour myths.
>
> Or something.
>
There have long been theories that Jesus never existed ("Jesus-Myth") --
for an overview see the relevant Wikipedia articles such as
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_myth_theory. There are also theories
that although there was a "Jesus/Joshua" in backwater Galilee on which
the traditions were hung, he was not at all like the Jesus of the
traditions (e.g. John Allegro -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Allegro).
As for the Abgar correspondence, Eusebius seems to be the earliest to
mention it, stating that it existed in the Syrian archives of Edessa.
See the information in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abgar_V_of_Edessa.
Bob Kraft, UPenn
> One of the things I continue to be curious about are the purported "letters from Jesus" to the Armenian King Abgar. I seem to recall there is some conflation
> of persons, but does anyone know the earliest reference to these "letters"? Do such references predate Eusebius?
>
> George the Less.
>
> On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:49:50 GMT, Marjorie Greene wrote:Thanks, Maureen. I was just licking my wounds in silence. But George the Less' comments:
>
>> "Sts. Barlaam and Ioasaph were also wildly popular, and John Damascene wrote (a very long) Vita on them, yet it is pretty obvious that they were just
>> Christianized versions of Arabic transpositions of the story of Gautama Buddha" reminded me that some doubt the historicity of Jesus, claiming He's just a
>>
> Christianized version of Mithras :-))
>
>> Happy Thanksgiving to all my compatriots and to all who celebrate with us!
>> MG
>> p.s. Your description of myth as a story shrouding a transcendental truth is spot on.
>>
> Marjorie Greene
> http://medrelart.shutterfly.com
>
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